The NAS Board is made up of a group of people with experience working in disability and public policy.
The NAS Board makes decisions about how NAS does its work.
The NAS Board makes sure that we are providing a high standard service for people with disabilities.
NAS Board of Directors assume their roles in a voluntary capacity. The Board of Directors meets on a bimonthly basis. In addition, there are three sub-committees of the Board which meet throughout the year. These are;
- Finance, Audit and Risk Sub-Committee
- Human Resources Sub-Committee
Chairperson of NAS Board
Rosemary Smyth
Rosemary was the former Director with the Mental Health Commission, the regulatory authority for mental health services in Ireland.
She was responsible for the registration of all in-patient mental health facilities, the monitoring of compliance with statutory obligations and the development of standards, rules and codes of practice for specified interventions in accordance with legislation.
Rosemary has extensive experience of working in the healthcare sector, specialising in mental health. She has contributed to the development of a range of national health related polices, standards and guidelines.
She is currently serving her first three-year term as Director on the Board of the Rehab Group and is a representative of the management of the public health sector on the Occupational Therapists Registration Board, CORU.
Board Directors
Helen Gillespie Brown
Helen is a lifelong advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. Growing up with a brother with learning disabilities and autism, she developed a deep understanding of the barriers individuals and families face in accessing education, support and essential services. These early experiences shaped her commitment to advancing equality, autonomy and inclusion throughout her career.
Helen holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work and an MSc in Social Work and Social Policy. She is CEO of Mental Health Reform, Ireland’s national mental health network, where she leads policy development, system reform and rights‑based advocacy across more than 80 member organisations. Her career spans senior leadership roles in health, disability advocacy, housing, and inclusive education.
She has served as CEO of Visualise Scotland and as a consultant to the Scottish Government’s Think Positive programme, promoting positive mental health across colleges and universities. Helen has also served on several Boards in the disability, mental health and advocacy sectors. Internationally, Helen has worked in Afghanistan managing prosthetics, orthotics, and physical rehabilitation programmes, and in Rwanda supporting disabled people’s organisations and genocide survivors to participate in the national poverty‑reduction strategy.
She has a particular interest in the monitoring and implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in strengthening rights‑based practice. Helen lives in Dublin with her husband David, and enjoys regular visits to family in Kilbeggan, County Westmeath.
Jamie O’Leary
Jamie is the CEO of The Lough Credit Union in Cork City. He is an experienced and dynamic CEO and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
He has qualifications in Accounting (FCA – Chartered Accountants Ireland), Mgmt & Business (BComm – UCC), Finance (QFA – LIA), HR (MTU), Credit Union Governance (UCC) and Training. Jamie has 35 years’ experience in leadership and senior management and has experience in Financial Services, Professional Services, Distribution, Education, Retail, Hospitality, with both the Not For Profit & Public/Private Sectors.
His experience involves improving business and individual performance by transforming organisations so they can thrive and he has helped organisations develop with proven roadmaps. Jamie is a Member of The Finance Committee of Cork Education and Training Board (ETB) (Budget €300m) since 2015 and chaired the Committee for nine years. He has also served on the Audit Committee of Cork ETB.
Padraig Kelly, MBA, BEng,
Padraig is the RCSI Associate Director, Surgical Affairs, Operations, Planning & Postgraduate Education. Padraig has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Industrial Engineering, has a Master’s of Business Administration a Diploma in Risk Management and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
The Associate Director role has operational responsibility for the following broad areas within Surgical Affairs; The National Surgical and Emergency Medicine Training Programmes, RCSI Surgical Postgraduate Education and Learning programmes, National Clinical Programmes in: Emergency Medicine, Trauma and Orthopeadics, Quality Assurance across all Surgical and Emergency Medicine training programmes, Continuous improvement across Surgical Affairs, and increasing the relevance of Surgical Affairs to the wider surgical community.
Padraig has a total of 24 years of experience in the field of Operations Management, Process Improvement and Lean Systems. Padraig has had Quality, Engineering and Operations management roles in a range of Organisations including Xerox Corporation, Waterford Crystal, Iarnród Éireann, RCSI , SQT Training and the Rotunda Maternity Hospital.
For the past 17 years, Padraig’s work has focused entirely within the Healthcare sector with quality assurance, accreditation and process improvement roles within Large University Teaching Hospitals and Medical Academic programmes. During this time he has led major Accreditation and Lean Implementation projects within individual Hospitals and Hospitals groups.
