Dr. Tom Ward

Tom manages the Governance Forum at the IPA, and is a Senior Governance Specialist, having re-joined the Institute in May 2017 (he was previously an IPA Specialist between 2006 and 2011). He works on a wide range of governance assignments for clients, including board effectiveness and governance reviews, strategy development and strategic reviews, risk management reviews, and he delivers training and workshop sessions on governance matters for boards and senior teams. He has worked with a 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 an experienced trainer and lecturer at the IPA, lecturing in governance, organisation and strategy, and politics and public administration. He is currently a non-executive member of the Audit & Risk Committee of a state body,  and was previously a non-executive director and Vice-Chair on the Board of Badminton Ireland.

Kate O'Donnell

Kate is a Governance Specialist in the IPA Governance Team, having joined the Institute in May 2017. She comes from a legal background having practised as a Barrister in various areas of civil litigation and in local authority law.

Kate’s work with the IPA is focused on governance and compliance review with an emphasis on governance policies and practices. This includes terms of reference, governance frameworks, governance manuals, protected disclosures and data protection.  Her work also involves training, lecturing and the delivery of presentations, in respect of which she has a strong background and considerable experience, having lectured at Masters level in Arbitration and having taught seminars at undergraduate level on a range of subjects (including Company Law). She contributes to the Professional Certificate in Governance at the IPA and has been involved in a significant number of governance review assignments.

Laura Shannon

Laura is a Governance Specialist with the IPA Governance Team, joining in 2024 after eight years as a key member of the IPA's Research Division. She delivers training in a number of areas, including sustainability, strategy development and review, performance indicators, and governance agreements, and supports clients in advisory work such as board and committee evaluations, risk management and governance reviews. Laura also supports the work of the Governance Forum through developing, moderating and contributing to events.

Laura has a particular interest in the intersection of governance and sustainability, exploring how public sector bodies can leverage good governance to cultivate high-performing sustainable organisations and ultimately contribute to better outcomes for the public.

In her former role as Research Officer, Laura worked with clients across the civil and public service on a range of research, advisory and consultancy projects aiming to enhance and improve public governance. She has authored and contributed to several reports on issues of public management, governance and reform at both local and central levels.

Majella Malone

Majella is a Finance Training Specialist at the Institute of Public Administration and is a member of the IPA Governance and Finance Team. Majella delivers a range of services to public and state bodies and not-for-profit entities in the areas of finance, audit and risk. She is an experienced finance and accounting trainer and lecturer.  Prior to joining the IPA, she was a Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at Dublin Business School.