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Evaluation Expertise

As Chartered Directors and governance specialists who have worked across sectors as diverse as tech, professional services, banking and financial services, telecoms, hospitality, property, healthcare, communications, construction, energy, and education, we know what it takes to make an effective board.

PLCs. SMEs. Cooperatives. Charities. Not-for-profits. State bodies. Financial services. Private corporations. Whatever your context, our assessors have the industry expertise.

Carol Bolger CDir

Carol Bolger CDir

Carol Bolger is a Chartered Director (CDir) and course leader on the Governance and Diploma modules of the IoD Chartered Director Programme and delivers on IoD’s Essential Workshop Series.

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A Certified Bank Director, Carol has extensive experience from senior roles in Business & Corporate Banking at Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank.  She now serves as a non-Executive Director at BCM Global ASI Ltd and is Chair of the Audit Committee of the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine.  She is a Patron of Chapter Zero Ireland and a member of the Balance for Better Business Review Group.

 

Previously, she was Chair of An Post, Chair of Utexam Solutions Ltd and served on the boards of The Coombe Women & Infants Hospital, the Health & Safety Authority, and the Institute of Banking. She holds qualifications in Finance, Strategy, and Innovation from UCC and an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching. Carol is a Fellow of the Institute of Banking and previously held the position of Vice President.

Dr Margaret Cullen

Dr Margaret Cullen


Dr Margaret Cullen holds a PhD in governance from University College Dublin (UCD). She is governance advisor to IoD Ireland and delivers on IoD’s Essential Workshop Series.

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Margaret serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several organisations and has extensive board and board committee experience.

 

Margaret is Programme Director for UCD’s Diploma in Corporate Governance and has lectured on the programme since 2007 in the subject areas of role and responsibilities of the board, stewardship and ESG, behavioural aspects of boards and executive remuneration and incentives. Margaret is also Academic Director of the Institute of Banking's Certified Bank Director Programme on an associate basis and lectures bank governance on the programme. She is a fellow of the Institute of Banking.

Tony Lawless CDir

Tony Lawless CDir

Experienced Independent Non-Executive Director with over 30 years’ experience of governance, risk, strategy development, leading major transformation, and culture change, and driving exceptional commercial returns.

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Tony's broad experience has covered marketing/product, distribution, sustainability/ESG, fintech and M&A. He has experience of both boards and executive committees in a large, regulated, and complex business.

 

Tony is a member of the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Director. He is also a qualified executive coach. Tony's current Non-Executive Director roles include Independent Non-Executive Director at Aviva Life and Pensions where he chairs the Board Risk committee and Independent Non-Executive Director at Business to Arts.

Clare Duignan

Clare Duignan

Clare Duignan is a highly skilled non-executive director with wide-ranging board experience across the private, public/State and not-for-profit sectors.

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She holds an IoD Diploma in Company Direction, and has an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching, accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

 

Clare is former Managing Director of RTÉ Radio and has extensive experience in public-facing industries with complex regulatory, stakeholder, culture and change issues. She is currently a board member for the following organisations: The Irish Times, IMRO, Irish Tourism Assistance Service, and is a Trustee of the Chester Beatty.  In 2020, she chaired the Irish Government's Arts and Culture Recovery Task Force. She has previously served as the independent member of the Council of the Institute of Banking.

 

Clare currently chairs the Irish Times Investment Committee, and the IMRO Remuneration and HR, and Corporate Governance Committees. 

 

Her previous board roles include Fáilte Ireland, the Digital Hub Development Agency, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), Business to Arts, and Chair of the ShinAwil Film and Television Advisory Board. She has served on many board sub-committees including Finance, Audit and Risk at the Digital Hub, the BAI, IMRO and Failte Ireland; the Remuneration and Nominations/HR Committees at The Irish Times and Fáilte Ireland; and the Corporate Governance Committee at Business to Arts. 

Marie Collins CDir

Marie Collins CDir

Marie Collins is a Chartered Director (CDir) and is a course leader on the Governance and Diploma Programme aspect of the Chartered Director Programme. 

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Marie is also a trainer on our IoD Essentials Workshop Series and is an Assessor on the IoD's Board Evaluation service.

 

Marie is a Chair of Home Building Finance Ireland DAC, Bank of Ireland's Dawson MT dac and New Irelands Master Trust. She is an independent non-executive director with Dunnes Stores PT ULC and is Board of Trustees Chair with the Trinity College Dublin Foundation. Marie is an independent member of the Communications Regulator (ComReg) Audit and Risk Committee.

 

Marie holds a Post Grad Dip in Corporate Governance from University College Dublin (UCD) and an MBA from Trinity College and is a Fellow of The Chartered Governance Institute in the UK. 

Michael O’Donovan CDir

Michael O’Donovan CDir

Michael O’Donovan CDir has over twenty-five years leadership experience in international technology and FinTech sectors.

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He brings experience in areas including business and digital transformation as well as scaling online businesses.He has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of KBC Bank Ireland since 2019 and is a member of a number of board committees including Audit, Risk & Compliance and Corporate Governance. 

 

Michael chairs the board of activpayroll Ireland Limited and from 2016 to 2019 served as a member of the board of the National Concert Hall.

 

Michael has a BA in Economics and Psychology, post graduate qualifications in Management, Accounting and Finance, Company Direction and an MBA. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Director.

Hugh McCallum

Hugh McCallum

Hugh is Former Director of Operations at Accenture and has over 20 years of domestic and international experience and a proven track record of successfully starting up / leading large-scale, global operations in different industries (Finance, Tech, Public Sector).

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Hugh is an experienced NED, Chair and Consultant. He is recognised in the business community for a hands-on governance and financial oversight approach and a track record of forging robust relationships across organisational hierarchies.

 

He holds a Master of Business Studies (MBS) in Business Practice from UCC.