GOVERNANCE

Siobhan O’Dowd Chairperson

Siobhan O’Dowd began her professional career in the arts, co-founding Ireland’s Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival and working with Pod Concerts for over a decade after earning a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin. She pivoted to the corporate world through an M.B.A. Sunday Times bursary scholarship at UCD’s Michael Smurfit School of Business. She later led Corporate Communications for Hewlett Packard in Ireland before a move to Accenture, where she has spent the last 14 years and currently leads a large Global Operations Team specializing in delivery and transformation.

Siobhan’s passion for palliative care and hospice is deeply personal. Her mother passed away from ovarian cancer while her father was also undergoing cancer treatment in 2016. Siobhan lives in Sligo with her husband, John, three children and an extended family of golden retrievers, cat, peacocks, rabbits, owl, three ponies and a horse, on which she competes with in amateur showjumping—with more enthusiasm than skill.

Eimear McGuire is a consultant psychiatrist working in Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Service. Her primary role is as a General Adult Consultant Psychiatrist, and she also serves as the clinical lead for SLEDS, the eating disorder service. Additionally, she is a fully trained GP and a member of both ICGP and RCPI.

Eimear is deeply passionate about ensuring that support at the end of life is available to all people and their families, regardless of their means. She feels honoured to be part of a board that is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to the people of the region.

Noel McLoughlin (Vice Chairperson)

Noel McLoughlin works in management in the estates department of the ATU, Sligo. He is a qualified engineer with a degree in Occupational Health & Safety & a maters in Energy Management. He has over 35 years’ experience in engineering. Initially he specialised in civil engineering. In the late 80’s he moved to London to take up a role as site engineer with a construction firm Durkan Homes specialising in house building. He worked there for 14 years initially as a site engineer and later moving into the role of Construction Director.

In 2001 he returned to Ireland so his children could be educated and experience growing up in Ireland. Since returning Noel’s work has mainly been in facilities management.

He is married with two adult sons. His main hobbies are in sport, badminton, golf, soccer & swimming.

Hubert McHugh began his professional training as a psychiatric nurse in 1975 and qualified in 1978. He spent the next 15 months working in the acute admissions unit at a hospital in Sligo. In 1980, he earned a degree in community mental health nursing from Letterkenny and Omagh and was subsequently appointed as a community mental health nurse for South Leitrim, where he served until his retirement in 2020. His work in the community was fulfilling, and he led numerous events promoting positive mental health and well-being, helping to destigmatise mental health illnesses.

In 2017, he co-founded “Leitrim’s Health Is Wealth,” a program that continues to thrive today. He was named Leitrim Person of the Year that same year. Throughout his career, Hubert also engaged in various voluntary activities, including work with the Simon Community, Leitrim Citizens Information, and school boards of management. He initiated the Men’s Shed in Killenummery and was involved in various initiatives within the parish of Killenummery and Killery. With a strong passion for palliative care, Hubert witnessed the exceptional support provided by hospices to many close friends and neighbours during their final days. As a result, he participated in numerous fundraising efforts for hospice care in both Ireland and the United States.

Hubert now resides in Drumkeeran with his wife, Christina. They have two daughters, Deirdre and Grainne, and five grandchildren: Connor, Chloe, Sean, Aaron, and Killian.

Susanne Kerins is the Chief Marketing Officer at Cora Systems, a global leader in enterprise project and portfolio management solutions. Headquartered in Carrick-on-Shannon, with offices in Dublin, London, and Atlanta, Cora helps organisations and government agencies worldwide deliver major transformation programmes.

As CMO, Susanne is responsible for driving revenue growth and expanding Cora’s global footprint, ensuring the company’s continued success and profitability.

She holds an MSc in Marketing from ATU Sligo and has over a decade of experience building predictability in high-growth environments. Her expertise spans operational management, cross-functional leadership, and executing go-to-market strategies.

Susanne lives in Collooney with her husband, Richard, and their two sons, Miley and Billy. The family is deeply involved in showjumping and runs Tubberbride Stables, their equestrian center in Collooney.

George Chadda, BSc(Hons) CEng FIEI

George Chadda graduated from the University of Kent, Canterbury with a degree in Communications Engineering. He initially worked in the UK  as a Design Engineer with Standard Telephone and Cables. Since then, he has worked in various roles in Eircom including Operations, Technical, Project and Programme Management.  With over 35 years experience in engineering, he has been responsible for the implementation of  national  strategic programmes in Eircom. He has also lectured on  a part-time basis in IT Sligo (now ATU). He is currently working  on a ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ project with the Central Statistics Office.

George is a Fellow member of Engineers Ireland and has served on the National Executive and Council of Engineers Ireland and also as Secretary, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the North West Region.

George lives in Co. Sligo with his wife, Nita. His three adult children have fled the nest. George enjoys walking and playing golf amongst other things. He is an avid Everton and a passionate Sligo Rovers fan.

