IoD Faculty

Eileen has been a director of 16 companies over the past thirty years in business, at chair, non-executive and executive levels.

She has advised some of Ireland's leading business and political leaders on communications and public affairs, including a seven-year period as Adviser to President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. Eileen has served as a non-executive director on State boards, plcs, financial services organisations and family businesses.

Jim Breslin advises leaders, boards and governments on strategic decision-making, innovation and governance to accelerate their business transitions. He holds a range of directorships and advisory roles across the private, not for profit and public sectors including as Chair of Renewable Energy Ireland (a partnership between Ireland’s leading sustainable energy associations) and as a Board member of the Expert Oversight Body of the Defence Forces, St.Vincent’s Healthcare Group, Ashdale Care and others.

He was appointed by the Government to Chair the Local Democracy Task Force. He enjoyed a 30-year career in the Irish senior public service including as Secretary General of three different Government Departments. His qualifications include a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, an MSc (Econ) from Trinity College, a Certificate in Business and Climate Change from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge and a Diploma and Certificate in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors. He held a Policy Leader Fellowship at the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge.

Dr Margaret Cullen holds a PhD in governance from University College Dublin (UCD). She is a specialist in the areas of corporate, bank and investment fund governance. Margaret is a governance adviser to the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Ireland, an experienced Board Assessor with IoD’s Board Evaluation Service and and member of IoD’s faculty for the delivery of customized governance education and workshops.

Margaret is Programme Director of UCD Smurfit Executive Education’s Diploma in Corporate Governance. She lectures on the programme in the areas of governance paradigms and practice, role and responsibilities of the board, sustainability and stakeholder management, investor stewardship, behavioural aspects of boards and executive remuneration and incentives. Margaret is Academic Director for the Institute of Banking’s (IoB’s) Certified Bank Director Programme on an associate basis and lectures bank governance on the programme. She is a fellow of the IoB.

Margaret serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several organisations and has extensive board and board committee experience. She is also a member of the Company Law Review Group.

Simon is also a trainer on our IoD Essentials Workshop Series and leads our ESG course, and is programme lead for strategy for the Institute of Directors UK.

Simon has an MBA from Durham University Business School and a PhD from Strathclyde Business School. He is a Visiting Professor at Durham where he leads the Strategic Management module of its Global MBA programme. Simon's international strategy consulting work covers clients in the private, public and third sectors.   His book, Strategic Decision Making, co-written with Dr Ben Shenoy, was published by Kogan Page in 2018.

A Certified Bank Director, Carol has extensive experience from senior roles in Business & Corporate Banking at Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank.  She now serves as a non-Executive Director at BCM Global ASI Ltd and is Chair of the Audit Committee of the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine.  She is a Patron of Chapter Zero Ireland and a member of the Balance for Better Business Review Group.

Previously, she was Chair of An Post, Chair of Utexam Solutions Ltd and served on the boards of The Coombe Women & Infants Hospital, the Health & Safety Authority, and the Institute of Banking. She holds qualifications in Finance, Strategy, and Innovation from UCC and an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching. Carol is a Fellow of the Institute of Banking and previously held the position of Vice President.

Marie is also a trainer on our IoD Essentials Workshop Series and is an Assessor on the IoD's Board Evaluation service.

Marie is a Chair of Home Building Finance Ireland DAC, Bank of Ireland's Dawson MT dac and New Irelands Master Trust. She is an independent non-executive director with Dunnes Stores PT ULC and is Board of Trustees Chair with the Trinity College Dublin Foundation. Marie is an independent member of the Communications Regulator (ComReg) Audit and Risk Committee.

Marie holds a Post Grad Dip in Corporate Governance from University College Dublin (UCD) and an MBA from Trinity College and is a Fellow of The Chartered Governance Institute in the UK. 

Dr Wieke Scholten is a social and organisational psychologist with 20 years of experience in behavioural analysis in organisations, of which 12 years in financial services. Her PhD in social psychology focused on preventing conduct issues by revealing team climate perspectives in trading and sales businesses. Previously she has been Head of Audit for Behavioural Risk at NatWest group (based in London) where she created and headed up a global behavioural risk assessment team.

Wieke is a former Senior Supervisor of Behaviour & Culture at DNB – the Dutch Central Bank and prudential regulator and was one of the first psychologists hired by the Central Bank to build this supervisory expertise. As a supervisor, she conducted and led several behavioural supervisory assessments of Executive Committees and Boards.

