Future of Board Skills and Succession Planning

Celine Fitzgerald is an experienced business leader and Independent Non-Executive Director who has held leadership roles across the public, private and non-profit sectors. Over her career she has held various senior leadership positions in a number of organisations including Eircom, Vodafone Ireland, Rigney Dolphin and has run her own Consulting business specialising in Interim leadership roles. Celine has extensive experience at Board level, including at VHI Group DAC (where she chaired the Remuneration and Nominations Committees), VHI Healthcare DAC and was Chair of Pieta until recently. She currently serves on the Board of PTSB where she chairs the Remuneration Committee. She has been Interim CEO of Research Ireland, the Government’s new national competitive research and innovation funding agency since September 2024. Celine is a Chartered Director and a Certified Bank Director.

Richard Pike, Chair of FBD Insurance Plc, joined the Board of FBD Holdings plc and the Board of FBD Insurance plc in September 2019. He has a strong background in financial services, technology and operational risk. Mr Pike’s areas of expertise include digital technologies, governance, risk, compliance, business management and strategy. Mr. Pike is currently Chair of Citadel Securities (Ireland) Ltd and Citadel Securities (Europe) Ltd, and Independent Non-Executive Director of Tuath House Association. Prior to this, Mr. Pike has worked in various senior banking, insurance, credit and market risk roles at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, ABN AMRO, Bain, JP Morgan and Permanent TSB Bank. Mr. Pike lectures on Risk Management and Governance at the Institute of Banking and the Smurfit Business School and was a contributing author to two books on risk management. Mr. Pike has also received the designation of ‘Certified Bank Director’ by the Institute of Banking.

Julie Sinnamon brings deep experience in assisting Irish businesses to grow and scale having had a highly successful career at Enterprise Ireland where she held a number of senior roles including the position of CEO from 2013 until her retirement in 2021. Julie is a business graduate of the University of Ulster, holds a Master’s in International Business from Fordham University, USA and is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Programme, USA.

Caroline Spillane CDir is Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Directors Ireland. She commenced the role in July 2022. Caroline has held several senior leadership roles including most recently as Director General of Engineers Ireland, the all-Ireland professional body for engineers, CEO of the Medical Council of Ireland, the independent statutory regulator of over 25,000 medical practitioners and Assistant National Director of the Health Services Executive. Caroline is an experienced Non-Executive Director serving as a board member of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), ESB Networks and Irish Manufacturing Research. She is also a member of the Advisory Group to Balance for Better Business, an independent business-led Review Group established by the government to improve gender balance in senior leadership in Ireland. Caroline's qualifications include a BA from UCC and an MA from TUD. She is currently undertaking a Doctoral programme with SETU.