The Board of Directors meets on a quarterly basis and is responsible for the management of the organisation. All directors serve on a voluntary basis.
Aidan O’Mara Chairman
Aidan O’Mara is the Principal Consultant at OMaraHR. He is a former Head of Human Resources at Grafton Group plc 1990-2009. He has been a member of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) since 2008 and he: • is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; • is a Certified Mediator on the NRM National Register of Mediator’s; • is a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland; and • holds a M.Sc. (Mgmt.) degree from Trinity College Dublin.
Emer Moriarty Crowley Vice Chair
Emer Moriarty Crowley is a senior Corporate Lawyer and a partner in Beauchamps, and has over thirty years experience specialising in corporate law, governance and business transformation. She was previously Deputy General Counsel at Aviva Ireland. Emer has extensive experience in providing advice to major Irish and international corporations and she holds a Diploma in Corporate Governance from UCD’s Smurfit Business School.
Vincent Brett Board Member
Vincent Brett is a Qualified Financial Adviser as approved by the III and LIA and has more than 30 years' experience in financial services. As Director with Willis Risk Services, he is responsible for providing independent financial planning advice on: • employee benefits • retirement counselling • inheritance planning life • serious illness • investment and ancillary services. He has served on: • the Executive of the National Youth Council of Ireland • the Youth Forum of the European Community Executive • the National Parents Council of Ireland (Post primary) • many community and Educational committees. He is currently a council member of the Irish Brokers Association (IBA) and Chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
Mary Connaughton Board Member
Mary Connaughton M.A., FCIPD is Director of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in Ireland and is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute. Mary's focus is on developing the contribution of the human resources (HR) profession in Ireland, and how it adapts and champions better working lives. Mary previously headed up HR development services in IBEC, where she worked with leaders on the development of HR practices. She started her career as a psychologist in the civil service. Mary then moved to FAS and Bank of Ireland Life where she worked on training and development interventions, before moving into consulting. In consultancy, Mary worked across the public and private sectors on strategic HR and leadership development initiatives. Mary is passionate about developing people and workplaces to be at their best.
Paddy Keating Board Member
Paddy Keating was employed as a trade union official for over 35 years, working as General Secretary of the Irish Tax Officials Union, Deputy General Secretary of the Union of Professional and Technical Civil Servants and National Secretary/General Manager of IMPACT, a mainly public sector trade union. Paddy has also worked for the Revenue Commissioners. As a trade union official he dealt with a wide range of industrial, work organisation and socio-economic issues. He was also involved in negotiations with government departments on many employment legislation and socio-economic matters, including tax and pension policy. His role as General Manager in IMPACT involved responsibility for: • union finances • investments • premises • procurement • membership services • IT systems • data protection. He has been a member of: • the Board of the Equality Authority • the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority • the Dept of Finance’s Public Private Partnership Informal Advisory Committee • Dublin City Council’s Efficiency Audit Group. He is currently a trustee of two pension schemes and a lay member of the Law Society’s Complaints and Client Relations Committee.
Ray Kenny Board Member
Ray Kenny is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) with a Diploma in Risk Management, Internal Audit and Compliance, a Marketing Diploma (IMI) and an Advance Certificate in Business Counselling (Durham University). He retired in December 2016 following 13 years as Director Finance & Administration of Clongowes Wood College, the Jesuit boarding school based in Clane, Co Kildare. He has experience of not-for-profit and charity organisations and has held executive board positions in the aviation industry, SME consultancy and general engineering sector.
Frank O’Riordan Board Member
Frank O’Riordan has 30 years’ experience in the asset management and funds management industry. He has operated at Senior Management and Board level. Frank has managed client assets at Chief Investment Officer (CIO) level and has served both as CEO and Chairman of an asset and funds management business. Frank is: • President of the Securities and Investments Institute in Ireland (CISI) • a Trustee of the AIB Ireland Pension Scheme • Independent Director of five Irish domiciled Authorised Funds. These include both UCITS and AIFM regulated funds with assets of over several billion euro under management across the investment spectrum. Frank chairs three of these funds. Frank is also a Director of the Retirement Planning Council. Frank has extensive experience in running a complex business with operations in Ireland, the UK and the US. He also has direct hands-on experience and responsibility for investment management, risk management and governance. He has been approved by the Central Bank of Ireland for these functions. He has more than 17 years’ experience operating at Board level.
Dr Brigid M. Milner Board Member
Dr Brigid Milner has worked as a full-time academic in the field of Strategic HRM for more than 25 years. She currently lectures within the School of Business in Waterford Institute of Technology. She has also worked in India and France as a Visiting Professor. From 2014 to 2015, Bridgid was Head of the Management Group in Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, a Chinese-UK joint venture based in Suzhou, China. Parallel to her academic career, Brigid has worked extensively as a specialist human resources (HR) consultant across the private, public and semi-state sectors. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and has contributed to CIPD in both Ireland and the UK. She has been a member of the CIPD Ireland Executive, and the Irish representative on CIPD (UK) main policy making committee. Brigid is particularly interested in the area of retirement and specifically partial retirement and the opportunities this gives both individuals and organisations. Brigid holds a BA (Hons) in Personnel Management; a Masters in Business Studies; a PhD. She is a certified as both an Executive Coach and Workplace Mediator.
Ciara Lyons Board Member
Ciara Lyons is a senior marketing professional with over 20 years' experience in driving strategy and growth for several large multinational and national IT software companies world-wide. She initially spent the first 10 years of her career working for the Bank of Ireland Group before embarking on an international marketing career as a Director of Marketing driving business development in Europe, Middle East and America. Ciara has extensive experience in scaling a business towards customer value and holds a BSocSc from University College Dublin in Social Sciences; a postgraduate Diploma from the UCD Michael Smurfit Business School in Business and International Marketing and most recently a Post Graduate from UCD in Innovation, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Ciara is passionate about social enterprise and education.
Joan Bray Board Member
Joan retired in 2018 from a career spent in the area of pensions and employee benefits. Having worked on the management of pension and employee benefit plans in both the consultancy and insurance sides of the business Joan spend the latter part of her career in the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, and retired in the role of the Deputy Ombudsman. Joan is a former Council member of the Irish Institute of Pensions Management and held a Fellowship designation up until her retirement. Her broad experience in the practicalities and problems of preparing for retirement is an asset she brings to the Council.