Leading in Governance Speaker Line-Up

Simon Coveney TD is the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, appointed in December 2022. He is also the Deputy Leader of Fine Gael. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (2017-2022) and Minister for Defence (2020-2022). Between November 2017 and June 2020 he also held the office of Tánaiste. He has previously served as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government (2016-2017), Minister for Defence (2014-2016) and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2011-2016). 

First elected to the Dáil in 1998, he was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 where he was a member of the EPP-ED group. He was a member of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and a substitute member on the Fisheries Committee. Mr Coveney was the author of the European Parliament's Annual Report on Human Rights in the World for the year 2004 and again for 2006. He was a member of Cork County Council and the Southern Health Board from 1999 to 2003.

Mr Coveney holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture and Land Management from The Royal Agriculture College, Gloucestershire. He was also educated at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, University College Cork and Gurteen Agricultural College, County Tipperary. In 1997-1998 he led the Sail Chernobyl Project which involved sailing 30,000 miles around the world for charity. 

Former Leinster captain Leo Cullen made his bow for the province in the same season as teammate Gordon D’Arcy but a two season stint in England means the Wexford centre holds a caps advantage over the passionate Newtownmountkennedy lock. The former Blackrock College player first appeared in blue in 1995 but made his senior debut during the interprovincial and Heineken Cup matches of the 1998/99 season. In 2001/02 the Celtic League appeared on the scene and it coincided with one of the best seasons in Cullen’s fledgling career and a fantastic year for Leinster that saw them capture the title. That summer he was included in the Ireland squad to tour New Zealand, appearing for the national side in June against the All Blacks.

The Wicklow man gained 32 Irish caps during his career and had the honour of captaining his side against Russia, in Rotorua, during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He also captained Ireland against Scotland a month previous. Cullen’s service for the province was disrupted by a two-season spell with Leicester Tigers. He enjoyed huge success at Tigers as the English side took home the Guinness Premiership and EDF Energy Cup in 2007. They were denied the treble when Wasps defeated them in the Heineken Cup Final at Twickenham. The following season saw Cullen tempted back to the Leinster set-up. Under coaches Michael Cheika and Joe Schmidt, the influential lock played a vital role in transforming Leinster from nearly-men to consistent performers and determined winners. Early signs were shown when the side won the Celtic League that season. For 2008/09, Cullen was handed the captain’s armband. Nine months later, he was raising the Heineken Cup trophy aloft after a memorable win over Leicester at Murrayfield.

Further success in Europe would follow in 2011, when Cullen captained Leinster to an astonishing comeback win over Northampton Saints at the Millennium Stadium, and in May 2012 when his team retained their title with a dominant win over Ulster. In lifting the trophy at Twickenham, Cullen became the first man to captain a team to three Heineken Cup Final successes. His final two seasons as a player saw Cullen lift three more trophies with Leinster. The Amlin Challenge Cup and RaboDirect PRO12 titles were won on two consecutive weekends at the end of May in 2013 and in Cullen’s final appearance for the province he lifted the RaboDirect PRO12 title for a second season in succession, alongside fellow departee Brian O’Driscoll.

With his years of experience in the game, Cullen was asked to join the Leinster backroom staff by head coach Matt O’Connor after his retirement and he became the Leinster forwards coach in July 2014. With the departure of O’Connor a season later, Cullen was appointed Leinster Rugby Head Coach in August 2015 and led the province to the top of the Guinness PRO12 table and to the PRO12 Final. Having reached the semi-finals of both the Guinness PRO12 and the Champions Cup, a year later in 2018, in his third season, Cullen became the first man to win a Champions Cup title as a player and as a head coach as he presided over a first ever Guinness PRO14 and Champions Cup double for Leinster.

Anne joined Microsoft Ireland as General Manager in October 2021, taking responsibility for the sales, marketing, and services business across the island of Ireland - with a particular focus on delivering business transformation with Microsoft's customers and partners within the public and private sectors.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Anne was Enterprise Director at Vodafone UK, with responsibility for sales, brand, product and solution design, services, and government relations, across multiple lines of business. Before assuming her UK responsibilities, Anne ran Vodafone Ireland’s Enterprise Business in Ireland for four years. Previously, Anne worked at IBM for 16 years across a number of senior positions, including Vice President of Sales and Services for the Nordic Region, Sales and Services Director for IBM Ireland, Head of Channel, and Head of Infrastructure & Technology Services.

Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Studies, specialising in Accounting and Finance, and a Graduate Diploma in Computing, both from the University of Limerick. Anne is passionate about partnering with Irish organisations to work together towards an innovative and progressive digital world. 

Sharon Donnery was appointed Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation on 1 July 2022. She is an ex-officio Member of the Central Bank Commission and is a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the General Board of the European Systemic Risk Board As Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation, Sharon is responsible for leading the regulation and supervision of credit institutions, credit unions and payments/electronic money institutions and the insurance sector. She is responsible for overseeing the Bank’s horizontal risk, data and analytics and regulatory policy functions and is responsible for leading the Bank’s regulatory policy at national, European, and global level. Sharon also currently co-chairs the Financial Stability Board’s Open-ended Funds Working Group. Sharon was Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 1 June 2019 to 31 August 2019.

Sharon was previously Deputy Governor, Central Banking from 1 March 2016 to 30 June 2022 and was the Governor’s Alternate on the Governing Council of the ECB. She was responsible for leading the Bank’s work on economic analysis, monetary policy, financial operations, and statistics. She also led the establishment of the Bank’s resolution and crisis management function following the transposition of the Bank and Recovery Resolution Directive (BRRD). Sharon has extensive experience chairing international committees, including being the Chair of the ECB Budget Committee (BuCom), Chair of the ECB High Level Group on Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), Chair of the European Banking Authority's (EBA) Consumer Protection Group and Vice-Chair of the EBA Standing Committee on Consumer Protection and Financial Innovation.

Sharon has held a range of senior positions in the Central Bank. She was Director of Credit Institutions Supervision with responsibility for supervision of the Irish banking sector when the Single Supervisory Mechanism was being established. She was also an alternate member of the Supervisory Board at that time. She previously held the statutory position of Registrar of Credit Unions and was the Head of Consumer Protection. Sharon joined the Central Bank in 1996 as an Economist in the Monetary Policy Division. Prior to joining the Central Bank, Sharon lectured in economics at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Sharon holds a B.A. in Economics and Politics and a M.A. in Economics from University College Dublin and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors. In 2019, she was admitted to the Institute of Directors in London as a Chartered Director. In 2020, she was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Economics in Trinity College Dublin.
 

John is Chairman of Cairn Homes plc. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Computershare Investor Services ( Ireland ) Ltd , the National Concert Hall, a Senior Advisor in Alantra Credit Portfolio Advisors, Ireland and a Director/co-Owner of McGrory's Hotel, Donegal. He is a Patron of Chapter Zero Ireland,the Irish chapter of the Climate Governance Initiative.

He was previously Chief Executive of KBC Bank Ireland plc, and was also President of the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland and a member of the board of the European Banking Federation. A native of Culdaff, Co Donegal, he is an economics graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from UCD

Jim Power has worked as an economist in the private sector for over 35 years. He is owner manager of Jim Power Economics, an economic and financial consultancy, which he set up in 2009. He was previously Treasury Economist at AIB (1987-1991), Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland Group (1992-2000) and Chief Economist Friends First Group (2000 to 2018).

He is a board director of Love Irish Food and Arboretum Garden Centre. He is a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland. He successfully completed the Institute of Directors Diploma examinations in Company Direction in 2022. He teaches on the Executive MBA and the Full-Time MBA at Smurfit Business School, UCD. In February 2021, Jim and Chris Johns launched their own Podcast ‘The Other Hand’, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcasts hosts.

Gerry is a performance psychologist and also in more recent times been coined ‘The Soul Coach’. He has been in the human health and performance Field for almost 20 years

Gerry has been at the forefront of building high performance teams and individuals in Olympic and Professional, sport and corporate organisations. His vast experience has seen him prepare and lead teams for success at Olympic Games, Heineken cups, World cups, and World and European championships. He has worked and currently works with some of the world’s leading sports and business teams as well as coaching for high performing individuals.

