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), a Certified Bank Director and is the course leader on the Governance and Diploma Programme modules of the IoD Chartered Director Programme.
Carol is also an Assessor on the IoD’s Board Evaluation service. Carol is Chairperson of An Post and a Non-Executive Director of BCM Global ASI Ltd. She is Chairperson of Utexam Solutions Ltd, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas and Chairperson of the Audit Committee of the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine.
Carol is a former Corporate Banker and worked with Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank. She is a Fellow and former Council Member of the Institute of Banking, where she held the position of Vice President. This year Carol became a Patron of Chapter Zero Ireland, a community of Non-Executive Directors who lead Irish boardroom discussions on the impacts of climate change.
Marie Collins CDir
Marie Collins is a Chartered Director (CDir) with an MBA from Trinity College Dublin, and a postgraduate qualification in Corporate Governance from University College Dublin (UCD).
She is an Assessor with the IoD Ireland’s Board Evaluation Service, and a tutor on the Chartered Director Programme.
Marie is a highly skilled and accomplished independent nonexecutive director in a range of sectors and works with clients as a governance consultant across the public and private sector. She was appointed by the Minister for Finance to Chair a new commercial State company, Home Building Finance Ireland DAC. She also Chairs Bank of Ireland’s General Investment Trust DAC and is a non-executive director of IPUT plc and ECO-UNESCO CLG. Marie is an independent member of the Communications Regulator Audit and Risk Committee. She is also a Trustee of Trinity College Dublin Foundation and Chairs the Audit and Risk committee. Marie is also 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.
Board Evaluation Brochure
Download this brochure for more detail, including: our approach; what’s evaluated; the step by step process; the menu of services; the expected outcomes; and the IoD Ireland Board Evaluation team.
Contact IoD in Confidence
If you would like to discuss this service further, please contact IoD Ireland in complete confidence.
