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The Directors of Camphill Communities of Ireland

Camphill Communities of Ireland is governed by the Council, whose members are the Directors of the  registered company in the Republic of Ireland - Company Number 35672 , which is a company limited by guarantee. Camphill Communities of Ireland is registered as a charity with the Irish Revenue Commissioners: CHY 5861. Camphill Communities of Ireland is a Member of the Association of Camphill Communities of Great Britain and Ireland. The Board meets monthly to govern the affairs of Camphill Communities of Ireland.

Here is a short pen profile for each director:

Ambrose Kealy (Chairperson)

Ambrose was elected as Chairperson of Camphill Communities of Ireland in September 2023.

He was born on a family farm in Grange Con (West Wicklow) in 1954. He qualified as an accountant in 1979. He has worked in a number of organisations (O’Neill Foley & Co Chartered Accountants; Department of Social Welfare; Cantrell & Cochrane (C&C); Asahi; Johnson & Johnson (J&J); Fruehauf; Voluntary Health Insurance (Vhi)) in a career spanning 44 years.

He retired from full time employment with VHI, after 34 years service, at the end of December 2016. In that time, he held a number of senior finance positions in the company. In addition to his accountancy qualification he is a qualified Compliance practitioner and in that regard was appointed Chief Compliance Officer in VHI in 2012 while Vhi was successfully pursuing authorisation of its insurance activities by the Central Bank of Ireland.

He is a Director of Brainwave – The Irish Epilepsy Association and sits on the Benevolent Committees (Ireland and Worldwide) of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Ambrose is married to June and they live in Naas. They have two sons. He is a regular golfer and walker and has a keen interest in many sports. He enjoys travel and maintains a keen interest in local, national and international politics, business and current affairs. He also enjoys reading fiction.

Marie Keane 

Marie Keane was the former Deputy Chief Executive of Beaumont Hospital Dublin and retired from the HSE in March 2017 and was Chairperson of Camphill Communities of Ireland from April 2017 until September 2023. 

Marie is the former Beaumont Hospital Director of Nursing and was heavily involved in overseas recruitment of nursing staff during this period. She was co-opted to the Board in early 2016 and has been influential in the current review of Camphill structures in the south of Ireland.

Maeve Liffey

Maeve has been involved with Camphill for many years, serving on the Local Management Committee in Carrick on Suir and with the Camphill Friends and Family Association.  

Maeve brings international executive management and board-level experience to Camphill.   She has worked as a management consultant with Accenture, as a Supply Director for BT based in Munich,  and more recently as a Solution Director for CBRE with investment banking clients in the City of London.  She consults and directs on complex business process outsourcing contracts and serves on the board of one other privately-owned technology company.  Maeve recently moved into the charitable sector and currently works full time for The Rothschild Foundation (National Trust) based at Waddesdon Manor.  Maeve holds a business degree from the University of Limerick.

Bernard Haslam

Bernard has been involved with Camphill since 1993 when his daughter Sarah moved to the Camphill Community at Dunshane. He has served on Dunshane’s Local Committee since 2002, and is now the Chair of that Committee. He was a member of the Steering Group appointed by Council in 2010 to assist Dunshane Community transition safely through a major internal reorganisation.

Bernard lives in Malahide, Co. Dublin and is married to Mairin, a speech and language therapist, and has 4 children. He is a physics and maths graduate from UCD (1974) and has extensive international and senior management experience. He worked as a management consultant with Accenture, was a founding director of one of the first trading companies in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), was the Chief Information Officer - Europe for General Electric’s Global Consumer Finance business and, since 2006, has recently worked as an independent technology and business process consultant. Bernard held board directorships on both Irish plcs and overseas multinational company boards for several years. Bernard retired from full time work commitments this year and was elected to the Council in September 2017

Ian Kerr

Ian is connected to Camphill through his brother John who joined the Community in 2002. Ian is an experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the civil engineering and software development industries. Skilled in Marketing Management, Business Planning, Analytical Skills, and Coaching. Ian was previously the Deputy of Mullingar Chamber of Commerce and is currently a non-executive Director of ITS Ireland.  

Ian co-founded Idaso Ltd. in 2013 a software company specialising in transport data collection, he is a strong business development professional with a Degree in Business and a Masters focused in International Entrepreneurship Management from University of Limerick, Ireland.

Tony Bridgeman

Tony is an experienced business operations and transformation leader. He has successfully delivered many large, diverse and complex organisation change programmes and initiatives in major Irish gas, water and electricity utilities over the past 20 years. Some of these initiatives have shaped the utilities industry in Ireland enabling them to become multi-product and service providers. Tony has a Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.) and is a qualified Project Manager, Coach and Mediator. Tony is a keen golfer and is heavily involved in junior soccer administration. He is married to Paula and they live in north Dublin with their 3 boys and much loved staffy “Bruno”.

 

 

View a map of all the Camphill Communities in Ireland

View a map of all the Camphill Communities in Ireland

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