HMI Council
The Council is the governing body of the Institute. Council meets regularly throughout the year to develop strategy, and guide the work of the Institute.
Tony Canavan
President, HMI
CEO Saolta University Healthcare Group, University Hospital Galway
Tony has worked in the health services since 1993 across a range of services including Mental Health Services, Public Health, Primary Care and Corporate Services.
Tony’s first senior management appointment was in 2002 as General Manager of Mayo General Hospital. In 2009 he was appointed General Manager of Primary Community and Continuing Care for County Galway. Tony was appointed Chief Operating Officer to what became known as the Saolta Hospital Group in 2012. During 2012 -2013 Tony was also General Manager of Galway University Hospital. Following this, he was appointed Chief Officer for Galway, May and Roscommon Community Healthcare Organisation in 2015. Tony moved to his current role as CEO Saolta University Healthcare Group in September 2019.
Breda Crehan-Roche
Vice President, HMI
Chief Officer, Community Healthcare West, Health Service Executive
In January 2020 Breda commenced as Chief Officer for Community Healthcare West. Community Healthcare West includes Primary Care, Mental Health, Older Persons Services, Disability Services and Health and Well-being Services for Counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.
From September 2005 to December 2019 Breda was Chief Executive Officer of Ability West, a Section 39 funded organisation providing services to children and adults with intellectual disability throughout Galway city and county. Over the years Breda held a number of senior management positions, in the Midland Health Board culminating in Assistant CEO of Community Care Services and previous to that Director of Services for Persons with Disabilities. In March 2005 she was appointed Assistant National Director of Social Inclusion in the newly formed Health Service Executive a role she covered until August 2005.
Breda is Registered Nurse, Montessori Teacher, has a MSc in Economics and Healthcare Management from the University of Wales and a MBS from University of Limerick.
Dr. Gerard O’Callaghan
Honorary Treasurer, HMI
CEO of Cork University Hospital
Before his current appointment Gerard was CEO of South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital. Previously he was General Manager, Kerry General Hospital; Management Accountant for the Southern Health Board; and Finance and General Services Officer at Cork University Hospital. He is a qualified accountant (FCCA) and holds an M.Sc. in Management from Trinity College Dublin and a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Aston University, Birmingham.
Gerry O’Dwyer
Director of Education, HMI
CEO South / South West Hospital Group
Gerry O’Dwyer is employed as the Chief Executive Officer of the South / South West Hospital Group (SSWHG). A long term health service manager, he has held many senior roles in Ireland including Regional Director for Performance and Integration, HSE South; Regional Director of Operations in Dublin Mid Leinster; and Hospital Network Manager for the acute hospitals in HSE South. Gerry was elected President of the European Association of Hospital Managers (EAHM) in September 2014
Anne Slattery
Honorary Secretary, HMI
General Manager, St. Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny
Caroline O’Regan
Honorary Editor, HMI
Executive Development Specialist, Programme Director
Royal College of Surgeons, Institute of Leadership (IoL) Ireland
Caroline has over 25 years’ experience working in leadership and management development in the health sector in the Ireland and Internationally.
Caroline holds a (MEd) Masters in Education, with the University of Sheffield. She is an accredited executive leadership coach and works with CEO’s, Senior Executives and managers in public and private industries. Caroline is also and External Coach Accreditation Assessor (AC UK & Ireland) and Neuro-linguistic practitioner (NLP). She is a member of the Communication Council of the European Association of Hospital Managers (EAHM), and British Psychological Society (BPS). She was a
Non- Executive Board member of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA).
Caroline held the position of Assistant of National Director, Leadership Education and Development HSE Corporate HR, before taking up the post with the RCSI Institute of Leadership (IoL). Prior to this, she was lead for Management and Leadership Development with HSE Corporate Learning and Development. Caroline was one of the first members of the Office for Health Management (OHM) and led the development of health care competency frameworks and personal and development planning (PDP).
She has developed a portfolio for executive and strategic development with health, public and private sectors. She worked with the Department of Health and was part of the change management team for the Irish health system reform programme and introduction of the HSE. She is programme director of the Clinical Directors programme and executive development programmes.
