Council is responsible for the effective, prudent and ethical oversight of the IOB. It sets the IOB’s strategic aims and is collectively responsible for its long-term success.

Gavin Kelly - President

Gavin Kelly is CEO of Bank of Ireland’s Corporate and Commercial Banking Division and he joined IOB Council in 2023. He has held a number of senior management positions in BOI since joining in 2007, including interim Group Chief Executive from September to November 2022, and Chief Executive, Retail Ireland prior to that.

Gavin oversees the provision of banking products and services to all corporate and commercial customers, including wholesale financial services, property, project and asset-backed finance, and specialised acquisition finance. The division focuses on core markets across Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and the US.

Gavin holds a Commerce Degree and an MBS from University College Dublin. He is a Certified Bank Director and a Fellow of IOB and is currently a director on the board of New Ireland Assurance Company. Gavin was President of the Banking and Payments Federation, Ireland from January 2019 to December 2020.

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Melíosa O’Caoimh - Deputy President

Melíosa O’Caoimh, is Executive Vice President, and Country Head of Northern Trust’s business in Ireland. Northern Trust is one of Ireland’s largest fund administrators and global custodians, employing more than 1,700 people across offices in Dublin and Limerick. Prior to joining Northern Trust in 2003, Melíosa spent 8 years with Pioneer Global Investments. Prior to that Melíosa worked with Arthur Andersen & Company, Chartered Accountants.

Meliosa received a B.A degree in Economics and Politics at University College Dublin. Meliosa is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and a Member of the Institute of Taxation in Ireland. Melíosa is the current Chair of the 30% Club in Ireland having joined as a supporter in 2015. She is also co-chair of Business in the Community’s “Leadership for Sustainability” Committee. Melíosa was on the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland from 2008 to 2014. Melíosa joined the Council of IOB in 2022.

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Niall Garvey - Vice President

Niall Garvey is Director Corporate Banking at Danske Bank Ireland branch. In his role, Niall is responsible for developing and executing Danske Bank’s strategy for the bank’s corporate clients (mainly publicly-quoted and semi-state companies across a wide and diverse range of business sectors). Niall has a particular interest in the Sustainability agenda and is Danske Bank’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) lead in Ireland, responsible for developing the Bank’s programme for this area. Prior to joining Danske Bank, he worked with Bank of Ireland in Business Banking where he held Relationship Manager roles and in Retail Banking. Niall is a qualified accountant, being a member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA) and holds the Association of Corporate Treasurers’ Certificate in International Treasury Management.

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Rachel Gardner

Rachel Gardner has over 13 years’ experience in the Financial Services industry. Before taking on her current role as Senior Business Manager to the CEO of Ulster Bank Ireland DAC, Rachel was a member of the Finance Leadership Team and held a variety of roles across Finance and Risk, working closely with the Executive of the Bank on numerous strategic projects over the years. Rachel started her career with General Electric in 2004. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and is an ACCA qualified accountant.

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Caitriona Brosnan

Caitriona Brosnan is Head of Talent Development in AIB. She is a HR professional with 25 years’ experience encompassing all aspects of the talent development agenda including strategic and tactical capability assessment, solution design, delivery, third party sourcing, talent management, succession planning, project management and senior stakeholder management.

In 2014, Caitriona became Head of Learning in AIB. In this role, she was responsible for creating and leading a highly effective learning service focused on delivering strategically aligned capability uplift delivered through a transformed and leading edge training service, iLearn. In 2019, her remit expanded and she took on the role as Head of Talent Development in AIB where she was responsible for the development and delivery of the Talent development strategy at AIB supporting the delivery of organisational purpose and cultural ambitions. This role encompasses all facets of the Talent lifecycle and focuses on the end to end professional growth and continuous development of AIB employees across all levels, from new entrant level to AIB Board development.

Caitriona is passionate about development, tirelessly optimistic, highly adaptable and results driven with an ability to translate business requirements into the delivery of effective talent solutions.

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Orla Cowzer

Orla Cowzer is a Director of Corporate Broking, within the Capital Markets Division of Davy, Ireland’s largest stockbroker, wealth manager, asset manager and financial advisor. Orla is an investment banking and equity market specialist, with over 10 years experience working with publicly listed companies, across all sectors, providing capital markets and equity fundraising advice.  

Orla holds an MSc in Finance from UCD Smurfit Business School, along with degrees in European Business from Dublin City University and in International Business (majoring in Finance) from Northeastern University, Boston. Orla is also a qualified ACCA accountant and holds the Institute of Banking QFA and Registered Stockbroker designations.

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Brian Delahunty

Brian Delahunty joined Barclays Bank Ireland PLC (“BBI”) in 2012 and is the current Head of Business Development for Barclays Corporate Bank across Europe. Brian sits on the European Management Committee and reports to the Head of Corporate Banking for Europe. Prior to taking up this role Brian was the Head of Product and Business Development for BBI. Brian sat on the BBI Executive Committee and had accountability for all products within BBI across debt, cash management, deposits, treasury, trade, asset finance and cards. He also led the international team covering US business in Ireland, ran the non-bank financial institutions sector and the business development function across Ireland. Previously Brian held the role of Senior Manager in Ulster Bank Ireland across a number of portfolios of Irish and multinational clients.

Brian is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from UCD, a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland having trained with KPMG and holds the Certified Bank Director and QFA professional designation from IOB. Brian has been a board member of Inclusion Ireland since 2016, which is an organisation that actively looks to improve the rights and position of the intellectually disabled in Ireland.

