Our highly skilled team of Board Assessors include Chartered Directors and/or governance specialists - Dr Margaret Cullen, Carol Bolger CDir, Marie Collins CDir and Clare Duignan. They have worked across sectors as diverse as telecoms, financial services, hospitality, property, healthcare, communications, construction, energy, and education.
Dr Margaret Cullen
Dr Margaret Cullen holds a PhD in governance from University College Dublin (UCD) and is an experienced Assessor with the IoD Ireland’s Board Evaluation Service.
She is a specialist in the areas of corporate and investment fund governance. Margaret has been an Assistant Professor at the UCD Smurfit Business School for 13 years, lecturing on the Professional Diploma in Corporate Governance, and, since 2018, on the MSc in Strategic Management Accounting in the subject areas of Corporate Governance and Business Ethics.
She is currently Co-Academic Director of the Institute of Banking’s (IoB) CBD Programme on an associate basis and lectures bank governance on the programme. Margaret was the founding CEO and Academic Director of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute (CIFDI), a specialist institute of the IoB which focuses on raising professional standards in investment fund governance through its CIFD Programme.
Margaret serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several financial services organisations and has extensive board and board committee experience. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Fund Boards Council in the UK.
Margaret held senior positions at ABN AMRO International Financial Services Company, the Central Bank of Ireland, JP Morgan Bank Ireland plc and RBC Dexia Investor Services Ireland Limited.
Carol Bolger CDir
Carol Bolger is a Chartered Director (CDir) and is a course leader on the Governance and Diploma modules of the IoD Chartered Director Programme.
Carol is a Certified Bank Director. She is also a trainer on our IoD Essentials Workshop Series and is an Assessor on the IoD’s Board Evaluation service. She has broad banking experience gained in Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank where she held senior roles including Chief Operating Officer and Director of Strategy & Planning.
Carol is currently Chairperson of An Post, a non-Executive Director on the board of BCM Global ASI Ltd and Chair of Utexam Solutions Ltd, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas. She also Chairs the Audit Committee of the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine. Carol is a Patron of Chapter Zero Ireland, a community of non-executive directors who lead Irish boardroom discussions on the impacts of climate change and is a Member of the Balance for Better Business Review Group. She previously served on the board of The Coombe Women & Infants Hospital until 2020, where she was Chair of the Quality, Safety & Risk Committee and a member of the Nomination Committee. She has also served on the Boards of the Health & Safety Authority and the Institute of Banking.
She holds qualifications in Finance, Strategy and Innovation (UCC) and has an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Banking where she formerly held the position of Vice President.
Marie Collins CDir
Marie Collins is a Chartered Director (CDir) and is a course leader on the Governance and Diploma Programme aspect of the Chartered Director Programme.
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.
Clare Duignan
Clare Duignan is a highly skilled non executive director with wide-ranging
board experience across the private, public/State and not-for-profit sectors.
She holds a Diploma in Corporate Governance from the Institute of Directors, and has an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching, accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. Clare is also an Assessor with the IoD Ireland’s Board Evaluation Service.
Clare is the former Managing Director of RTÉ Radio and has extensive experience in public-facing industries with complex regulatory, stakeholder, culture and change issues. She is currently a board member for the following organisations: The Irish Times, IMRO, Fáilte Ireland, Business to Arts, and Ireland XO. Clare is the independent member of the Council of the Institute of Banking and is a Trustee of the Chester Beatty Library.
Clare’s previous board roles include the Digital Hub Development Agency, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), and she chaired the Advisory Board of ShinAwil Film and Television. She has served on many board sub-committees including Finance, Audit and Risk at the Digital Hub, the BAI, IMRO and Failte Ireland; the Remuneration and Nominations Committee at The Irish Times, and the Corporate Governance Committee at IMRO and Business to Arts.
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If you would like to discuss this service further, please contact IoD Ireland in complete confidence.