Detta McNiffe studied Hotel and Catering Management at RTC Galway before gaining extensive experience in the Hotel and Catering sector, working in various hotel establishments across Ireland, the UK, Germany, and the US. Combining her passion for quality cuisine with her keen business acumen, Detta secured catering management positions at the Mater Hospital and Campbell Catering Company, where she honed her expertise in large-scale food service.

In 1988, Detta returned to her native County Leitrim to raise her family. With three children under the age of four, she and her husband Micheal established their own food business, McNiffe’s Bakery. The bakery has become renowned for its production of Traditional Irish Boxty, a specialty Irish dish, and has grown significantly over the years, with Detta and Micheal serving as managing directors. Today, McNiffe’s Bakery supplies all major retailers across Ireland, exports to the USA, and operates an online store offering next-day delivery to any home or address throughout the island of Ireland.

Along with growing the business and raising her family, Detta has always had a strong passion for helping people. Having experienced the loss of both her parents at a young age—her father at five years old and her mother at 20—along with the passing of three siblings to cancer, she feels a deep drive to support families going through life-changing situations. Detta is committed to making a difference by being involved with the North West Hospice.

Pat Naughton retired in 2022 after a long and varied career with ESB. Having graduated from UCD as a mechanical engineer, he joined ESB and began his career in a range of technical roles within the company’s Generation business. He later transitioned into line management, holding several senior management positions across the organisation. From 2012, Pat served as HR Director for ESB Group, where he had overall responsibility for Human Resources and SHE across the company.  Pat is also a member of the Governance, Nominations and People Committee of the Irish Hospice Foundation.

A native of Clara, Co. Offaly, Pat has lived in Sligo since 1996 with his wife, Mary, and their three now-adult children

John McElhinney. (MBA, BA (Hons.) B.Sc. Adv Dip, H Dip, Grad Dip,  RGN RMN CCRN)

John has worked in healthcare in Ireland and overseas starting in Psychiatric Nursing before moving on to General and Critical Care Nursing. Prior to returning to Ireland, John worked in Quality Improvement and Clinical Governance in the UK and continued in those area with roles at Sligo University Hospital and latterly in the Saolta Group and West North West Health Region. Academic achievements include an MBA from Smurfit Business School, BA (Hons) in Psychology and Political Science from the University of NSW, a B.Sc. in Health Sciences from Southern Cross University, NSW, and Graduate Diplomas in Healthcare Risk Management at UCD, in Medical Law from the Kings Inns and Quality & Leadership from RCPI.

When not working or studying John enjoys cycling, playing golf badly, hill walking, listening to music from all genres from rock to classical and is an avid sports fan and will watch any sport live or on television, even Cricket. John is based in Strandhill and has travelled extensively visiting countries or icebergs on every continent.

Shane Ward is a self-employed Chartered Accountant with over 30 years experience in Practice. He began his professional pathway with a Degree in Accounting and Finance followed by a Masters in DCU in 1995. Completing his training contract with BDO Simpson Xavier he progressed to manager within five years.

After a year in Australia Shane returned to his native Sligo where he spent 16 years with Gilroy Gannon managing audit assignments for some of the firm’s largest private companies and also assuming responsibility for audit compliance and strategic advice to a significant number of charities and not-for profit organisations. In 2018 Shane started his own practice.

Married with two children, Shane is a keen Sligo Rovers fan and coaches his daughters’ teams in both Gaelic and Football. He also acts as Treasurer for Calry St Josephs GAA and Cartron United. Once upon a time he even kicked a ball himself!

Jim McDonald has had a long and distinguished career in the NHS where he worked in senior clinical, managerial and executive roles, specialising in psychiatric service provision. From Glasgow originally, Jim is married to Liz who is from Sligo. He has always been committed to the development of sustainable, compassionate and inclusive services, and has a long track record in developing new services, as well as turning troubled services around.

Post his NHS career, he put his leadership skills and experience to good use as Director of a Mental Health management consultancy service, and for 6 years, as Chairman of the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS). This charity had extensive forensic and media exposure, undertaking complex and challenging projects and investigations in the fields of mental health, social care and the criminal justice system.

A lifelong Celtic supporter, Jim is also interested in travel, keeping fit and politics – he has extensive experience in local government, and was Chairman of his local council in the UK.  Now retired, Jim is delighted to have the time and the commitment to use his skills in furthering the endeavours of the charity.

Roger Murray

Roger is a solicitor and head of the Clinical Negligence Department of Callan Tansey. He has a wealth of knowledge on medical and legal issues. In 2020, he was one of the first solicitors in the history of the State to be awarded the title Senior Counsel. He lectures widely on the area of medical law and is co-author of the award -winning book Medical Inquests (Clarus Press, 2022). Roger is also a Board Member of Yeats Society Sligo.