Director

Woodview HRM

Director, Woodview HRM; PT Lecturer, UCD & Smurfit

Louisa is the owner of Woodview HRM specialising in providing expert Human Resource and Workplace Mediation Solutions to organisations through both consultancy and the training of Leadership skills. Woodview HRM cover all HR needs during the employee lifecycle including HR policies, performance management, managerial development, workplace mediation, and disciplinary issues. In addition, she lecturers in the field of HR and Organisational Behaviour in UCD & Smurfit School of Business. As a strong supporter of women in business Louisa was a founding member of the Network Ireland Wicklow Branch and was the National President of Network Ireland for 2020 supporting the development of professional women. Louisa sits on the board of management for Educate Together Secondary School Wicklow and is Chair for the Lucena (CAHMS) parents & supporters forum.

Managing Director

Fishers of Newtownmountkennedy Ltd

Rebecca is managing director of Fishers of Newtownmountkennedy Ltd – a unique family-run department store located in a tranquil setting in Co. Wicklow and founder of Food at Fishers Cafe an award winning casual dining daytime restaurant. Her 20 year career in retail and marketing has seen her bring to the fore all that is good about small business in Ireland.

A graduate of Trinity College’s Business School specialising in international Business and Marketing, she is passionate about championing women in business and the power of having a positive support network around you. She has been an active member of Network Ireland all her working life. Rebecca served on branch committees in Dublin and Cork, and was elected as President of Network Ireland Cork branch in 2012.

Since then she sits on the National Executive, the governing body of Network Ireland and was elected to the role of Network Ireland President for 2017. She now serves as Ex-Officio and Chair of their Advisory Council.

Rebecca sits on the Retail Consultation Forum for the Government’s Action Plan on Jobs chaired by the Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation and is a member of their Digital Economy & Skills working groups. Rebecca is also a Council member of Retail Excellence Ireland and actively involved with the Small Firms Association. She is a two-time winner of the Regional Businesswoman of the Year in 2009 and 2014 and national finalist in those year. Last year Rebecca was a top 5 finalist in the Women Mean Business Awards 2017 (Empowering Women Award).

CEO and founder

Inclusio

Sandra Healy is CEO and founder of Inclusio. Sandra's career spanned 20 years in the global telecoms industry and five years in Higher Education at Dublin City University. In 2018 she established the DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion, and after 4 years in R&D and backed by Enterprise Ireland, inclusio spun-out of DCU in 2020. inclusio is a science-based, data-led diversity and inclusion platform designed to measure and enhance company culture. Sandra is an Organisational Psychologist and an NLP Master Practitioner who over 15 years has championed and driven D&I practice across industry. She is considered one of the country’s leading experts in this space. Sandra joined the Expert Advisory Group for Ireland’s Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality in 2020, and is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council for An Garda Síochána. In 2021 Sandra won the Entrepreneur of the Year award at Diversity in Tech and in Nov 2021, inclusio won The Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) Impact Award.

Head of Market Engagement

AIB

Head of Market Engagement, Business Banking AIB Senior position within AIB Bank. Strategic role within Business Banking. Responsible for the development of an SME Engagement strategy for AIB. Responsible for the planning of engagement with business customers and Key Bank influencers on a national basis. The role involves a high degree of engagement with key business and government stakeholders in the market. Member Board of Directors and Management committee of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. Member of the Diversity committee, IBEC.

Assistant secretary

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Assistant secretary, EU, Digital and Access to Finance at Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Director

Celtic Ross Hotel

Helen is a Fellow Chartered Accountant, and works with her father and husband in their family businesses - Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, West Cork and Marina Commercial Park, Cork City. She is a past Network Ireland Cork Branch President, was the Network Ireland National President in 2019, has been a member of the National Executive since 2017 and the Advisory Council since 2019.

Head of Innovation and Impact

Entrepreneurs Academy

Currently Head of Innovation and Impact at the Entrepreneurs Academy Dublin, Lorraine is passionate about supporting entrepreneurial and enterprise development across Ireland including social enterprise, with a particular focus on working with female entrepreneurs.

