Our Board of Directors

John Foley (Chairperson) 

John has extensive experience in senior leadership roles across a number of industries and has significant experience in leading and developing sporting organisations as CEO and Board member. John is a former CEO of Waterford Crystal and now operates as a business consultant. Since 2009, he has held the position of CEO/Interim CEO with a number of sporting organisations, namely Athletics Ireland, Cycling Ireland and Tennis Ireland.  

Páraic Duffy

Páraic has a lifelong experience of active involvement in sport, as both administrator and participant. From 2008 to 2018 he was Director-General of the GAA. As Director-General he provided a strategic and analytical perspective and developed policies on a wide range of issues for the Association.

His current roles in Irish sport include President of Ulster Schools GAA; independent member of the board of Ulster GAA; member of the Disputes Resolution Authority and Chairperson of the Judging Panel for the Federation of Irish Sport ‘Volunteers in Sport Awards’. He is Coaching Officer in his local GAA club, Scotstown. Páraic has extensive board and corporate experience and is a current member of the Institute of Directors. He is currently a director of Enterprising Monaghan and Chairperson of its Strategy Committee. He is also a director of Sport Ireland Facilities DAC.

Kevin Hoy 

Kevin is an experienced solicitor and was a partner with Mason, Hayes & Curran for more than 20 years. In 2020 he became a consultant, focusing on executive coaching and talent development within the firm. Kevin has been involved with sport in a voluntary capacity for many years and is also active in the wider voluntary sector.

Deirdre Mongan

Deirdre is an experienced Paralympic athlete with extensive international and high performance experience. She represented Ireland at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and has achieved medal success in European and World Championships. Deirdre is a Research Officer with the Health Research Board and is actively involved in leadership roles in disability sport as well as being a player and coach at grassroots level.  

Miriam O’Callaghan

Miriam has been a Senior HR Executive and Project Manager with the HSE with over 30 years’ experience in the health services at senior operational level and across various facets of HR, project management & services management. Her expertise includes Hospital and Community Services Management, Employee Relations, Pensions, Recruitment and Project Management.

She has been a member of a number of state boards – Employment Equality Agency, Broadcasting Complaints Commission, National Sports Campus Authority of Ireland - and is currently serving on CORU’s Physiotherapists Registration Board. Miriam has had significant involvement in sport over a long number of years as a player, administrator, referee and coach. She played a central role in the development and implementation of national strategic plans for the Camogie Association and was National President from 2003 -2006. She is currently a member of the Board of Offaly Sports Partnership and has served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2020.

Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh

Iognáid’s career has been in the fields of administration, research, academia and management. He is a former President of NUI Galway.  During his term of office, he led the University to a period of unprecedented growth in student numbers, capital developments, research income and philanthropic fundraising.  He served as Chair and Board member of the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUGB). His research has been published in international journals and he has served as a visiting professor at Stanford University, the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California, the University of Connecticut and Glasgow University. He has also served on many Boards in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He has been involved in athletics as a competitor at national and international level and was selected as Captain of the first (united) Irish team since 1937 to compete internationally in the European Cup, which was held in Santry in 1967. He also coached athletics, and served on the Board of Athletics Ireland. He plays golf and is currently chairman and Board member of Golfing Union of Ireland, which he has helped guide through the process of combining with the Irish Ladies Golfing Union leading to the establishment of Golf Ireland, a single body to promote the game of golf in Ireland.

Deirdre Ryan

Deirdre is Director of Sustainability and Quality Assurance (Origin Green) in Bord Bia where she is responsible for the management and development of the Bord Bia Quality Assurance programmes with 54,000 farmer and producer members and 300 Origin Green company members. As a member of Bord Bia’s Senior Leadership Team, she contributes to the ongoing corporate governance and budgetary management of the organisation, with a particular focus on the Quality Assurance Board. Prior to 2020 she was Head of Corporate Social Responsibility with Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland and Interim Head of Communications.

Deirdre was an international high-jumper with 13 years’ experience competing on the senior international stage of sport. She was an Irish Olympian at London 2012 and has competed at multiple European and World Championships, culminating in a 5th place position at the 2011 World Championship in Daegu. She holds the standing Irish Record of 1.95cm.

