HSE Board Members


	Ciarán Devane – Chair Executive Director of the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University and Chair of Clore Social Leadership. Formerly the Chief Executive of the British Council and Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support. Recipient of a knighthood in the UK for services to cancer patients.
	Tim Hynes Tim Hynes, Group Chief Information Officer for AIB, has a broad range of experience across a number of disciplines, including brand marketing, operations, change management, and technology. He has 30 years’ experience in blue chip organisations where he has held both regional and global roles, leading teams spread across more than 40 countries. Tim holds a Masters in Executive Leadership from Ulster University, is a qualified bank director, and Fellow of the Irish Computer Society.
	Aogán Ó Fearghail Aogán Ó Fearghail was GAA President from 2015 to 2018. A former primary school Principal, he currently works as a School Placement Tutor with DCU. As GAA President he led the association through a period of transformational change, establishing strong financial security and increasing participation rates with enhanced public confidence in the Association. He also, in conjunction with health promotion agencies, introduced a Health Promotion Unit at Croke Park and initiatives which focussed on physical and mental health issues. Aogán has a lifetime experience of delivering transformational change at a national, regional and local level. He possesses wide experience of corporate governance, change management, financial planning and stakeholder management.
	Dr Yvonne Traynor Dr Yvonne Traynor was vice president of Regulatory & Scientific Affairs with Kerry Group. Prior to that, she held a number of global and regional leadership positions with German consumer goods company, Henkel. She has a particular interest in organisational transformation, risk management and delivering excellent customer experience. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin which, notably, resulted in a patent for the Nicotine Patch, as an aid for smoking cessation. Later, she obtained a Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance and an MSc in Executive Leadership. She is also a chartered director and has several years board experience, including the role of chairperson of the audit, risk and compliance committee of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service.
	Brendan Whelan Brendan Whelan was CEO of Social Finance Foundation up to 2023, which provides loan funding to organisations in the community and charitable sector. Prior to this role, he was part of Senior Management in Bank of Ireland responsible for Operations, ICT and HR. He is a graduate in Commerce from University College Dublin, a graduate in Management from Stanford University and a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland. He was appointed Adjunct Professor within Cork University Business School in the College of Business and Law in 2024. With a daughter and grandson with additional needs, he has a passion for helping individuals with additional needs,. This passion is reflected in his being Chair of Special Olympics Ireland for eight years up to 2023 and his involvement in two local Special Olympic clubs. He is also Chair of St. Catherine’s Association, a Section 39 disability organisation in North Wicklow and Patron of the related St. Catherine’s Special School. Besides his collective accountability as a member of the HSE Board, he sees the achievement by the HSE of a fit-for-purpose disability service as a specific accountability of his.
	Anne Carrigy A nurse by profession, having specialised and worked in Intensive Care, she moved into nursing management as Director of Nursing and Head of Corporate Affairs at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin. She then joined the HSE as Director of the Serious Incident Management Team and subsequently became National Lead, Acute Hospital Services HSE. She has served on both National and International Boards and Committees over many years including serving as President of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland; Board Member of ENDA (European Nurse Directors Association); President of FEPI (European Federation of Nursing Professions); Council Member of the Medical Council of Ireland; Board Member of HIQA (Health, Information and Quality Authority); and Member of the Governing Body of Letterkenny Institute of Technology. She is passionate about patients and has advocated for patient centred care, having dedicated her life to improving patient care services.
	Matt Walsh Matt is an experienced HR professional who has held senior HR positions in multi-national, semi-state and NGO organisations. He has worked in soft drinks, aerospace, technology, pharmaceutical, and aid and humanitarian sectors. He now works as an Associate Partner at Stratis Consulting. Matt believes that building strong relationships and high trust environments are the basis of delivering business results in the long term. He focuses on developing HR strategies that deliver organisational performance and has a particular interest in the role of organisational culture, employee relations and communications, staff development, talent management, and leadership development. An experienced non-executive director, Matt has expertise in corporate governance and risk management. He holds an MBA and MSc in Human Resource Development, an Advanced Diploma in Applied Employment Law, and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors in Ireland.
	Lily Collison Lily Collison is a long-time advocate for cerebral palsy care. She has a Master’s degree in Science and is Program Director at Gillette Children’s Healthcare Press working on a series of books on childhood-acquired physical and neurological conditions. Lily’s adult son has spastic diplegia. She previously authored Spastic Diplegia–Bilateral Cerebral Palsy (2020) and co-authored Pure Grit: Stories of Remarkable People Living with Physical Disability. She is a member of the Board of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. With a background in science, her 30+ year career included senior management positions in industry and education. Lily was Founder and Managing Director of SQT Training Ltd, Limerick, Lecturer in Quality Management, Atlantic Technological University (formerly IT Sligo), and Quality Assurance Manager, Abbott Laboratories Sligo.
	Michael Cawley Michael Cawley is a Qualified Chartered Accountant and has formerly acted as Chairperson of Linked Finance and Fáilte Ireland, the Chair of the Audit Committees of both Flutter (formerly Paddy Power Betfair) and Kingspan. Michael served as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of Ryanair from 2002-14. Michael currently holds the following external appointments: Hostelworld (Chairperson), Gowan Group Limited (Board Member) and is a former Board member of PrepayPower, Clancourt, Ryanair and Winthrop Technologies.
	Kenneth Mealy Kenneth Mealy is a consultant general surgeon and is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin. His surgical training took place in Dublin and the UK. Kenneth was a Research Fellow in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School from 1987 – 1989. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in Surgery/Honorary Consultant in the University of Edinburgh in 1996, prior to taking us the post of Consultant General Surgeon in Wexford General Hospital in 1998. In 2020 he was appointed Clinical Director for Transplant and HPB services in St Vincent’s University Hospital. Kenneth has a long interest in performance management and quality improvement in surgery and has published widely on these and other surgical topics. He is a former President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Previously he was Joint Lead of the National Clinical Programme in Surgery and also chaired the Forum of Irish Postgraduate Medical Training Bodies. Kenneth was instrumental in setting up the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) in 2012 and is currently Chair of the NOCA Board. He also Chairs the Medical Intern Board.