He is a leading voice that is challenging us to rethink health and performance in a whole new way and his integrated approach is one of honesty, simplicity, and authenticity. Through his programs, events and key note speaking engagements, he helps clients strip away learned behaviours and thinking patterns and unclutter, clarify and overcome both internal and external obstacles and challenges, and ignite the best version of themselves from both a Mind, Body & Spirit perspective. In the corporate space, Gerry excels in creating dynamic, innovative and high performing organisational culture and behavioural focus that grows its people to achieve excellence in performance and leadership. Gerry brings an unrivalled wealth of honesty, experience, and infectious passion to everything he does. He has the ability to awaken, unlock and connect people and teams in a truly powerful manner.
 

Margaret holds a PhD in governance from University College Dublin (UCD). She is a specialist in the areas of corporate, banking and investment fund governance. Margaret has been an associate lecturer with the UCD Smurfit Business School since 2007, lecturing on the Professional Diploma in Corporate Governance in the areas of board roles and responsibilities, behavioural aspects of boards and executive remuneration and incentives.

She is currently Co-Academic Director of the Institute of Banking’s (IoB) Certified Bank Director Programme on an associate basis and lectures on bank governance on the programme. Margaret was the founding CEO and Academic Director of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute (CIFDI), a specialist institute of the IoB which focuses on raising professional standards in investment fund governance through its CIFD Programme.

Margaret serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several financial services organisations and has extensive board and board committee experience. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Fund Boards Council in the UK.

Imelda is a Chartered Director, and a practising solicitor with over thirty years’ experience. Imelda is Chairperson of Beauchamps, a top Irish commercial law firm where she previously served as Managing Partner. Imelda is Chair of the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board, a Trustee of the Iveagh Trust and a Board member of St Vincent's Hospital Group.

She is also an elected Council Member of the Law Society of Ireland and Chair of the Society’s Regulation of Practice Committee, and a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland's Professional Service Board.

She is a professionally qualified non-executive director, with experience as a board member in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Fiona is currently serving as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Eircom Holdings (Ireland) Ltd, Ireland’s premier communications company and of Wells Fargo Bank International UC, (the EU banking licence holder for Well Fargo) where she is a member of the Audit Committee and of the NomRem Committee. She is also a Member of the Board of the National Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Limerick, an IDA-funded initiative which showcases and supports the transition to digital manufacturing in Ireland.

Fiona was appointed by the Taoiseach in 2019 as a member of the Top-Level Appointments Committee (TLAC), a standing interview board which recommends candidates to Ministers and to Government for appointment at the most senior levels of the Irish civil service. She was also appointed by Government in 2018 to ‘Better Balance for Better Business’, a business-led working group examining gender representation in leadership of Irish business.

Previously, Fiona was Chair of the Audit Committee in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (2019-2022); a Trustee of the Irish Management Institute (2013 – 2021); and a Trustee of Pieta (2018-2022), a charity in Ireland focussed on the prevention of suicide and self-harm. As CEO of Ireland’s Public Appointments Service (PAS) from 2012 to 2018, Fiona was an ex-officio member of the Board of PAS and was a member of the Civil Service Management Board from 2013 - 2018. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA (Mod) in Economics and Political Science) and at University College Dublin (Masters in Public Administration), Fiona is a Chartered Director of the Institute of Directors (2017) and a Certified Bank Director of the Institute of Banking (2021).

Terry is the former CEO of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He previously held the positions of Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Valitacell Ltd which is now part of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, Deputy CEO in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, CEO Exceptis Technologies, Principle in the Boston Consulting Group (London) and CEO (Denmark) and Adjoint Operationnel (Paris) Servier Laboratories Ltd.

He is a Board member of Our Lady’s Hospice and Care Services. He is a former Chair of the European Vaccine Initiative and Deputy Chair of the Dublin University Dental Hospital. He is a former Board member of the National Treatment Purchase Fund and the Institute of Bankers. Terry qualified in medicine from Trinity College Dublin and holds an MBA (INSEAD), MSc Healthcare Ethics and Law, Diploma in Child Health, and Diploma in Corporate Governance (UCD). He is a Chartered Director of the Institute of Directors.

Caroline 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 20,000 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 30% Club, a campaign which is led by a group of business Chairpersons and CEOs taking action to increase gender diversity on boards and senior management teams.