Meet Our Board
Family Carers Ireland is governed by a voluntary board of directors reflecting a mix of family carers, specialist expertise and general management background. All directors give their time free of charge to support the mission of Family Carers Ireland.
The board of directors is responsible for oversight and governance of the charity and comprises individuals with expertise in the areas of caring, management and relevant professional skills. To support the board in the performance of its function, a number of board sub-committees have been established as follows:
- Finance & Organisation Committee
- Audit & Risk Committee
- Member Services & Engagement Committee
- Quality & Safety Committee
- Research & Policy Committee
- Marketing & Fundraising Committee
Our Board of Directors
Robert Anderson is recently retired Head of the Social Policies unit at Eurofound, where he has worked as research manager since 1988 on a range of topics relating to living conditions and quality of life, including several international research projects exploring aspects of family care across Europe. Prior to joining Eurofound, Rob worked as Programme Manager at the WHO European Office in Copenhagen, with responsibility for the European Regional Programme in Health Promotion. He studied human sciences at Oxford University and sociology as applied to medicine at Bedford College, London. Rob served as President of Eurocarers from 2009 to 2012. Rob has been appointed chairperson of the new Research & Policy committee.
Angela is a mum to five wonderful children. Her 17 year old daughter was born with physical disabilities and apart from being her mum, she is also her full-time carer. Over the years, her daughter has struggled in accessing services of health care, education, transportation, mental health, operations, financial issues and much more. Angela has been and continues to be her voice and her advocate in fighting for her rights.
Barbara brings more than 25 years’ experience of business partnering, human resources and executive coaching both at consultancy and at senior leadership level across industries including professional services, digital technology, legal, construction and tourism. Currently the Director of Human Resources at the Law Society of Ireland, she has a wealth of experience in human resources and organisation development, diversity, equity and inclusion, transformation and change management. She has a particular interest in workplace culture and has spoken on the topic both nationally and at European level.
Barbara holds a Certificate in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors, a Master in Business Practice from UCC, Post-Graduate Diplomas in both Leadership and Management from the Irish Management Institute and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Employment Law from the Law Society of Ireland. Her primary degree is a BA (Hons) in Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management with the National College of Ireland. She is an accredited assessor of the European Foundation for Quality Management and a qualified Executive Coach. Barbara is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a member the Institute of Directors, the Learning & Development Institute and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
Barbara is a member of the Finance & Organisation committee. She has personal experience as a family carer with the support of home care workers and respite care. In her time outside work, Barbara enjoys spending time with her friends and family, horse riding, current affairs, yoga, GAA, theatre and the arts.
Wendy is based in the Garden County and has been around family carers for the past five years through her association with Netwatch and now as a board director. Wendy has held both CEO and COO roles and has qualifications in business, lean practice and company direction. Wendy takes a practical approach to most things in life from shovels to spreadsheets.
Richard Hammond S.C. is a Senior Counsel (being in the first coterie of solicitors ever to be elevated to that status by the Government of Ireland on 1st September, 2020). He practises as a solicitor with his spouse Joyce A. Good Hammond at Hammond Good LLP, Solicitors & Notaries Public, in Mallow, Co. Cork where he is a partner. He is a self-described "succession law enthusiast" who also specialises in professional regulation, having served in roles with a number of regulatory bodies for different professions. Richard teaches regularly at the Law School of the Law Society of Ireland. Both he and his spouse have experience of family care. Outside of professional activities and academia, Richard's interests include country walks with his spouse and children, reading, current affairs, supporting Cork's GAA teams and Liverpool Football Club.
Dr John Healy is Deputy Executive Director of Genio, a non-profit organisation that specialises in supporting reforms in complex, challenging systems. John oversees the programmes in Ireland in disability, mental health, homelessness, drug addiction and action research and led the organisation’s work in the Service Reform Fund, a €45m collaboration with the Irish Government and philanthropy. He also supports Genio’s work on scaling innovations and collaborating with public sectors in Europe. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Business at Trinity College Dublin, where he lectures and researches in organisation theory and innovation in complex, social service systems.
Hugh is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2004 following completion of an accounting degree at the University of Ulster. He became a partner in 2008. Hugh has developed considerable experience in advising a broad range of clients including both indigenous and multi-national businesses across many industries. An experienced audit professional, je has over 20 years' worth of knowledge earned through working on audit and assurance assignments for a broad range of clients from owner managed SMEs to large multi-jurisdictional businesses with turnovers in excess €1bn.
Hugh has a particular interest in the design and implementation of compliance solutions for the investment management community. This has yielded significant experience in advising clients in that space with regards to their compliance needs as well as acting for fast paced start-ups throughout their growth journey. He is experienced in advising clients that are establishing a presence in Ireland, from their initial setup to dealing with all aspects of corporate compliance and on-going reporting requirements.
Hugh has a keen interest in sport and participates as an age group competitor in running and cycling events. He lives in Dalkey, South Dublin with his wife Joanna and their four children, where he can be found at the side of a GAA or rugby pitch most weekends.
"I am Johanne Powell. I live in south west Wexford with my husband Alan. For 36 and a half years, I was a full time carer for our daughter Siobhan. Siobhan had very severe problems, she was severely intellectually and physically disabled, she was non-verbal, non-ambulatory and we loved her dearly! In August 2020, she died from kidney failure, and our life changed.
I have been involved in Family Carers Ireland since forever, when they were the Carers Association. In the last 10 years, I’ve been on the board of management. Last year, I had to step down for a year, since I had been a board member in FCI for six years. I have been a member of the Carer Support and Engagement Committee for more than six years and have been a member of the Research and Policy Committee since it was established."
Board Reports
The board at Family Carers Ireland aims to meet bi-monthly. Please see below reports from these meetings.