Our Council

Graham Byrne is CEO of Flender, and was previously MD of Cardinal Capital. With over 20 years financial services industry, Graham has been directly involved in Irish SME’s which have supplied goods and services in Ireland and overseas. The largest concentration of Graham’s involvement is in providing funding directly to Irish SME’s.

In 2005, Graham started Bibby Financial Services Ireland (BFS). In that period up to 2013, BFS Ireland provided over 200m in funding, serviced over 500 customers and was responsible for maintaining and creating over 5,000 jobs. BFS Ireland was award winning in the industry and won business of the year 2012 and 2013. Graham then took up the Chief Commercial Officer role for the European region tasked with restructuring 14 operating companies to increase customer service delivery and increase availability of credit to EU SME’s. Graham successfully started new businesses in Czech, Slovakia and the Netherlands. The business grew to reach 2,500 clients providing over 900m of funding to clients.

Marina Bleahen is founder and Managing Director of Business Works. She is a passionate business success expert who helps teams, CEOs and business owners achieve high performance. A Graduate of UCD Smurfit Business School Executive and Business Coaching, Licenced Engage and Grow Coach, Certified Accountability and Leadership Builder and Lead Culture, Marina brings a passion and energy to every organisation and team she works with. Drawing on solid academic models, Marina looked to Europe, Australia and North America for proven success models to build Leadership, Accountability, Culture, Engagement and Employee excellence as she invested both financially and ten thousand hours in becoming an expert in the award winning proven methodologies from Partners In Leadership, Door International, ActionCOACH and Engage and Grow. Marina specialises in helping business leaders deliver success through getting their teams aligned to key results and creating a culture of positive accountability to execute strategy, even while working remotely. Clients are reporting strong business growth and increased engagement. A proven track record as a Global brand director leading marketing strategy for Elan, Marina is passionate about delivering results and business success for her clients, her vision is that being in business should give you more life. During Covid 19, Marina has led Webinars for and been published by the SFA, PKF, Institute of Directors and Business Matters where she is regarded as an authority on getting the culture right in leadership teams to achieve results, even during uncertainty. 

Fredericka is a Chartered Member of the CIPD and a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) with the IMCA. She is currently also a Board Member of the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisers.

A graduate of UL and NCI in Human Resources Management, Fredericka has been working in the field of Human Resource Management since the mid 1990’s since then has held a number of Senior HR Management roles with a range of organisations from multinationals, start-ups, to indigenous Irish companies across the tech, ICT and Financial Services sectors.

Fredericka set up Voltedge Management in 2011 with her business partner Joyce Rigby-Jones and now provides HR Consultancy Services to organisations of varying size across Ireland and internationally. Their client base extends from very small (2+ employees) to much larger businesses, and frequently provide project support to HR departments and senior management teams of larger organisations on areas such as Change Management, Organisation Design and Development of People Strategy projects.

Rebecca is an award-winning business owner, retailer and networking champion. She is a strong advocate for small business, family business and women in business.

She is Managing Director of Fishers of Newtownmountkennedy Boutique Department Store and Food at Fishers Cafe, employing 35 people. She sits on the SFA Skillnet Steering Committee and on the Advisory Board of Network Ireland, having served as its President in 2017.

She is a member of the Government's Retail Consultation Forum reporting to the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment and also sits on the Council of Retail Excellence Ireland. She speaks regularly at events and on air on East Coast FM and other media outlets. She lives in Co. Wicklow with her daughter where they love to make the most of the sea and mountains on their doorstep.

Caroline Ashe has been the Commercial Director for KORE Insulation for the past 14 years. As Commercial Director, Caroline is responsible for ensuring the company supplies customers with the products and services they need to meet their insulation requirements. Caroline is passionate about quality, a key aspect of the business, and continues to be motivated and excited by the opportunities that exist to construct super energy efficient buildings in Ireland. A graduate of DCU, Caroline has obtained a MSc in Strategic Procurement and a Degree in Marketing and Management from DIT. She is also a Certified Passive House Consultant with the Passive House Institute. Led by Caroline, KORE was the first company in Ireland to transition to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015. The same year, KORE also added OHSAS 18001, demonstrating their continued commitment to occupational health and safety. In addition to being an excellent management tool, ISO ensures that KORE are always focused on meeting customer requirements, that they follow best practice, and that quality is at the heart of what KORE do. KORE are overall winners of the 2019/2020 SFA National Small Business Awards and also won the Manufacturing Category.

Aisling Hurley is the founder of the digital marketing agency - thebusinessfairy.ie (TBF). The company provides services such as research, analysis, strategic consultancy, and training to a client list that includes the Italian pharma company RelifeMenarini, British Airways, Catherine Fulvio, HSS Hire, Crest Solutions, Tipperary Tourism etc. The firm develops domestic and international strategies through the utilisation of a specific digital toolset. More recently she became the founder of a TBF spinout 3D Hologram company - Planet Hologram Studios. The company is focused on the creation of 3D holograms and AR content. Within the first 6 months of formation, she led the company to EI HPSU and Microsoft for Start-ups status. Previous to both of these companies she was the co-founder of the specialist joinery firm Teamwoodcraft.

Aisling has worked with a range of business support organisations such as Young Social Innovators and DCU UStart, and has been the recipient of several business awards including an Ernst and Young nomination. Aisling is a well-known advocate for CSR throughout her career - with a particular focus on helping female entrepreneurs, underrepresented minorities, registered non-profit organisations, and the secondary schools’ young entrepreneurs’ programmes. She has spoken at several industry events and is a regular tech and business commentator on Midlands 103, Newstalk and the host of the SME Community Podcast.