Andy McCue
(Non-Executive Director, ex CEO Paddy Power)
Biography
Andy McCue
Andy has spent his career in multi-channel, multi-site consumer businesses. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of Paddy Power plc and The Restaurant Group plc. He has served on the Boards of Hostelworld plc and is currently a Non-Executive Director of Kindred Group plc, and is Chairman of three Irish private companies.
Anne Fleming
(Finance Director, Crownway Investments,)
Biography
Anne Fleming
Anne Fleming is Finance Director of Crownway Investments, a family office for the Gallagher Family.
In managing the assets of the Crownway Group, Anne has extensive experience across infrastructure, real estate and hotel and leisure sectors. Crownway has grown to become one of Ireland’s largest investment vehicles which also has significant investment holdings in Ireland, the UK, as well as Continental Europe. Crownway is also the owner of the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin of which Anne is a Director.
Anne is a Chartered Accountant having trained with PricewaterhouseCoopers and holds a B.Comm from the University of Galway and a Master of Accounting from University College Dublin. She is also a qualified barrister.
Bryan Bourke
(Chairperson AirNav Ireland)
Biography
Bryan Bourke
Bryan is a former Managing Partner of leading law firm William Fry. Bryan is now Chairperson and a non-executive director of AirNav Ireland, the Irish Air Navigation Service Provider.
Bryan was named ‘’European Managing Partner of the Year’’; at The Lawyer European Awards in London in 2018. He served on the National Council of IBEC from 2017 until 2020. He is also a non- executive director of the Irish Youth Foundation.
Bryan is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.
Cathal Friel
(Managing Director of Raglan Capital)
Biography
Cathal Friel
Cathal is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with a long and successful history and to date has listed five companies on the London Stock Exchange. Cathal is Managing Director of Raglan Capital and serves as Chairman and co-founder of both Poolbeg Pharma plc and European Green Transition plc. Poolbeg was established as a spin-off from hVIVO plc (formerly Open Orphan plc) in 2021, a company which Cathal also co-founded and served as Chairman until June 2025. Prior to this, Cathal co-founded Amryt Pharma plc which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 and dual listed on Nasdaq in 2020 and was later sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici for $1.48bn in April 2023. Prior to that, he was co-founder and Chairman of Fastnet Oil & Gas plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2012.
Cathy Bryce
(Managing Director, AIB Capital Markets)
Biography
Cathy Bryce
Cathy Bryce started her career in Investment Banking with Morgan Stanley and subsequently ABN AMRO.
She joined AIB in 1996 holding a range of leadership positions in lending roles across both International and Irish portfolios.
In 2018 she joined the National Treasury Management Agency as Director of the National Development Finance Agency and NewERA.
In 2019 she returned to AIB joining the Executive Management team of the Bank as Managing Director of Capital Markets, her current position. In this role, she leads the corporate and business areas of the Bank with teams that account for about one third of AIB’s assets and banking activities, including Goodbody Stockbrokers.
She is a business graduate of Trinity College Dublin, holds an MBA from INSEAD Business School and completed the General Management Program in Harvard Business School. Cathy is a member of the Finance Committee of Trinity College and the Advisory Board of Trinity Business School. She is also a member of the Diversity Committee for Leinster Rugby.
Cathy was recently appointed (September 2023) as the first female President of the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI)
David Carroll
(Founder / Investor / Board Member)
Biography
David Carroll
David Carroll is a founder, investor and board member with over 30 years’ experience across the life sciences, energy, chemicals and food and beverage sectors. He currently serves on the boards of multiple companies across Ireland, the UK and Asia.
David scaled the Induchem Group, which was originally founded by his parents, successfully leading its diversification and international expansion before a highly successful exit in 2019. David also founded SCRI-IS Technologies, a specialist life sciences engineering and analytics company supporting global pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device manufacturers.
David is passionate about building high-performance organisations through decentralised accountability, expert-led teams and a strong sense of ownership. His insights draw on first-hand experience of growth, transformation and value creation across international markets.
