Karen began her career at the UK’s Carbon Trust where she applied her knowledge of organisational and behavioural change to designing engagement programmes that empowered businesses to tackle climate change. She has since advised companies around the world on sustainability strategy, communications and reporting. Her strength lies in making complex issues simple through distilling information down to the key messages that will resonate with different audiences and inspire them to act. She has extensive knowledge across a wide breadth of sustainable development issues, from climate change to responsible sourcing, human rights, and diversity and inclusion. A strong writer, speaker and facilitator, she is passionate about the role that good communications can play in galvanising and motivating climate action. Karen also previously worked in the UK with communications agencies di:ga, Salterbaxter and Corporate Culture.
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A chartered accountant and tax consultant, Laura has spent most of her career working with corporates and asset managers in renewable energy and energy efficiency finance, advising on transaction structures for fundraising and M&A transactions. She has since pivoted to focus fully on sustainable finance, a broad topic that is increasingly on the agenda of policymakers, regulators, investors and financial services firms across investment, banking and insurance. A leading expert in her field, she has in-depth knowledge of the global sustainable finance landscape. She advises, speaks and writes on a broad range of sustainable finance topics, with a particular specialism in EU sustainable finance policy, ESG, climate-related financial risk and opportunity, responsible investment and energy efficiency finance. She is an expert in designing solutions to leverage the power of finance and the financial sector to drive sustainable behavioural change, both for individuals and large companies alike. Laura previously worked with KPMG, Airtricity, and Sustainable Nation Ireland.
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Kevin Maher is the Environmental Sustainability Executive in Food Drink Ireland (FDI), the main trade association for the food and drink industry in Ireland. He works with FDI members to develop their sustainability agendas, in particular on technical policy and regulatory developments with a commercial impact on the food sector in Ireland. Kevin is also part of Ibec’s internal ESG cross-organisational group which focuses on coordinating policy positions on key issues such as corporate sustainability reporting obligations at EU and national level, developing social agenda, climate action plan implementation, competitiveness challenges in the net-zero carbon transition.
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Catherine Smith McKiernan is an experienced people and organisational consultant and is currently serving as the Group HR Director for EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. Catherine brings unique perspectives on organisational development and change gained from her experience across the public, private and not for profit sectors. Having built a career around enabling people to embrace change and transformation she is leader who values curiosity, collaboration, innovation and trust. An experienced board member and HR Director, Catherine’s work covers all aspects of organisational development, HR and change management, including governance, strategic planning, project management, facilitation, training and communications. Catherine has previously worked with Accenture, Mercer, BearingPoint and Adare HR Management.
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Patrick is an experienced Board member and Corporate Governance consultant. He has served on a number of Boards and Committees in various capacities including as a Non Executive Director, Company Secretary, Chairman and has also sat on a number of audit sub committees and governance working groups. His Board appointments have been across the Corporate, State and Non Profit sectors. In an executive capacity Patrick is the Principal Partner of Lionheart which is a niche consultancy focusing primarily on the provision of assurance services and training to Boards within the corporate governance domain. Prior to establishing the practice Patrick was an Executive Director with one of the Commercial Semi States, Bord na Mona plc with responsibility for Regulatory & Government Affairs. In his earlier career he worked for Williams Holding plc and was Managing Director of their Irish group operations which included companies such as Polycell, Rawlplug, Yale, Chubb, Baxi, Potterton & Myson.
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