Meet the Board

Eoin McVey trained as an accountant and then joined The Irish Times as a financial journalist. He remained with the company and served as a Director and as Managing Editor. He was appointed chairperson of the NLI in 2021. He is a director of St Michael’s House and deputy chair of its Audit & Finance Committee and a member of the Audit & Risk Committee of An Garda Síochána. He is a former member of the Board of the Press Council of Ireland, the RDS and RTÉ.

Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh is President of University of Galway. With a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) from University of Galway and PhD in Accounting from the University of Leeds, UK. He has worked in academic leadership roles in New Zealand, DCU and UCD. He drove the development of a new strategy for University of Galway, Shared Vision, Shaped by Values, which outlines the University’s direction and priorities guided by four core values of respect, excellence, openness and sustainability for the period 2020 -2025 and is working in collaboration with staff, students, external stakeholders and university management to develop the university’s next strategic plan.

Dr Marie Bourke is a cultural historian and former Keeper-Head of Education at the National Gallery of Ireland. The author of many publications including, The Story of Irish Museums 1790-2000 (Cork University Press, 2011, 2013). She curated the National Gallery’s recent Frederic William Burton exhibition For the Love of Art. She is an Assessor on the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme, Chair of the RDS Arts Committee, and a member of the board of the National Library of Ireland.

Kalpana Shankar (she/her) is a Full Professor of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin. She has almost three decades of experience conducting research and teaching in librarianship and information studies.Her expertise includes information organisations and infrastructures, research data management, and science policy. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Association of Information Science and Technology (JASIST), one of the flagship journals of the information science field, and the Journal for Responsible Computing. She has also served in advisory and expert roles with the National Open Research Forum, the Higher Education Authority's Athena Swan Intersectionality Committee, and many others.

Lorelei Harris worked for many years as Editor of Arts, Features and Drama for RTÉ Radio 1 and as Head of Arts and Cultural Strategy for RTÉ. She is an experienced broadcast media professional with a deep knowledge and understanding of radio. An internationally recognised and awarded documentary maker, she established and developed the now iconic RTÉ Documentary on One and trained generations of Irish documentary makers. She also contributed to the European Broadcasting Union over a long period of time, serving as Chairperson of the Radio Documentary Group. She is highly experienced in public event development and management, culminating in the large scale 2016 RTÉ Reflecting the Rising public and broadcast event. A skilled cultural producer and manager, she is well versed in partnership development, in strategic planning, in certain areas of governance and in contract negotiation. Since leaving RTÉ, she works independently and is also a board member of the Kilkenny Arts Festival and of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.

Elizabeth Kirwan is the National Library of Ireland Staff Appointee to the Board. Elizabeth trained as a Librarian at the University of London School of Advanced Study at The Warburg Institute, at the National Archives and Records Administration, Maryland DC, at the Library of Congress, Washington DC, and at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Italy. Elizabeth holds postgraduate qualifications in Medieval Iconography (UCC), Gender and Women’s Studies (TCD), Management (IMI), and Librarianship (UCD). Elizabeth has worked in collection management, exhibitions, and policy development roles since 1984,and manages the NLI’s National Photographic Archive. Elizabeth is Chair of CENL’s recently established EEDI Networking Group.

Michael Diviney has over 30 years’ experience, including 20 years at senior management level, in print and digital publishing and media, specialising in professional, business and third-level education markets. In his current role, Mr Diviney is Executive Head of Thought Leadership at Chartered Accountants Ireland, where he previously led the Publishing Department.He has also worked for Thomson Reuters Round Hall, RTÉ, and Reed Business Information. A graduate of University College Dublin (English Literature) and Technological University Dublin (Management and Law), his specialist qualifications and broad experience include stakeholder engagement, intellectual property law, project management, digitalisation, and, returning to UCD, the Professional Diploma in Corporate Governance.

John Grenham is a writer, author, and genealogist. He was project manager with the Irish Genealogical Project from 1991-1995 and later went on to develop his own genealogical software, 'Grenham’s Irish Recordfinder'. In 2005, he was the first Genealogist-in-Residence at Dublin City Library. He was awarded a fellowship of The Irish Genealogical Research Society in 2007 and of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in 2010 and Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) in 2021. He is the author of Tracing your Irish Ancestors (5th ed. Dublin, Baltimore MD, 2019) the standard reference guide for Irish genealogy, The Atlantic Coast of Ireland (2014), Clans and Families of Ireland (1995), and An Illustrated History of Ireland (1997), among other works. John has developed heritage databases with Dublin City Library and Archive and the National Archives of Ireland. He currently manages and curates an Irish ancestry website.

Lisa has been directing digital asset management (DAM), taxonomy, and enterprise content programs in the US and Europe since the mid-1990s for companies, museums, and archives large and small, including Nature Publishing Group, Drexel University College of Medicine, Elsevier, GSK, Amazon and many more. She has worked as a DAM product owner, trainer, and administrator in-house, on the vendor side and as both an independent and corporate consultant. She also teaches in the Rutgers University DAM Certificate Program.

Recent roles include her positions as Executive Consultant at ICP, Global Director, DAM, at Novartis and VP DAM Evangelist at Digizuite. She holds BA and MA degrees in Archaeology from Boston University and University College London, respectively, and an MS-LIS from Long Island University. She is a regular writer, speaker and podcaster in and beyond the DAM space. Find her in Dublin, Ireland.

Dr Brian Lang CBE, FRSE was born and educated in Edinburgh. He conducted social anthropological research in Kenya before lecturing for some years at Aarhus University, Denmark. In London, he established the National Heritage Memorial Fund as its first Director and later served as Director of Public Affairs for the National Trust. In 1991 he was appointed Chief Executive and Deputy Chair of the British Library, ensuring the successful completion of the Library’s new headquarters building at St Pancras in London. From 1992 to 2000, he chaired the Forum of European National Libraries. In 2000 he was appointed Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. Dr Lang has chaired and sat on the Boards of major heritage, library and arts bodies, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, National Museums of Scotland and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Caitriona Sharkey is Head of learning and knowledge for Accenture Legal, having previously held similar roles in EY, and has over 25 years’ experience working in executive roles in learning and knowledge management. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (Business), and is a qualified Librarian with Masters degrees in both Strategic Management and Organizational Behaviour. She has also previously lectured in Management and Library Science at Dublin Business School. Prior to joining the board of the NLI, she held a position on the Board of Beaumont Hospital

Genevieve Wyeth studied Economics at University College Dublin and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting at Dublin City University. She is a Fellow Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, having qualified with KPMG. She spent 18 years at Fyffes, formerly Fyffes plc, holding various roles. She was Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance from 2008 to 2021, responsible for global mergers & acquisitions and operational matters. She advises various boards on corporate and property related affairs. She is a non-executive director of Tallaght Childcare Centre, where she is Chair of the Finance Committee and is a former member of the Governance Committee.