Michelle Tanner

Michelle works as the Director of Sport and Physical Activity in Trinity College Dublin where her work includes strategic development, management, staffing, resourcing and promotion of sport, infrastructural projects, representation, stakeholder engagement and planning, with a portfolio of 67 acres of outdoor sports and 13,000sqm of indoor sports facilities.

She is an active Board and committee member, holding officer positions within Student Sport Ireland and a strategy advisor to Volleyball Ireland. She is a current member of the World University Sports Federation (FISU) Gender Equality Working Group and she was the first Irish and first female President of the European Network of Academic Sports Services (ENAS). She has been a member of 3 European Union (EU) Expert Groups, executing the EU Work Plan for Sport, and has moderated panel sessions at the EU Sport Forums and other related events. She has a recent post graduate qualification in Governance and an MBA in Sports Management. Michelle is a former Irish international volleyball player, and is a current youth club coach, manager and national coach developer.

Liz Joyce

Liz Joyce is an experienced Non-Executive Director and Executive Coach with core capabilities in organisational effectiveness and development, people and culture leadership, governance, and transformation. She has held senior leadership or board level roles in FMCG, Infrastructure, Financial Services, Central Banking/Financial Regulation, Food Processing, the international and national NGO sector and a major national sporting governing body.  She is a Chartered Director (CDir) and has also recently been appointed as a non-Executive Director of Gas Networks Ireland. 

Michael Hand

Michael Hand has extensive experience over 40 years as a senior leader in the Consulting Engineering and Construction sectors in Ireland. He holds a Degree in Civil Engineering from University of Galway, a Masters in Business Administration from UCD and an Honorary Doctorate from TU Dublin. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Director. He has acted as Director and Managing Director of private, public and state companies, including 6 years as CEO and Director of Grangegorman Development Agency. He has a track record in the design and delivery of major strategic infrastructure projects throughout Ireland and has acted as a Non-Executive Director of EirGrid, Dublin Port Company, JB Barry Consulting Engineers and Irish Archaeological Consultancy.  He has been involved as a volunteer with Dublin GAA County Board, serving on its Strategy Committee and latterly serving as Infrastructure Strategy Implementation Committee member. He has also been a volunteer with Ballinteer St Johns GAA Club since 1992, and Edmondstown Golf Club since 2005, where he has worked on various committees and served 3-year terms as Chairperson for each.

Caroline Kelly

Caroline Kelly has over 15 years’ experience in marketing, branding and communications. She is currently Head of Marketing & Growth, Europe at Eudia, a US-headquartered AI company focused on enterprise legal and business transformation. Eudia acquired Irish-founded ALSP Johnson Hana in 2025, where Caroline previously served as Vice President of Marketing & Growth. In her role, she leads regional strategy, integrated communications and commercial marketing across Europe. Caroline also serves as a Non-Executive Director with Hand in Hand, a national children’s cancer charity, providing governance oversight and strategic input into communications and fundraising. A former national and international athletics competitor, Caroline has remained actively involved in sport and currently coaches underage camogie, reflecting her ongoing commitment to grassroots participation and athlete development.

Brendan Foster

Brendan Foster served as a partner, and Head of Advisory, in Grant Thornton until 2024 and has over 40 years of accounting experience. A former President of Dublin Chamber of Commerce, he is currently a member of the Residential Tenancies Board and member of its Audit & Risk Committee. He was previously Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee of Dublin City Council. Brendan has good knowledge of a wide range of sports with a particularly keen interest in cycling and is a regular participant in charity cycles. He also previously acted as accountant and advisor in the early establishment of The Irish Sports Council in 1999 and witnessed the development of structures and policies that would evolve into Sport Ireland.

Fiona Chambers

Fiona Chambers is Professor of Education, Sport and Innovation at UCC, bringing over 30 years of transformative experience to the role. Throughout her career, she has many positions of note, including current positions as President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the International Association for Research in Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP), Vice President of the European Council for Research in Physical Education and School Sports (CEREPS), Senior Advisor to the UNESCO Global Observatory in Gender Equality and Sport, UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS) Observer, and member of the Sport Ireland Coaching Committee. She was also the recipient of the 2023 inaugural Women in Business in Sport award at the Irish Sport Industry Awards.