David Walsh
(Chairman, Halocare. Previous Co-Founder and Group CEO, Netwatch)
Biography
David Walsh
David Walsh is one of Ireland’s most renowned entrepreneurs. He co-founded Netwatch and as CEO grew it from a small start-up to a truly global organisation employing 560 staff and serving 250,000 customers across four continents. A graduate of UCD and Stanford University, David was voted Irish Times Business Person of the month in April 2018, the In-Business Magazine Businessman of Year 2019 and was awarded the inaugural National Enterprise Awards Outstanding Achievement Award 2021. At Netwatch, David assembled a world class team and developed a unique culture that led to 68 quarters of continuous growth and impacted the lives of customers across the World. He has since established another disruptive technology company called HaloCare with a vision to empower people to live independent and healthy lives at home for longer.
Edel Creely
(Non-executive Chair, Former Founder & CEO Trilogy Technologies)
Biography
Edel Creely
Edel Creely is a seasoned business leader and entrepreneur with more than three decades of experience in the Software and ICT Services sector. Her expertise spans Business Growth Strategy, M&A, leadership and people management, service operations, and sales and marketing. As the founder of Trilogy Technologies, she grew the company into one of Ireland’s top IT Managed Services providers, combining strategic acquisitions with strong organic expansion. In 2020, she oversaw Trilogy’s successful acquisition by Arkphire.
Today, Edel serves as a Non‑Executive Director and advisor to a range of scaling companies. She is Chair of IP Telecom, a Non‑Executive Director with Auxilion and Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, and a Trustee of Ibec. A long‑standing champion of indigenous enterprise, she has held prominent leadership roles including Chair of the Irish Software Association (Technology Ireland) and President and Board Member of Ibec. Her contributions to the sector have been widely recognised, earning her the Tech Excellence “IT Person of the Year” award in 2017 and Technology Ireland’s “Person of the Year” in 2020.
An engineer by training, Edel is also an accomplished violinist and performs regularly with the Hibernian Orchestra.
Eimear Moloney
(Non Executive Director)
Biography
Eimear Moloney
Éimear Moloney has a B.A. Accounting and Finance and MSc. Investment and Treasury from Dublin City University and is a fellow of
Elaine Coughlan
(Partner in Atlantic Bridge)
Biography
Elaine Coughlan
Elaine is a Founder and Managing Partner of Atlantic Bridge, a global fund headquartered in Ireland, €1.3 billion assets under management, with offices and
team in Europe and North America. Atlantic Bridge have a portfolio of over 115 companies across DeepTech sectors including semiconductors, cyber security,
industrial, consumer, climate, and healthtech. Elaine has 30 years of experience in industry as a founder, executive and investor scaling including Movidius (Acquired by Intel), and Decawave (Acquired by Qorvo). She successfully led as an executive three Nasdaq IPO’s creating €5bn in shareholder value for Parthus, Iona and Smartforce. She was a co-founder of Glonav a GPS semiconductor company (Acquired by NXP). Elaine was appointed by the Irish Government to the Board of Enterprise Ireland (2014-2022) and appointed by the British Government to British Patient Capital’s £395m Future Fund Breakthrough. She is also a Board member of Irish Life Health, one of Irelands largest health insurers which is part of Canadian Group Great West Life Co $1 trillion assets under management.
She has been named one of Forbes Europe 50, Europe’s Top 50 Inspiring Women in Technology, and awarded Outstanding Contribution to Industry by Chartered Accountants Ireland. Elaine is a director and member of Endeavor Ireland and volunteer with the Support Africa Foundation which provides training and micro funding to women in business in Ethiopia and a founding member of Level 20 to increase female participation in the investment industry. Elaine has a MSc in Corporate Governance, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a qualified Chartered Director.
Eleanor Blagbrough
(Co-Founding Partner, Blume Equity)
Biography
Eleanor Blagbrough
Eleanor is a co-founder of Blume Equity, the European climate tech growth firm. She has spent 20+ years supporting ambitious high-growth tech companies to scale, both as an investor and an advisor, and has been investing into Ireland for the last 15 years. Prior to Blume, Eleanor covered the Irish market for ECI Partners and also worked at McKinsey for many years supporting private equity businesses pre- and post-deal. Eleanor is a British and Irish citizen and has an MBA from Harvard.