He has also developed and taught Lean Healthcare and Lean Pathology White, Yellow, Green Belt courses specifically tailored to the healthcare environments.
Jacqueline Grogan
Jacqueline is Project Manager in the National Office for Human Rights and Equality Policy. She is responsible for the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, Wardship, Public Sector Duty, Transgender and Intersex issues, and Universal Access.
Prior to joining the HSE in 2016, she worked in disability services both in Scotland and Ireland, including Sense Scotland, Momentum Scotland, the Rehab Group, Headway Ireland and the Disability Federation of Ireland, in the areas of service delivery, research, communications, governance and service development. She holds an honours degree in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Social Research, a Certificate in Public Relations, and is a PRINCE II Practitioner. She has recently completed a Professional Diploma in Human Rights and Equality.
Kieron Brennan
Kieron has been CEO of Co-operative Housing Ireland since 2014. He is also a Chartered Director (Institute of Directors). He has extensive experience in the community, voluntary and co-operative sector, and led the Irish League of Credit Unions as CEO from 2008 – 2014.
Prior to this, he was Programme Manager with POBAL, and managed the Dormant Accounts Fund programme there. He was also Irish Manager of Triodos Bank (one of Europe’s largest ethical banks), Executive Director of Clann Credo (social development fund) and Chief Executive of Partas. He has served on a number of Boards including those of organisations in the disability sector.
Elaine Bardon
Elaine works as a Policy and Public Affairs Officer for The Bar of Ireland, the representative body for the barristers’ profession in Ireland. She previously worked for a public affairs, public relations and communications agency in Dublin, supporting clients in the healthcare, energy, technology and NGO sectors.
She has worked for a number of semi state bodies, such as Sport Ireland, FSAI and the Commission for Aviation Regulation. Elaine has an extensive background in leadership and operations, having worked in the insurance and retail industries in New Zealand and Australia.
Elaine holds a BA from UCD and completed an MBA in Dublin Business School in 2021. This is her first board appointment.
Gillian McMahon
Gillian is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She is Head of Human Resources at BT Ireland with over 25 years HR and leadership experience. Gillian has worked in both the public and private sectors including extensive experience driving the people agenda in highly commercial environments such as the Retail, Travel, Telecommunications and Technology sectors. In her role in BT, Gillian has worked collaboratively with the leadership team to build a culture that has led the organisation to gaining external accreditations such as Healthy Place to Work for six years in a row and the Business Working Responsibly Mark.
Gillian’s experience spans the full range of HR activities including driving employee relations strategies to ensure a highly engaged workforce. Gillian has delivered on HR strategy, M&A activity, HR business partnering, employee engagement, employee wellbeing, employee relations, talent management and change management. Gillian holds a BA in Accounting and Human Resource Management, Diploma in Legal Studies, Postgraduate Diploma in Employment Law and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Gillian is a Non Executive Director of the Rehab Group board, Chairperson of Rehab Enterprises and holds board subcommittee positions including Chairperson of the HR Sub Committee of NAS. Gillian’s interests include diversity, equity & inclusion and she has a personal interest in neurodiversity and the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Hugh Duggan
Hugh has over 30 years’ experience working in Senior Human Resources positions, across both the public and private sectors, sitting on the leadership teams in organisations in a range of industries including, HR advisory and consulting. He has led HR functions in large, growing and sometimes challenged organisations, across the Pharmaceutical, Financial Services, Aviation, and Hi-Tech sectors. Most recently, he was the HR Director for St James Hospital for over seven years.
While being an experienced Senior HR Executive, he has a core skill in developing and supporting positive Employee Relations. This was developed from his time with IBEC and refined throughout his subsequent HR career, when he was often faced with the need to deliver change effectively. He is a well-experienced advocate. In recent years and since stepping back as HRD for St James he has become more active in a range of non-for-profits: He sits on the main Board of Vantastic and St Augustine’s Special School and on the HR-sub-committee of the Anne Sullivan Foundation. He has experience as a service user.
He is a qualified Mediator, has a MSc. from Trinity in Organizational Behaviour and a B. Soc. Sci from UCD. He has recently passed his probation as a stay-at-home Dad- as certified by his wife. He is also keen about DIY- assuming this is Destroy-it-Yourself.