Board of directors

Ned Brennan has over 30 years management experience in local government, and the community and voluntary sectors. He is currently a Senior Executive Officer in the HR department of Cork County Council. Ned worked for many years as Chief Operations Officer with Respond Housing and was, for a time, Acting CEO. He has developed expertise in all aspects of social housing development and management, community development, human resource management and communications.

Ned is a University College Dublin graduate with an honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Politics. He also holds a Diploma in Legal Studies from the Honourable Society of Kings Inns and a Master's Degree in Public Policy from University College Cork. He has been involved in youth development in the Scout Movement for over 30 years and is currently the Chairperson of the Board of Scouting Ireland.

Ned joined the Board of Cork and South East Simon in 2023.

Paula Byrne joined Merchants Quay Ireland in 2008 as Head of Human Resources. She took on the role of Head of Day Services in 2016 and was the organisation's Chief Executive from 2018 to 2023.

Prior to working with Merchants Quay Ireland, Paula worked in the public and private sector in positions where she was actively involved in business / services operations. Previous roles have included Senior HR Manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Business and Function HR Leader with Shell Exploration and Production Ireland Limited, and before that held HR Roles within the public and private healthcare sector.

Paula completed the Diploma & Certificate in Company Direction, Institute of Directors in 2017 and the UCD Professional Diploma in Organisation Renewal and Transformation in 2016.

Paula joined the Board of Cork and South East Simon in 2023.

Michael Dineen is Executive Chair and Founder of Contracting PLUS which has offices in Dublin, Cork, London and Mahe, India. Contracting PLUS now employs more than 150 people around the globe providing a range of accounting and related services to individual professional contractors.

Previously, Michael worked in a wide variety of business sectors including construction, hospitality and retail. He is an Accountant by training, holding a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Michael joined the Board of Cork and South East Simon in 2022..

Ann FitzGerald joined the Cork Simon board in 2012.  She is a former member of the Charities Regulator and former governor of University College Cork.  Ann was called to the Bar in 2010; she previously practised as a solicitor at FitzGerald Solicitors Cork, which she set-up in 1981.

Ann is a former chairman of FLAC (The Free Legal Advice Centres), co-founder of the Family Lawyers’ Association Cork, a former member of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal and a campaigner for the introduction of divorce in Ireland. She is currently Chairperson of the Right to Housing Campaign, Home For Good.

Ruth Fuller is the Managing Director at Fuller Marketing, which provides marketing and digital support to businesses. Ruth has worked with a wide range of clients from sole traders to large scale companies, including Johnson & Johnson, DePuy Synthes, Clonakilty Food Company, IMART, Cork Chamber of Commerce, Network Cork, RedFM, Cork City Marathon and Cork County Council.

Ruth has been involved in Cork Simon’s voluntary Fundraising Ball Committee for some years, serving as Chair of the Committee in 2022. She played a key role in raising more than €135,000 for Cork Simon.

Ruth joined the Board of Cork and South East Simon in 2023.

Eoin MacCuirc is a member of the Cork Simon board for many years, serving as Chair from 2015 to 2021.

Eoin is a manager in the Central Statistics Office in Cork, with a background in IT & project management. He also serves as a director of FoodCloud.

Christine Moloney is currently the CEO of LeisureWorld / LW Management Cork, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cork City Council.

With her MBA background, a diploma in governance & risk compliance from UCC / IMI, a diploma in management & OCHAS, Christine possesses a unique blend of strategic acumen and operational expertise.

In respect of the director role, Christine has recently completed a diploma in Company Direction with the Institute of Directors in Ireland / UK, with a view to achieving chartered directors status later this year

Christine has previous experience with several boards spanning her career, including the leisure industry body Ireland Active, Munster Cricket and Cork Chamber of Commerce Skillnet committee (ex-Chair). She is currently a council member with Water Safety Ireland - a ministerial appointment.

Christine joined the Board of Cork Simon in 2022 and was elected Chair in January 2023.

Anthony O’Donovan joined the Cork Simon board in 2012, serving as Chair from January to December 2022. He served as a member of the board and Chairperson of Ógra Chorcaí from October 2000 - 2013.

Anthony is a successful Cork business person; he is managing director of Masterkabin Ltd. since 1991.

Peter O’Meara joined the Cork Simon board in 2015, bringing a property expertise to the board that compliments other expertise among the group.

Peter, a native of Mallow, is a chartered surveyor working as a director of Savills Ireland. He has been in the property industry in Cork and throughout Munster for the last 25 years.

Jim O’Shaughnessy joined the Cork Simon board in 2013; he is a member of the board of management of the School of the Divine Child, Levanagh Centre in Blackrock since 2014.

Jim is chief financial officer with Bon Secours Health System. He has previously worked with DKB International Ltd. – a Japanese investment bank based in London; he was financial controller at FKB International New York, and divisional finance director with Albert Fisher Group Plc. where he was responsible for operations throughout Europe.

Heather Reynolds is the previous CEO and Co-founder of Eishtec DAC, an indigenous company established in 2011 which created over 1,500 jobs across Ireland.  Eishtec was sold to Infosys BPM in 2019.  More recently, Heather held the role of Chief People Officer with an Irish based Saas company.

With over 30 years leadership experience across a number of global organisations, Heather's areas of expertise are Strategic Planning, High Performance Teams, Customer Experience and Operational Excellence.  Heather holds a Business Degree and an Executive MBA.

In 2013, Heather was one of six industry partners appointed to the National Action Plan for Jobs based on her track record of job creation and developing a business.  She was appointed to both the National Completeness and Labour Market Councils.  In early 2014, Heather was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Respond Housing Association for two years.

Heather joined the Board of Cork and South East Simon in 2023.

Brendan Ryan's involvement with Cork Simon goes back to 1974 when he started as a voluntary worker in our emergency shelter. He has previously served as Chair of the board's of both Cork Simon and the Simon Communities of Ireland.

Brendan is a former president of Cork Council of Trade Unions and served as an elected member of Seanad Éireann from 1981 to 2007.

Brendan retired as a lecturer in  chemical engineering at the Cork Institute of Technology in 2010.

Mary Ryan joined the Cork Simon board in 2018; she is a member of the South East Simon Community board since 2010, serving as Chair since 2015.

Mary has more than 20 years' experience as a HR professional providing support to many large organisations in the public and private sectors. She is managing partner with Right Hand HR in Waterford. She previously headed-up human resources in Voxpro, managed the HR function at the TalkTalk Telecom Group office in Waterford, and worked for the Brothers of Charity Services and Johnson Financial Group, which is based in the USA.

Leslie Warren has more than twenty year’s International Sales & Marketing experience with Masterfoods, and a track record of achieving double digit growth in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in confectionery, petfood & food.

For the last 10 years he has managed sales and property management in Waterford and surrounding areas. Experience relevant to board membership include day-to-day management of not-for-profit, recruitment, governance implementation, fundraising and representation of the Board at local and national level.

Both professional and personal experiences allow Leslie to offer a positive perspective to the work of Cork Simon Community and hopefully make a difference to people in Cork & South East Simon Community.