Building Better Boards Panel Discussion - 18th October 2011

Date: 18 October 2011 Venue: Minerva Suite, RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Cost: Free to IoD members

As part of the IoD’s stated objective of improving corporate governance standards in Ireland and the performance of boards of directors, the Institute is holding a panel discussion Building Better Boards which will deal with a range of topics which impact on boards in Ireland.

The discussion will address areas of best practice to which boards should adhere, examine the process of selection and appointment to all boards, seek to identify the boardroom mistakes of the past and how we can change and plan for the future and discuss the importance of director training and the need for diversity and balance in the boardroom.

The discussion, which will include audience participation, will be facilitated by Eileen Gleeson, non-executive director.

Registration and tea/coffee from 8.00am to 8.30am. Panel discussion with audience participation from 8.30am to 10am.

The Panel

Gerry McGinn, Managing Director, First Trust Bank
Gerry McGinn is Managing Director of First Trust Bank, AIB Group, Northern Ireland Business. He was previously Chief Executive of Irish Nationwide Building Society from June 2009. Gerry was a Permanent Secretary in the Northern Ireland Civil Service for 6 years and overall has 26 years experience in the banking sector. He has been a member of a number of boards and is currently on the board of Invest Northern Ireland.

Margaret Sweeney, Non-executive director
Margaret Sweeney is a non-executive director and independent consultant. She is the former Chief Executive of Postbank and the Dublin Airport Authority (Aer Rianta). Margaret is currently a non-executive director on a number of boards including Bramshott Managment Limited, Teagasc, Fas (to be transformed to the new Further Education Authority, Solas) and Dublin City University, where she has also been appointed to the Enterprise Advisory Board. She has also served on the boards of Birmingham, Dusseldorf and Hamburg Airports and the Shannon College of Hotel Management. Margaret is a Chartered Accountant and spent 15 years working with KPMG. She is currently a member of International Women’s Forum and is a former president of Dublin Chamber of Commerce 2008/9.

Vincent Sheridan, Non-executive director
Vincent Sheridan retired as Chief Executive of Vhi Healthcare during 2008 after seven years in that role. Prior to that he was Group Chief Executive of the Norwich Union Insurance Group in Ireland for ten years. He is a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, the Irish Insurance Federation, the Insurance Institute of Ireland and the Irish Association of Investment Managers. He was a director of the Irish Stock Exchange for nine years to June 2004. He is also a former council member of the International Federation of Health Plans and the Financial Reporting Council in the UK. He serves as a director on the boards of a number of companies, including FBD Holdings plc, Beazley Plc, Canada Life Ireland, Mercer Ireland and Trulife Group.

Tom Byrne, IoD President
Tom Byrne was formally appointed to the position of President of the Institute of Directors in Ireland at the AGM in June 2011 and will serve a two-year term. He is a Chartered Director, a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. He set up Abaris Corporate Advisers Limited in 2001. Prior to that he was Head of Corporate Finance at Davy Stockbrokers, a position he held from 1987 to 2001. Before joining Davy, Tom was a partner in Arthur Andersen & Co. He has also been Chairman of Acumen & Trust Limited since 2007. Tom is on the board of the Irish Takeover Panel and is a non executive director of a number of both quoted and private companies. He holds a B.Comm degree from UCD.

Eileen Gleeson, Facilitator
Eileen Gleeson is non-executive Chairman of communications consultancy Weber Shandwick Ireland, a firm she founded in 1989 and was Managing Director until 2003. Eileen is a Chartered Director and an Assessor with the Institute of Directors’ Board Performance Evaluation Service. She is a non-executive director of Ulster Bank Group, the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship and the Coombe Women and Infants' University Hospital. She was Special Adviser to President Mary McAleese from 1997 to 2004.