She has been (co-) Lead Partner of Behavioural Risk at &samhoud consultancy and has lectured on cultural change and ethical behaviour for the Institute of Banking since 2018.

Talita Ferreira is a Chartered Director and is a course leader on the leadership aspect of the Chartered Director Programme.

Talita is also a non-executive director and Chair of Audit on multiple UK-regulated bank boards. She is the former CFO and CHRO of BMW UK Ltd. and BMW Financial Services Ltd. and has led and implemented award-winning cultural transformation programmes in multiple industries. Talita published her first book, “The Authenticity Dilemma Resolved®”, in 2016. She is currently writing her second book, “Seven shifts to the transformation of Great Leadership”, based on the research from the interview series Global leadership Hypothesis – what makes a great leader.

Talita is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a fellow of the Institute of Directors (“IOD”). She delivers Finance, Strategy and Leadership training for directors at the IoD and has created “Finance Inspired 4 Success”, a training platform for finance professionals to improve leadership and team dynamics.
 

She has over a decade of experience working in financial markets. After completing her undergraduate degree in France, Caroline began her career working in a hedge fund in Paris.

She then returned to Dublin, working in US-based proprietary trading firm Susquehanna. She has held positions in Dexia and FinTech start-up Eagle Alpha and has also worked as an economist with the Central Bank of Ireland, advising senior policymakers on financial market developments.

Caroline has an undergraduate degree in European Business and French from Dublin City University. She also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Trinity College Dublin and is a CFA Charterholder.

As a strategist, innovator, and transformation advisor at ONEZERO1, Garvan helps leaders and their businesses develop and execute commercial, customer, and cultural strategies that leverage digital, artificial intelligence and innovation methodologies and tools. With over 26 years of experience in the financial services industry, Garvan has a proven track record of leading and delivering complex and impactful projects and initiatives across multiple domains and geographies.

Garvan is also a non-executive director at Nucleo, a specialist consultancy company that provides data analytics, BI reporting and data asset management strategies and solutions to clients. He brings his expertise and insights from his executive roles at Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank, and Ulster Bank/RBS, where he led strategy and innovation, CX, digital transformation, business development, and wealth management. 

Garvan is a strong learning advocate having spent over 10 years as a Council member of the Institute of Banking and completing numerous educational opportunities including executive programmes at IMI, IMD, Harvard Business School, Oxford Said Business School, and Singularity University.

He also shares his perspectives and insights as a lecturer and writer for various academic and media platforms.

She has worked for several global organisations, such as IBM, KPMG, and ABB, and was former Head of Information Security Risk in KBC Bank for almost 15 years.  Dr. Lyons is the Chief Operations Officer in BH Consulting since 2015. She has an in-depth knowledge of European data protection law and practices, and frequently presents at renowned international security and privacy conferences (such as RSA, COSAC, ISACA and CPDP). She has also lectured in Dublin City University on Privacy, Cybersecurity and Digital Ethics. 

In 2022, Dr Lyons was awarded a PhD in Information Privacy for her research into privacy in the ESG suite. She also holds a Masters in Business Leadership, along with a post-grad in Executive Coaching, and a postgrad in Cloud Computing Strategy. She is a certified CISSP for almost 25 years, and is also qualified as a CDPSE and CIPP/E. She is an honorary fellow of The Irish Information Security Forum (IISF) since 2004 and a member of the European Data Protection Board’s pool of experts.

Martina is an independent non-executive director (INED) and consultant with board level experience covering the financial services, sustainability, and non-for-profit sectors.

She has extensive senior level experience in the areas of governance, strategy, risk management and internal audit. Martina has over 25 years’ leadership experience gained across leading commercial organisations in the public and private sector in the UK and Ireland. She has held senior roles in AIB Group, the National Treasury Management Agency, Bank of Ireland Group, KPMG and Deloitte.

Martina is a Chartered Accountant, a UCD Law graduate and a Fellow of the Institute of Banking. 

Joan is involved in all programme communication and administration.  Her background is in Marketing and Communications, with over 20 years’ experience at a senior level in financial services.

She Holds a B.Sc. (Mgmt.) and M.A. from Trinity College Dublin and a Diploma in Advanced Marketing Techniques awarded by the Dublin Institute of Technology.