Lucy Nugent
Immediate Past President, HMI
CEO, Tallaght University Hospital
Lucy has worked in the acute hospital sector for over 20 years and is a Registered Children’s Nurse and Registered General Nurse. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing Studies (Hons) from Dublin City University, an M.Sc. (Hons) in Healthcare Management from Trinity College, Dublin and a Diploma in Leadership and Quality Improvement from the Royal College of Physicians Dublin. She sits on the EAHM Executive Committee and on the International Hospital Federation’s Chapter on “International Core Leadership and Managerial Competencies”.
Derek Greene
Ordinary Council Member, HMI
Chief Executive, National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dún Laoghaire
Derek’s previous positions include Assistant Secretary University College Dublin, Head of Human Resources in Beaumont Hospital and various assignments in Hospital Management, Human Resources and Community Care. He has also held positions in the private sector in various roles. Derek is a member of the IPD and holds a Masters Degree in Management from Trinity College Dublin and the Irish Management Institute (IMI).
Kate Killeen White
Ordinary Council Member, HMI
Chief Officer, South East community Healthcare
Kate has held the position of Chief Officer for South East Community Healthcare since 1st January 2019. As Chief Officer, Kate is responsible for the delivery of community healthcare services in the counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and South Tipperary and across the areas of Primary Care, Older Persons, Disabilities, Mental Health, Health and Wellbeing and Quality, Safety and Service Improvement.
Prior to joining the Health Service, Kate practiced as a Barrister-at-Law specialising in the areas of Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Health Law and Policy including disability and Mental Health, Corporate Governance Strategy and Development Principles including Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate re-structuring and reform.
With a strong academic background in law, Kate is also currently completing the Diploma in Corporate Governance at Smurfit Business School.
Kate is diligent, decisive, and results-led and reliably forges sterling client rapport, placing primary emphasis on loyalty, trust, and confidentiality.
Mellany McLoone
Ordinary Council Member, HMI
Chief Officer, Community Healthcare Organisation, Dublin North City and County (CHO DNCC)
Mellany has held the position of Chief Officer of Community Healthcare Organisation Dublin North City and County (CHO DNCC) since March 2019.
As Chief Officer, Mellany is responsible for the delivery of community healthcare services in Dublin North City and County in the areas of Primary Care, Older Persons, Disabilities, Mental Health, Health and Wellbeing and Quality, Safety and Service Improvement to a population of approximately 621,000.
With significant experience in the Irish public health system over the past three decades, she has worked in a number of senior management and leadership roles in the areas of human resources, business support and operational management in hospitals, community services and Tulsa.
Mellany holds a Masters in Organisational Leadership from the Royal College of Surgeon’s Institute of Leadership and an Advanced Diploma in Applied Employment Law from Kings Inn. She has also been awarded a Degree in HR and Industrial Relations from the National College of Ireland and the Irish Management Institute’s Graduate Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership and Health Service.
Adrian Ahern
Co-opted Member, HMI Council
Director of Nursing, Leopardstown Park Hospital
Adrian holds the following qualifications: R.P.N., R.G.N. ,BSc (Hons) Econ, M.A.
He is the current chair of the HMI West Regional Committee. A former General Manager in the HSE, he is now Operations Manager with Ballinderry Nursing Home Ltd. He is a council member of HMI and Irish rep on the EAHM mental health group.
Eamonn Fitzgerald
Co-opted Member, HMI Council
VP Health Services, UPMC Ireland/International
Sharon Morrow
Co-opted Member, HMI Council
Director, Congenital Heart Disease Network, National Children’s Hospital Group
Sharon qualified as a RGN at the Adelaide Hospital and held a number of positions at the Adelaide Hospital and Tallaght Hospital. In addition to a BSc (Hons) and MBA, Sharon has a MSc in Medical Ethics & Law, qualified as a Black Belt in Lean/6 Sigma and is a Crew/Team Resource Management Instructor. She worked as a Directorate Business Manager at St James Hospital before moving to the HSE, National Clinical Strategy and Planning Directorate as National Programme Manager for Rheumatology, Neurology, Dermatology, Orthopaedics, Epilepsy and Home Antimicrobial Therapy. She subsequently held the post of Chief Operations Officer at the Adelaide & Meath Hospital, Tallaght before joining LauraLynn as CEO in August, 2014.