Gary Mc Sharry
(Partner at McCann FitzGerald & Head of U.S. Office)
Biography
Gary McSharry
Gary advises on complex corporate transactions including Private Equity, public and private M&A, reorganisations, corporate governance and joint ventures. Gary has also spent several years in New York where he has developed particular expertise in advising US and international private equity clients on Irish investments including EQT, KKR, Apollo, TPG, Carlyle, TA Associates and Vista Equity Partners.
John Leahy
(Chairman of ENVEVO, JSM Group, GEV Windpower and Liftwerx)
Biography
John Leahy
John is a highly experienced Private Equity Chairman, Board Member, and Operating Partner. His career is marked by a consistent track record of driving value creation through strategic initiatives such as organic growth, buy and build strategies, business transformations, and turnarounds. He has successfully led and advised companies across diverse sectors including Energy Transformation, Industrials, Services, FMCG, and Healthcare.
Currently, he serves as Chairman of four PE backed businesses; ENVEVO, a leading ICP and EV charge point installer, JSM Group, which focuses on delivering integrated power and communications solutions, GEV Windpower, a leading wind turbine maintenance business, focusing on advanced technologies and Liftwerx which specialises in wind turbine major component exchanges using innovative crane-less technology.
Previously, as Partner & Head of Value Enhancement at DH Private Equity Partners, he specialized in working with management teams to enhance business value through strategic planning and organizational development. His board memberships at Zobele Holding, TMF Orange Holding, LM Group Holding, TV3 Television Network, and others have provided him with a unique skill set gained in industry, turnaround consulting, and private equity.
He’s passionate about clean energy and innovative technologies, and leveraging his experience to drive sustainable development.
John-George Willis
(Senior Advisor to Melior Equity Partners, Former Head of Corporate, Tughans )
Biography
John-George Willis
John-George Willis is a former Head of Corporate and Senior Partner at Tughans in Belfast. He founded Tughans’ Corporate Department and in each of his last four years at the firm, the Corporate team topped the Experian league table for notifiable transactions among Northern Irish firms with, on average, 32% of NI transactions. He currently sits on the Senior Advisory Board of Melior Equity Partners and chairs the Boards of Pivotal, the Irish and UK cash transit and ATM replenishment business and McKinstry Group, the County Antrim-based waste management business.
Leo Hamill
(Founder of SISU Advisory, Former Managing Partner, Investec Ventures and Former Chair of the IVCA)
Biography
Leo Hamill
Leo Hamill is the former Managing Partner of Investec Ventures, a role he held until April 2023, where he was responsible for the day-to-day management of the successful €75m Harcourt Venture Fund. He is a former Chairperson of The Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA), a position he held from 2022 to 2023. He was also a Director and Council Member of the IVCA from October 2019 to July 2024.
Leo has 25 years’ SME experience in the ICT sector, 18 years of which has been in the venture capital industry and 7 as an associate director in corporate finance with (NCB and Merrion).
He has domain knowledge and expertise in SaaS, enterprise SW & HW, business intelligence, data analytics, Fin-Tech, Reg-Tech, Ad-Tech, eCommerce, Web (social & search), online health, airline software and IoT Previous non-executive directorships have included Betapond t/a StitcherAds (sale to Kargo Media), Blue Tree Systems (sold to Orbcomm), Fenergo (sold to Insight Partners), Rainmaker Business Technologies (sold to Skymetrix), SIlverCloud Health (sold to Amwell) and TerminalFour Solutions amongst others.
He is a business studies graduate of Trinity College Dublin and holds an MBA from the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School at University College Dublin.
Leo is the Founder and Managing Partner of SISU Advisory, a boutique advisory practice providing corporate finance expertise, business acumen, corporate messaging and strategic direction to Founders and CEOs of indigenous SME’s seeking to scale and expand, de-risk or exit (in full or partially), succession plan and/or refine their product and service offering.
