Aidan Horan

Aidan Horan is a Senior Associate in Governance at the IPA. He was previously Director at the IPA with overall responsibility for governance, assurance and related services. A qualified accountant, he led the governance specialist team and was the founder member of the Governance Forum at the IPA. 

Aidan is a Director at the Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconcilliation has also been nominated to a number of non-executive roles over the years including as Audit Committee Chairperson, Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. He is also a member of the Public Financial Management Board and the Sustainability Panel at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy [CIPFA] (UK).

Dr Deirdre Bane

Deirdre is a Senior Finance Specialist in the IPA Governance Team, delivering Financial Management, Audit and Internal Control Training and assistance programmes together with consultancy services to various public, state and semi-state bodies, charities and not-for-profit organisations. Previous to her position at the IPA, Deirdre worked in education for over thirteen years as a Lecturer in Finance, teaching Financial and Management Accounting (including Financial Statement Analysis), Corporate Finance and Financial Management (Investment Appraisal), and Economic and Statistics.

Prior to her experience in education, Deirdre spent ten years in the United States, working in the financial services sector (including equity research and asset management). In addition, she worked for an independent consulting practice performing economic impact analysis studies, economic development planning, social research and analysis, and providing strategic planning services to government, non-profit and corporate clients in the United States. 

Dr Tom Ward

Tom is a Senior Governance Specialist in the IPA Governance Team, and re-joined the Institute in May 2017 having previously been a member of staff between 2006 and 2011. He manages the Governance Forum and works on a range of governance assignments for clients, including board effectiveness reviews and governance reviews, strategy development, and delivering training and workshop sessions on governance matters for boards and senior teams. He has worked with a wide range of organisations, including government departments, state agencies, local authorities, higher education institutions, and sport, community and charitable organisations.

Prior to re-joining the IPA in 2017, Tom was a Senior Manager and Consultant at Crowe, managing and delivering a range of assignments in the areas of governance, organisational design, and strategy. Prior to this, he held senior strategy and governance roles at the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). Tom started his career as a Parliamentary Assistant in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Tom is currently a non-executive member of the Audit & Risk Committee of the Electoral Commission and previously served two terms as ARC member at the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (2017-2023). He was also previously a non-executive Director and Vice-Chair of Badminton Ireland (2017-2022), the national governing body for the sport, where he chaired its Governance Committee and was a member of the High Performance Committee.