Board of Directors

Ciarán is a corporate lawyer with 30 years’ experience. He is a former partner, Chair and member of the management committee of Arthur Cox LLP one of Ireland’s leading law firms. He is a director of Early Onset Parkinson’s Disease CLG and has a number of other private company directorships. 

Ray is a proven business leader with strategic vision, who has built, motivated diverse teams and driven growth in Revenues and profitability. He has strong interpersonal skills which have enabled him to engage and grow strong teams, build lasting client and business relationships. He has used business acumen and strategy development skills to build and turn around businesses as well as harmonising diverse businesses, teams and individuals. He has brought commercial insight, energy and decisiveness to every role he has held; whilst ensuring that strong governance, risk management and accountability are at the core.

Anthony is a public health specialist, with background in paediatrics. He is the professor of Health Systems in the School of Nursing and Human Sciences in DCU. His work lies in the uses of health information, and he has worked on disability issues, in particular working on autism, and intellectual disability. He is a Chartered Director, and an experienced non-executive director, and board chair.

Ken is an Electrical chartered  Engineer and current holds the role of Chief Estates & Facilities Officer /Energy Officer with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Ken has 40 years experience in the Estates and property sector with specific skills In the areas of the build environment, procurement and environmental and sustainability sector. He also holds  Board Management experience as Chair of St Michael House Housing Association and has, up until recently held a position on the Board of Assets Skills Scotland.

Shahla is the Head of Digital Innovation at RCSI, with proven leadership skills in many diverse and complex business environments. Her career spans multiple sectors and global organisations, including technology, finance, education, and consulting. She thrives on complexity and solving problems across multiple jurisdictions, matrix structures and diverse business cultures. 

Pivotal to her success is proven experience in motivating and leading diverse teams across all levels of global organisations, whilst ensuring strong governance is in place.

Expertise:  Extensive change management, process improvement, strategic planning, risk management, building effective team structure, budget management, business, and IT global programme management.

Liam O’Donohoe held a number of senior positions with Enterprise Ireland including Director of Human Resources. He has qualifications in Psychology, Human Resources and Business Strategy. He brings extensive experience of helping leading Irish companies to develop their strategies and the organisation and leadership development necessary to achieve their growth objectives.

Currently President of Leinster Tennis Branch of Tennis Ireland. He led the creation of the Enjoy Tennis Programme, which has brought the opportunity to access tennis for players with a disability to over 1,000 players in 70 tennis clubs. This project originated with three of the St Michael’s House centres and continues to grow.

Until retirement, Tom was a Director of the CIRCA Group Europe Ltd. – a company specialising in the management and policy requirements of academic and industrial research and innovation. This work was carried out mainly for the major EU Research Programmes, the EU Research Advisory Board, individual universities and national research bodies across Europe. He has extensive experience of the development of strategy for a variety of public agencies. He was also an external lecturer in “Technology & Innovation Policy” in University College Dublin for over a decade. Tom’s daughter is a service user of St. Michael’s House.

Jean is a graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. She has over 38 years experience working as a Specialist Physician in Intellectual Disability Services including Saint Michael's House and AVISTA Services. Her areas of interest are addressing the health needs of adults with Intellectual Disability including early diagnosis and timely access to medical care management. She has a special interest in Dementia and Epilepsy. Jean was a member of the Consultant Advisory Group for the National Clinical Care Programme in Epilepsy Care and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA)

In addition to overseeing and providing medical services she has served on and chaired many committees on an organisational level including Infection Control, Medication and Therapeutics and Health and Safety.

 Jean has continually been involved over the years in the ongoing delivery of education to Medical, Nursing and Care staff.  During her tenure in Saint Michael’s House Jean developed and delivered the Safe Administration of Medication (SAM) course which continues to be requisite training for Care staff.

Denis is a Chartered Accountant. He is a former Partner and member of the leadership teams of PwC Ireland. He brings significant financial and business experience having served as an Audit and a Deals partner over his years in PwC. He has a number of other private company directorships.  

Dee is a Chartered Accountant and has worked both in practice and industry where she gained significant experience in financial accounting and financial analysis . Previous roles include working as a project director on a large public sector contract and senior finance roles in both the public and private sector. She is currently employed by Chartered Accountants Ireland as a Senior Accountancy Professional.

Dee also has experience working with young people as she is chairperson of a youth choir and has worked on a number of school and fundraising committees.

Máirtín is a Chemical Engineer with Senior Management experience in many CRH companies. He has served on a variety of Boards, both as a Director and Chairperson.

He has been involved in Disability issues for many years. Máirtín's son, Niall, is a user of St. Michael's House Day Services. He was very active both as President of South Dublin Chamber of Commerce and as a Director Of Chambers of Commerce Ireland, where he played a lead role in initiating and developing the very successful National Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Scheme.

After training as an accountant, Eoin McVey spent his career with The Irish Times, starting as a Financial Journalist.  As Managing Editor and a Director, Eoin gained legal and accounting experience and through his journalism acquired considerable knowledge of communications and media relations.

In non-executive roles with RTE, the RDS and An Garda Siochana, he served on Audit & Risk Committees and is very familiar with their operations and goals.  He is Chairperson of the National Library of Ireland.

Dr. Susan is Associate Professor, Nursing, Midwifery and Community and Public Health, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University. Susan’s extensive experience has enabled her to innovate and implement new processes and solutions to meet service needs. These include clinical practice, academic, managerial, policy in national leadership arenas, within several Irish and UK settings.

She has excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills, enabling innovative, positive working relationships across a wide range of stakeholders including the HSE, Government Departments, non-statutory organisations, regulatory bodies, staff union associations, and teaching universities both nationally and internationally.

Karl has worked in St. Michael’s House since 2003 in a variety of different management roles and as the Organisations Staff Education, Development and Training Officer.

Prior to joining St. Michael’s House he worked for a number of different community and disability organisations and 10 years in the Financial Services field. He has a degree in Human Resource Management and a degree in Training and Education.