Northern Ireland

Hugh Ó Dreáin, Branch Chair

Hugh is the current Chairperson of the Council for the Chartered Governance Institute in Northern Ireland and has extensive professional Board and Executive Management Committee governance and administration experience in the private, public and third sectors.

In his spare time, Hugh lends his expertise to voluntary and charity organisations who promote community led socioeconomic development projects.

Adrian Kelly, Secretary

Adrian began his career as a Company Secretary within the investment funds industry in Dublin in 2013, before returning to Belfast in 2014 and commencing a role with Ulster Bank as a Corporate Governance Consultant and progressed to the role of Risk Governance Manager. This role involved providing secretarial support and governance advice to the Board Risk Committee and the Executive Risk Committee within the bank.

More recently Adrian has returned to working in Dublin taking a role with Allied Irish Banks (AIB) as a Corporate Governance Manager, again with a particular focus on Risk Governance and working closely with the risk function of the Group and the Board Risk Committee.

Josh Finlay, Student Champion

Having graduated from the MSc Management and Corporate Governance course in September 2018, Josh joined now named Ocorian Administration (UK) Limited, a Corporate Service Provider and has experienced working with and providing company secretarial services to listed and unlisted, onshore and offshore, funds.

Holly Tierney, Events secretary

Holly is a Junior Company Secretary at Ocorian Administration (UK) Limited and has experience of working in both the financial services industry and the public sector. Holly currently has responsible for providing corporate secretarial and corporate governance services to listed and private equity funds.

Krupa Balakrishna, Treasurer

Krupa always knew she belonged to Governance, her first steps in governance started as a company secretarial assistant in a firm of company secretaries in India. Passion for governance lead her to completing the Msc Management Corporate Governance post which she worked with Axiom Managed Solutions as a Analyst, Legal Entity Management. Krupa Believes that governance is not restricted to only conventional perception of entity management, she is currently working in as a funding analyst in Citi, Belfast which she thoroughly enjoys.

James Fennings, Social Media Champion

James has more than three years of experience working in Professional Services/Financial Services with listed companies, Investment Trusts and REITs. He is currently providing Company Secretarial services to a Tier 1 Investment Bank Client.

Geoffrey Jordan, Council Member-Past Chair

Geoffrey is Group Company Secretary of W&R Barnett Limited a holding company of a diversified group of international commodity trading, storage, agribusiness and industrial companies and one of Northern Ireland’s Top 100 Companies. The group has grown from its origins as a grain merchant and expanded its operations to include a wide variety of enterprises including dry bulk commodities, derivatives, molasses, oils, feed mills, corrugated packaging, laboratory testing and storage both in Ireland and worldwide. Geoffrey was appointed Company Secretary in 2001 and has been involved with the Group during this period of sustained growth. He is a former Chair of the Chartered Governance Institute in Northern Ireland.

Anthony Irvine, Council Member

Anthony is a Corporate Governance professional with over 10 years of senior management experience across multiple industries including automotive, contact centre, telecommunications, government contracts, NGO, FMCG, and IT.

Educated to Masters level with a MSc in Management and Corporate Governance, and BSc in Management and Leadership Development both from the Ulster University.