Lorraine is an innovation expert and was founder and managing director of a successful textile design and manufacturing company for 10+ years supplying designer fashion accessories to the fashion and corporate gift /wear markets in Ireland and for export. The business collaborated extensively with leading Irish fashion and Interior designers developing accessories for their collections.

Under design license agreement, in collaboration with Arnotts Dept Store, Lorraine also developed an extensive LorraineBowen@Arnotts brand of interior products that retailed across the store over a period of three years. These included a bedlinen range that became the top selling bedlinen range in Ireland.

· Lorraine is currently on the National Advisory Council of Network Ireland.

· Currently an elected Council member of Dublin Chamber

· In 2010 she was appointed by the European Commission as a Mentor and member of the European Network of Mentors for Women Entrepreneurs managed by Dublin Chamber.

Manager

ArcLabs Research and Innovation Centre

Aisling was President of Network Ireland in 2021, thus this year, her role is as ex-oficio of the Network Ireland executive. This involves working closely with the President and Executive committee to support, encourage and share ideas based on her extensive experience with Network Ireland to date. In this capacity, Aisling also sits on the Advisory Council to Network Ireland.

Founder

Balloon HQ

Mum, Entrepreneur, Business Connector and Certified Life & Business Coach.

With 20+ years experience in Corporate Sales, Marketing & Leadership roles across Telecoms, Retail and Hospitality, as well as self employment, Emma has gained huge experience in her various roles and is passionate and dedicated towards supporting women in business at all levels to achieve their goals.

Emma founded Balloon HQ in 2017 & works alongside her husband Noel and the team who are based in Co Kildare. Balloon HQ is an innovative, creative, event design agency specializing in Corporate Events bespoke branded décor, gifting and event solutions for business and consumer needs nationwide.

An active member of Network Ireland at branch and National level - Emma successfully led the Kildare branch as President in 2019 and is set to lead the National organization as President in 2023 when the organisation will celebrate 40 years. She is also a member of the County Kildare & DLR Chamber, past Chapter Director & Director Consultant with BNI Ireland, and also an active client of the Local Enterprise Office Kildare. An award winning businesswoman, Emma won Networker of the Year in 2014 (County Kildare Chamber) and was crowned Network Ireland National SME Businesswoman of the Year 2016.

Emma loves spending time with her husband Noel, children Ayda & Kayla, dog Bailey and the donkeys!

"Your Smile is Your Logo,

Your personality is your business card,

How you leave people feel after they have done business with you is your trademark.".

Associate Director

Sherry FitzGerald

Network Ireland National President for 2022, Noreen McKenzie joined Network Galway in 2015, stepping up to the Role of Branch President in 2017. She's been involved locally and nationally ever since.

Noreen's theme for 2022, “The Power of Belief”, is very personal to her. Without the Belief of some of her Network Ireland colleagues over the years, she wouldn't be standing here today as National President.

Choosing the ‘Power of Belief’ as the overarching theme for her presidency was easy, as Noreen has experienced first-hand through her Network Ireland membership how someone else’s belief in you can be exactly what you need to step outside your comfort zone, take that risk and, indeed, rise to any challenge. The Power of Collective Belief can push us to achieve dreams that we never thought possible on our own.

Originally from Mayo, Noreen moved from Dublin to Galway in 2004, having worked in the Capital for over 11 years. A self-professed GAA fanatic, Noreen believes every year will be Mayo's year! #Mayo4Sam2022

Having played her own Ladies Football with Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin, Noreen was forced to hang up her boots due to injury and now spends her time on the training pitches with U10 girls, having become involved with Claregalway GAA since moving to Galway.

Recently appointed to the position of Associate Director with Sherry FitzGerald Financial Services and tasked with driving the Regional and Country Wide Growth Strategy into 2022 and beyond, Noreen has worked in the Broker Market for more than 20 years in various sales and management roles, specialising in offering independent, impartial advice putting her client’s needs at the centre of everything she does.

Having graduated with Honours from the University of Limerick with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, Noreen is also a Qualified Financial Advisor and a Graduate of the Bob Proctor Institute on their “Thinking into Results” Programme.

Noreen looks forward to working with all our Network Ireland Branch Presidents and meeting as many of our wonderful members as possible throughout 2022.