Marie Joyce
(CFO of Manchester Airports Group)
Biography
Marie Joyce
Marie Joyce is Group Chief Financial Officer of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the UK’s largest airport group. She has extensive senior leadership experience across infrastructure, energy, and listed companies, having previously served as COO & CFO of NTR plc and Senior Director of Strategic Planning at Élan Corporation plc.
Marie is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Staycity Group and has previously served on the boards of daa plc and Make-A-Wish Ireland, where she was Chair. She trained with Arthur Andersen and holds a B.Comm from the University of Galway and a Master of Accounting from University College Dublin.
Matthieu Boyé
(Group Head of Private Equity, Forvis Mazars)
Biography
Matthieu Boyé
Matthieu Boyé is Group Head of Private Equity at Forvis Mazars. He brings trust and agility to the firm’s work across countries and regions, leading the delivery of a full suite of audit and advisory services tailored to the private equity industry.
With over 20 years of experience, Matthieu has built strong relationships with funds, portfolio companies, and investors, supporting them at every stage of the investment cycle. His focus is on helping private equity firms and their portfolio companies succeed by providing clarity, insight, and practical solutions in a fast-changing market.
He works closely with teams across Forvis Mazars’ global network to ensure the right expertise and perspective are brought to each engagement. As an M&A professional, he supports his clients in all aspects of strategic development, including disposals, acquisitions, and capital raising.
Noreen Gallagher
(Board Advisor / Chair)
Biography
Noreen Gallagher
Noreen Gallagher is an accomplished CEO with 20+ years’ experience leading global brands across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Her diverse professional journey spans various countries and industries, encompassing both country-specific and regional management roles.
Noreen started her career in Unilever. She progressed through McCain Foods (Country Manager), Nike (various GM Roles EMEA), Triumph Intimate Apparel (Managing Director, UK & Ireland) and Glanbia Performance Nutrition (President, EMEA), before spearheading the start-up Plant It Food Co. as its CEO. Currently, she serves as advisor to private equity funds as NED/Chair in consumer-led businesses.
She is a business builder with a strong focus on building brands based on consumer insights. With the support of two key investors, Noreen used consumer insights and data to develop the strategy and product range for The Plant It Food Co. Since its inception in 2020, the company has successfully expanded its presence to six key markets globally, spanning both retail and food service channels. Noreen maintains an active role as a board member.
During her tenure at Glanbia Performance Nutrition, Noreen transformed the business from a specialty-focused business to a truly omnichannel business, reflecting changing consumer patterns. Noreen did this through innovation, digital capability and direct-to-consumer acquisition.
Noreen is married with two children. She is passionate about enabling education. She is an active supporter of www.educo.ie, a charity dedicated to gifting education – primarily by building schools in India for marginalised families.
Pat Flynn
(Ex Managing Partner and Founder FoD)
Biography
Patrick Flynn
Patrick Flynn founded Flynn O’Driscoll, Business Lawyers in 2002. In 1983 he graduated with an honors BCL law degree from University College Dublin. He was admitted as a solicitor in Ireland in 1987 and in England and Wales in 1996. In 2013 he completed an Advanced Leadership Management Programme with the Timoney Institute which is associated with IESE Business School.
Pat previously worked with A&L Goodbody, one of Ireland’s largest law firms. He is a former senior executive of Ulster Investment Bank (part of the RBS/NatWest Group) where he specialised in global structured finance transactions involving European and US companies. He has also worked in corporate finance in Ireland and in emerging markets, particularly the former CIS countries, for a UK business. Pat was head of the corporate law department in a top 10 Dublin law firm before leaving to establish Flynn O’Driscoll.
Pat has, in over 35 years of business life, acquired considerable transactional experience in acting on corporate mergers, investments, acquisitions and financings. He is practical, with excellent business skills and he brings these, together with a wide range of friendships and business relationships to day to day problem solving for clients. Over the years he has advised companies and shareholders on wide ranging issues including disputes and is recognised as an excellent solutions driven lawyer.