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Sabrina Dunne

 Sabrina has over 20 years’ experience in the Financial Services industry. She works in Bank of Ireland Group where she has held various senior management positions for over 5 years. Prior  to this she worked for National Irish Bank and Danske Bank Ireland for 16 years. She is an advocate of life-long learning and has participated in a number of IOB programmes during her career, from the QFA Diploma up to the Certified Bank Director Programme. She is an advocate of Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) and a member of the Group Gender Balance Committee, which is part of the I&D Committee in Bank of Ireland Group and is passionate about lifelong learning in the financial services sector believing it helps members to progress and to learn at every stage of their career.

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Dr Lucy Fallon-Byrne

 Dr Fallon-Byrne is the Independent Member of Council.

She has recently retired from the role of Assistant Secretary at the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform. She has specialist expertise in the areas of organisational development, employee engagement and organisational innovation. Her PhD explored the dynamics of innovation in Ireland’s public and private sector organisations. Before joining the Department of Public Service and Reform, she was Assistant Director General, Corporate Affairs, Central Statistics Office. Dr Fallon-Byrne also worked in the Department of Social Protection where she led a transformation programme, developing a new streamlined one-stop shop service for jobseekers nationwide. Earlier in her career, she served as Assistant Chief Executive of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment where she oversaw the development of the new Primary School Curriculum. As well as a PhD in organisational innovation, Dr Fallon-Byrne holds an MA in Political Science from UCD and an MBA from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

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Noel Gavin

Noel Gavin joined Northern Trust in 2006 and is based in their Limerick office; he is a Senior Vice President and leads the Asset Servicing Learning & Development group. He has over 20 years industry experience with various role across project management, operations management, and leadership.

Noel serves as a director and current President of Limerick Chamber, he is a governing body member of TUS - Technical University of the Shannon and is the Chair of GOSHH CLG

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Karen Hackett

Karen is an experienced HR Leader who has worked in the Financial Services sector since 1988, starting her career in Banking with Trustee Savings Bank, and moving into HR in 1999. Karen has worked across a number of HR briefs in Irish Life since 2001 and Permanent TSB since 2013. Karen was appointed Head of People Experience in Permanent TSB in 2020 having previously held the role of Head of HR Operations in Permanent TSB since 2013.  Karen has a passion for driving connection to organisational purpose through Cultural Evolution, Workforce Engagement, Stakeholder Management and collaboration with Employee Resource Groups to enable a diverse and inclusive high performing organisation. 

Karen has been at the forefront of Permanent TSB’s new Ways of Working Programme since 2020, championing Permanent TSB’s ‘Hybrid Workplace’.  Karen has successfully led the HR People and Culture stream of a transformative acquisition of portfolios from Ulster Bank to Permanent TSB in 2022. Karen is a member of the IOB, having being awarded Culture Champion, 2023 by the IOB. Karen is a Fellow of the CIPD and has a passion for continuing professional development and education, having completed a Master’s in Business Studies through IMI/UCC (2020) specialising in Strategic HRM, Leadership and OD & Transformation.

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Christian Hanna

Christian Hanna is the Financial Services Union, FSU representative on IOB Council. Christian works in Bank of Ireland.

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Aoife Leonard

Aoife has more than 25 years’ experience working in Financial Services and has extensive leadership experience across Branch Banking, Business Banking, Contact Centers, Operations and Consumer Segments. In her current role, Aoife is Chief Operating Officer in Bank of Ireland’s Retail Ireland Division with responsibility for ensuring the successful running of the day-to-day business operations, while providing delivery oversight of strategic and financial planning. Aoife is a qualified financial advisor, certified bank director and holds a Masters in Management Practice from University College Dublin.

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Laurence McKenna

Larry has been the Chief Operating Officer of Wells Fargo International since 2020. He is responsible for bank operations, 1st line risk and control, business management, and change delivery in Wells Fargo’s only entity outside of the U.S.  Larry also serves as a Non-Executive Director to the board of Wells Fargo Capital Finance (UK) Ltd.

He began his Wells Fargo career in 2012 and after relocating to the US, he progressed to the role of Global Banking Region Head for Southern California. Larry returned to Dublin in 2017, after which he took on a leadership assignment as Brexit program sponsor, in addition to being appointed Interim COO.

Larry previously held roles at the National Treasury Management Agency, Bank of Scotland and PWC. Larry is a Fellow Chartered Accountant, holds a BA in Finance and Accounting and Masters in Business Studies and he is pending his Chartered Director designation.

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Julie Scully

Julie has 20 years’ experience in the Financial Services industry, 12 of which are within the Compliance function in AIB. Julie currently holds the role of Head of Regulatory Compliance, leading a dynamic team dedicated to providing expert guidance on conduct risk and regulatory compliance risk, while fostering a culture of putting the customer first.

She is an advocate of life-long learning and has continuously participated in IOB programmes since 2004 to present, holding several qualifications in respect of culture, ethics, advanced risk management, conduct and compliance.

Julie is passionate about developing the next generation of compliance professionals and welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the future direction of banking education in an evolving regulatory landscape.

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Peter Vance

Peter joined PTSB as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2021 with 25 years’ experience in Financial Services. As COO, Peter is responsible for Group Change & Transformation, Enterprise Service Delivery including Payments, Financial Crime, Collections & Recoveries as well as other key functions.

Prior to joining PTSB, Peter held senior positions as Head of Group Operations and Executive Head of Direct Sales & Service Channels in AIB. In this role, Peter was responsible for leading multiple activities in both Ireland and the UK including; Payments, Treasury services, Financial Crime, SME Lending and the Customer Service Centre.

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