Theresa Heller
Co-opted Member, HMI Council
Assistant National Director, National Human Resources, Health Services Executive.
Theresa has worked in the Health Services for 39 years. During those years Theresa held a number of senior management and senior Human Resources Roles in the acute, community services and corporate services. Theresa has extensive experience in operational and strategic Human Resource Management across all services. Theresa was appointed Assistant National Director in July 2021 as Corporate Business Partner, National Human Resource Division, Health Service Executive.
Theresa was awarded a B.A. in Health Care Management from Dublin City University and a M.Sc. in HealthCare Management from Trinity College, Dublin.
Grace Rothwell
Co-opted Member, HMI Council
Chief Officer Sosuth East Community Healthcare
A native of Kilkenny, Grace Rothwell has worked in the Health Service for more than 25 years and now at Assistant National Director level. Her roles have been in management at varying levels in acute hospitals and most recently she has taken up the post of Chief Officer in the South East Community Healthcare, covering a Maternity Leave.
She began her career with roles in Household Services in the Coombe Hospital, Dublin and Waterford Regional Hospital, followed by a Project Management Role at national level, which involved the development of ‘National Cleaning Standards’ and ‘National Infection Prevention & Control Standards.’ In this role she also enabled the first ever National Hygiene Audit.
She then had a number of Facilities Management roles in St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, before taking up the position of General Manager in South Tipperary General Hospital in 2013 – something she had always wanted to do. “Running a hospital is something everyone should experience, the sense of purpose, the teamwork, the contact with patients and families and the ability to make things happen is invaluable.”
Grace left Tipperary to take up the post of Head of the SDU which enabled insight as to workings between the HSE, Department of Health and the Oireachtas, as well as operations in the various acute hospitals throughout the country. She described this as “again huge learning.”
In 2019 she commenced work as General Manager of University Hospital Waterford & Kilcreene Regional Orthopaedic Hospital – a post which she loved, “It was a big busy hospital, the Covid Era, the post Covid Era and then the Wexford Fire – I gained a considerable amount of experience”!
In April of this year, she took up the role of Chief Officer in South East Community Healthcare. “This was a very different place to acute hospitals – huge learning and opportunity to encourage collaboration and integrated services.”
Dr Philippa Ryan Withero
Co-opted Member, HMI Council
Assistant National Director HR, HSE, Strategic Workforce Planning and Intelligence
Since Philippa was appointed to this role in September 2017, she has brought together the Workforce Analytics Unit with the Integrated Workforce Planning Unit to create a strategic workforce planning and intelligence unit. Most recently, this unit has expanded to now include a HR Integration team that brings together Organisation Management cross functionally between HR and Finance. Collectively this brings together workforce intelligence, through robust data collection and analysis, along with the developments in strategic workforce planning and forecasting in addition to the supported end to end HR function delivered via HR Integration. Under her leadership, this team provides all employment reporting, workforce analytics and projections and HR Integration across the health service.
Phillipa has led out on the development and implementation of multiple workforce planning projects including the first National Safe Nurse Staffing Framework, underpinned by a national programme of safe nurse staffing research, in her role as Deputy Chief Nursing Officer with the Department of Health. This work has received international recognition and cross country collaboration. More recently, she has led on the first collaborative project with the ESRI, to further develop the Hippocrates Model developed by the ESRI, to project workforce demand across Acute Hospitals. She continues to work with the ESRI to further develop this work to project workforce demand for community services nationally.
Philippa has almost 30 years of experience in the Health Services, having started her career in nursing, but has worked in a variety of roles that span across nursing and midwifery, human resources, operational, educational and policy, working nationally and internationally on key workforce projects. Her passion is to drive the workforce planning agenda and create the awareness and appreciation of the health workforce as a critical enabler to high quality safe patient care along with sustainable healthy work environments.