Pat is a member of the Law Society of Ireland, the Dublin Solicitor’s Bar Association and the Irish International Business Network (IIBN), both in Dublin and London and the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce. Pat’s current directorships include being chairman of Primary Health Properties PLC’s Irish interests in the primary care sector, Chairman of Spark Venture Funding, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and Chairman of Optahaul, a global agri tech business. He is strategic adviser Ireland to HF-Law, the leading UK insurance law specialist backed by CBPE. He also provides consultancy and management advisory services to a number of professional service firms. He served on the Board of Directors of Enterprise Ireland for a four year term, 2014 – 2018. Enterprise Ireland is the Irish Government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets and is one of the biggest early stage venture capital businesses in the World. He served to June 2023 on the Executive Committees of the Law Exchange International, the International legal network of 34 global law firms comprising of 1,733 lawyers.
Pat Gaynor
(Non Executive Director and ex Bank of Ireland)
Biography
Pat Gaynor
Pat is a former Managing Director at Bank of Ireland, Corporate Banking where he headed up its Irish and UK corporate lending businesses having retired from
that position in 2020.
He is a recognised senior leader and influencer in banking and financial services with over 40 years’ experience across retail banking, credit risk, business and corporate banking, both domestically and internationally and across all sectors.
A Fellow of both the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and the Institute of Bankers and a 2017 graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme, Pat is a Non-Executive Director of Dairygold Co-Operative Society, the ESB and several Irish private companies.
He is also a Trustee of the Bank of Ireland Staff Pension Fund.
Sarah-Jane Larkin
(Director General of IVCA)
Biography
Sarah-Jane Larkin
Sarah-Jane has been Director General of the IVCA since Jan 2018. The IVCA is the representative body for venture capital and private equity firms on the island of Ireland, it’s full members are the venture capital and private equity firms that provide equity funding to growing unquoted companies.
Sarah-Jane was formerly commercial director of MSD and Johnson & Johnson Medical. She has worked at director level in the healthcare and medical device sectors for over a decade for organisations including J&J, Sisk Healthcare and the Irish Medical & Surgical Trade Association. A graduate of UCD, she holds an MBA from the Smurfit Business School.
Tom Wrenn
(Managing Partner, ECI Partners)
Biography
Tom Wrenn
Tom is a Managing Partner at growth focused private equity firm ECI Partners where over nearly 20 years he has had the pleasure of backing some amazing management teams across the tech ecosystem from software to telecoms, digital marketplaces to adtech and everything in between. ECI is currently investing its 12th fund (€1.2 billion) and will be investing it in businesses valued up to €350m enterprise value.
Tomás O’Leary
(Founder and CEO, Origina)
Biography
Tomás O’Leary
Tomás O’Leary is the Founder and CEO of Origina, a global leader in independent software maintenance. Since establishing Origina in 2012, he has transformed the industry by giving enterprises a reliable alternative to vendor support – helping them break free from vendor lock-in and realise greater value from their software investments.
A recognised thought leader in the secondary ICT market, Tomás co-founded Free ICT Europe and Free ICT USA to champion fair competition, transparency and IT user rights. He has played a leading role in advancing a more open, sustainable and customer-focused service ecosystem.
Committed to sustainability, Tomás advances Origina’s mission by promoting resource efficiency and longer technology lifecycles across the tech industry. His work reinforces the connection between customer choice, reduced waste and more responsible digital infrastructure.
Tomás continues to lead with bold vision, driving meaningful change in enterprise software through innovation, advocacy and sustainability.
Zac Tsai
(Partner, Synova)
Biography
Zachary Tsai
Zac is a Partner and Investment Committee member of Synova, a technology and growth focused Private Equity fund with c.€2bn AUM. Zac, a software engineer by background, co-leads Synova’s Software & Data Team having previously advised private equity houses and European companies whilst at global investment bank, Alantra, and in the M&A division of PwC. Zac holds a Masters in Software Engineering and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. Zac is currently a Non-Executive Director of Klearcom, Expana, Kinexio and Oakland and previously, Tonic Games Group, Defaqto and 4Ways Diagnostics.
