03 Sep Tennis Ireland Announces New Board Appointments
Tennis Ireland has announced the appointment of 5 new Portfolio Directors to the Board. This follows the recent AGM where CEO Richard Fahey also provided an overview of a successful year for the sport in Ireland. The new portfolio directors take up their roles immediately.
The appointments follow a process run by the Tennis Ireland Nominations Committee based on a public advertisement and assessment procedure as set down by the outgoing Board. Candidates with specific skills and experience in specific areas were invited to apply. The new directors are Louise Byrne, Communications; Dave Mullins, Performance; David O’Beirne, Safeguarding & Legal; Paul O’Connor, Finance and Leo O’Leary, Commercial. As with other Board members of Tennis Ireland, these are voluntary roles.
Richard Fahey, Chief Executive of Tennis Ireland said, “Each of the appointments to the Board bring excellent skills and a breadth of knowledge and experience which will be invaluable to the work of Tennis Ireland in supporting and developing Irish Tennis. Their appointments are particularly important as we approach the publication of the new Tennis Ireland Strategy and the implementation of its actions. I am delighted that they have agreed to serve on the Board, I wish them well in their roles and I’m looking forward to working closely with them.”
Addressing the recent AGM, Richard Fahey outlined the significant progress made within the sport throughout the last year including the securing of €3.2m in funding for 61 Tennis Projects via the Sports Capital Programme and $60k in funding from the International Tennis Federation.
Richard said,
“During 2017 / 18 we saw an uplift in the number of people playing tennis across all parts of Ireland with some notable performances from our high-profile players. Simon Carr competed in all 4 Junior Grand Slams and Georgia Drummy will compete in her fourth Junior Grand Slam this week at the US Open and has also been selected to compete for Ireland in the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in October. Just a few weeks ago we had an Irish winner of the AIG Irish Open in Peter Bothwell from Hillsborough, which was an ITF Pro Tour Event broadcast live on TG4 and which attracted an audience of 181,500 viewers. We also recently hosted 5 International Junior Events including 3 ITF U18 Events and 2 Tennis Europe Events and hosted the World Blind Tennis Championships at Shankill Tennis Club. We are also particularly proud that Tennis Ireland was recognised as ‘Best National Governing Body’ at the CARA National Inclusion Awards.
Tennis Ireland Chairman, David Barber welcomed the appointment of the new Directors: “Tennis in Ireland is entering an exciting new phase and I am delighted to welcome the new members to the Board of Tennis Ireland. Their skills, expertise and commitment will be a valuable addition to the ongoing implementation of our strategic objectives for the sport in Ireland.
- Louise Byrne, Communications, is a senior executive with extensive experience in the Technology, Digital Media, Arts and Education industries. Louise served as COO with the social insights and content company, Storyful where she oversaw the acquisition of the company by NewsCorp in 2013 and remained part of the global leadership team post acquisition. She most recently held the position of General Manager at CoderDojo Coolest Projects.
- Dave Mullins, Performance, is a former Irish National Junior Champion and ATP Tour Player who previously represented Ireland at Junior Grand Slam events and in Davis Cup. Shortly after his playing career ended, he started coaching, working with top ITF junior players before achieving his goal of becoming an elite college coach at the NCAA Division I level. Dave is currently working as the Sporting Director at Fitzwilliam LTC.
- David O’Beirne, Safeguarding / Legal, is a highly experienced corporate and commercial partner with Eversheds Sutherland, Solicitors and specialises in mergers, acquisitions, corporate restructurings and reorganisations. His practice includes advising listed companies and subsidiaries of overseas multinationals, often across multiple jurisdictions.
- Paul O’Connor, Finance, is an audit partner at PwC where he is responsible for the provision of audit and accounting advisory services to multinational and domestic companies across a range of sectors. Paul is a Past President of Chartered Accountants Ireland and is a director of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce and the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board and a member of the Irish Taxation Institute.
- Leo O’Leary, Commercial, has extensive commercial experience working within the Telecommunications Industry having worked as Commercial Director for BT before moving to Vodafone Ireland as Head of Global Enterprise for Ireland and the Netherlands and more recently in the role of Sales Director. Leo is also an Executive Member of the Cork Chamber.