Smurfit Executive Development is delighted to announce the award of the 2023 30% Club scholarship to Alison Duffy. Alison is Head of Risk Management at The Society of St Vincent de Paul. Prior to this, Alison worked with GOAL as Manager of the Operations Finance team. After that she took up a compliance role with Self Help Africa, a niche development agency and expanded the role into governance becoming Company Secretary for a group entity.

Alison’s personal achievements are varied - she took the step into accountancy having spent ten years as a dental nurse and went straight through to qualifying after four years. She has completed the UCD Diploma in Organisational Change & Transformation and the UCD Diploma in Strategy Development & Innovation with Smurfit Executive Development and earned a distinction in both programmes. The Smurfit experience nurtured a passion for development, the application of learnings and built confidence in her abilities. Alison delivered the first meeting of UN Global Compact participants in Ireland, this was a major achievement as participants in Ireland had not come together before. Alison has been on several panels, but she is most proud of her work on Dochas as Chair of the Finance Working Group and as a member of the Publishing Committee of Chartered Accountants, Ireland.

Alison has been interested in Corporate Governance from the point in her career when she started attending board meetings. Over time observing how different boards interact and perform and how this contributes to the success of a company or charities operations, has prompted a desire to understand and learn how to contribute and support boards to work more effectively. The role culture, personalities and past experiences have on the board effectiveness really interests her. Alison’s primary objective in undertaking the Diploma in Corporate Governance programme is to develop her understanding of the principles and practices for a board to manage an organisation in a responsible, effective way that ensures sustainability. She also would like to build on her knowledge and skills to enable her to help maintain ethical business practices, understand the legal framework of corporate governance, and improve decision making in the interests of stakeholders. Alison looks forward to promoting the core values and aspirations of the 30% Club and that of the UCD Centre for Corporate Governance as a scholarship recipient.

Alongside the growing emphasis on education and training of company directors and governors, is an increased emphasis on diversity in boardrooms. Following the banking crisis, the Stock Exchange’s Corporate Governance Code added forceful material on the need for diverse boards, including gender and race. That Code advocates diversity as a means of avoiding “groupthink”, encouraging different approaches and experiences around boardroom tables. Under the State Code, due regard for diversity is required in making state board appointments, with chairs and government departments required to consider the benefits of diversity on boards, including gender diversity.

To advance the objectives of the code, UCD Smurfit Executive Development, in association with the 30% Club, offers one scholarship per annum to a female student on the fully accredited postgraduate Professional Diploma in Corporate Governance. The 30% Club was launched in January 2015 and has the objective of improving gender balance at all levels in Irish business, with a focus on gender balance on boards of directors and in senior executive leadership positions.

To date eight scholars have completed the programme including Stephanie Manahan, CEO of the not-for-profit charity, the Central Remedial Clinic; Katherine Licken, Secretary General of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media; Niamh Duddy, Company Secretary of the Irish branch of Investec Bank plc; Georgina Gray, Inspector in An Garda Síochána; Sinead Ryan, Director of Governance, National University of Ireland; Cora Sutton, Director of Cronin and Sutton Consulting Engineers; Marie Gleeson former Lieutenant Commander in the Irish Navy and now a Leadership Consultant and Motivational Speaker; and Caradh O’Donovan, Premium Search Manager at Boardmatch Ireland.

We are proud of our 30% Club scholarship recipients, and of their range of backgrounds from not-for-profit, to Government department to private sector financial services and non-executive director positions.  Each class comprises participants with a diverse range of expertise. Executive development involves learning from the lecturers on the programme, and even more valuable, peer-to-peer learning, from the depth and range of expertise in each class of senior, experienced executives.

For more information on the September 2023 intake of our UCD Diploma in Corporate Governance programme click here.