Meet Our Board

As a not-for-profit, charitable status company, Oxfam Ireland is governed by a maximum of 11 unpaid Trustees, known as Council or Board members. New members are recruited through advertisements in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland while other potential candidates are identified by the existing Council and the Chief Executive Officer.

Members are appointed for a maximum of two three-year terms. After a potential candidate has been interviewed, the Chair decides whether to recommend a candidate for appointment. This is discussed at the next Board meeting where a decision is taken. If appointed, the new member is given a letter of appointment and induction materials including a copy of the Code of Conduct – which they must sign – and a copy of the Conflict of Interest policy. A formal induction process is designed for the new Board member to ensure that they get information on the organisation and its operations over the first three months of their tenure. This includes spending time in different areas of the organisation and if possible, going on a field visit to Oxfam Ireland’s programme work within the first year.

A Board committee on remuneration and performance selects the Chief Executive and sets pay rates for the Chief Executive and senior staff. For every paid member of staff, Oxfam Ireland has the support of approximately 10 volunteers. We could not carry out our work without this key support from people countrywide and we value it greatly.

Mary Ma Appointed to Council 20/04/2018

Appointed as Chair 8/09/2023

Mary Murphy is a Professor in Irish Politics and Society in Maynooth University’s Department of Sociology. Her research interests include eco-social welfare, social security policy, power and civil society and gender equality. Her latest book, ‘Creating an Ecosocial Welfare Future’ (Policy Press) was published in 2023. A contributor to national policy debate, she has been a member of various national policy groups, including the National Economic and Social Council. She was a commissioner on the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (2013-2017) and is a member of the Council of State.

Donal Rooney Appointed 27/09/2021

Dónal Rooney is a chartered accountant, experienced business leader, non-executive director, and highly accomplished Group CFO. He currently acts as an independent business advisor and is also a non-executive director with Enterprise Ireland. Dónal has over 25 years' experience operating in plc, large-cap private equity and public sector environments. He has significant board-level experience and is highly skilled across financial management, treasury, tax, M&A, investor/exit readiness, investor relations and transformational change. He has a demonstrable track record of success across four Group CFO roles including NAMA and Amaris Hospitality, a Lone Star portfolio company. He also has 12 years prior senior-level professional services experience, with KPMG and Arthur Andersen.

Portrait of Dr Liam Doherty Appointed 06/12/2024

Liam Doherty is a Principal Officer, in the Houses of the Oireachtas Service and is an environmental expert with a range of experience across academia and the public and civil service. Liam has worked in the areas of environmental research, regulation, environmental policy, and corporate sustainability. He has extensive experience on governance committees and on national and European policy advisory committees. During his career he has assessed the efficiency and effectiveness of national projects and policies and advised on the design and implementation of sustainability strategies. His research looked at nature-based solutions to wastewater treatment, energy recovery from wastewater treatment, and public participation in national policy.

Donal Rooney Appointed 26/09/2024

Damien Dwyer is CEO of Woodie’s - Ireland’s leading DIY, Home and Garden retailer. In his role, Damien leads a team of 1,500 colleagues across 35 stores. Damien is a Chartered Accountant and had previously held senior finance roles in retail and technology companies in Ireland. Damien has extensive commercial experience and prior to his current role was Commercial Director at Woodie’s for 10 years. Damien is a Board Member of Retail Ireland, an IBEC organisation, representing Ireland’s Retail Industry at National level. Having worked in the retail industry for 20 years, Damien has extensive experience of all aspects of retail and has hands on experience of supporting sustainable business in high governance environments.

Nellie Nyangwa Appointed 13/10/2021

For over 30 years, Nellie has held various roles in the development sector. For 21 of those years, the roles were within the Oxfam family. Prior to joining Oxfam, Nellie worked for World Vision International as Associate Director of Micro Finance where she advocated and successfully led in the setting up of an independent Micro Finance Organisation which focused on micro and small enterprises. Nellie joined the Oxfam Malawi country office in 1999 as Programme Coordinator, responsible for managing grants to partners and two years later was appointed Malawi Country Director. Nellie successfully ran, for the first time in the history of the country office, a major humanitarian response in 2001/2002, and later in 2004/2005 advocated to Oxfam to have a locally-led response which eventually transformed the way Oxfam resourced humanitarian responses. In 2006, Nellie was appointed Regional Programme and Campaigns Manager for Oxfam, based in the Southern Africa office in Pretoria, South Africa. In 2010, she moved back into a Country Director role in the Zambia country office in order to be with her family. In 2015, Nellie was appointed Oxfam International Regional Director for Southern Africa based in Lilongwe, Malawi. Nellie left Oxfam in 2021, having led the region to transform its operating model from a country-based programme model to a regional approach which has offered Oxfam an innovative and alternative approach within the context of shrinking resources. Nellie now spends her time supporting the development of family business interests in hospitality, farming and consultancy.

Catherine Gaynor Appointed 19/06/2020

Catherine Gaynor has worked as a planner, evaluator, researcher, trainer and technical director in development programmes spanning many countries for 40 years. This has included nine years across three full-time assignments in Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Malawi and multiple short- and long-term assignments for a range of multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organisations. She has a BSc from NUIG and a Masters in Social Policy and Planning from London School of Economics. Particular areas of expertise include gender equality and results-based management. Most recently, she led on the design and was Technical Director for a five-year innovative programme in Nigeria working to change harmful norms related to gender-based violence and opposition to women’s leadership and decision making. The primary target group was young women and men but also other key influencers. The programme has generated cutting-edge learning related to changing gender norms and the measurement of change. Cathy recently went back to her roots in Co. Clare and currently engages both locally and globally on development issues.

Joyce_Bourne Appointed 27/09/2021

Joyce Bourne worked for over 30 years in diplomacy and public service. She served in senior positions in the Foreign Service of Barbados, including postings at the Permanent Mission of Barbados to the Organisation of American States; the Consulate-General of Barbados at Miami; and the Permanent Mission of Barbados to the United Nations in New York. She has extensive experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy as well as the implementation of foreign policy, particularly on social, political, economic and environmental issues. She is an advocate for development issues, focusing on improving people’s lives, poverty eradication and global sustainability. She has a strong background in administration and management, having served as Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados and Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Attorney General of Barbados. Ms. Bourne holds a Bachelor’s degree in Language and Linguistics from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus; a post-graduate diploma in international relations from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus; a Master’s degree in Linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington, DC and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC. She relocated to Ireland in 2020.