Dr Tom Clonan is one of Ireland’s leading disability rights activists. As Chair and Board Member of Dogs for the Disabled he has a valuable set of skills uniquely suited to this position. As an academic, journalist and political candidate (Seanad Eireann, Trinity College Dublin Panel – 2016, 2020, 2022)

Tom has extensive experience of campaigning, lobbying, media relations and public affairs. As a retired army officer, he has extensive experience of financial management, HR, oversight and good governance.

Teresa is an Educational Psychologist. She has vast experience working directly with children, schools, teachers, and families as well as other educational services and statutory bodies.

As Secretary and Board Member of Dogs for the Disabled, she is passionate about the role of assistance dogs in educational settings and is currently establishing the country’s first pilot program within the Dept. of Education using canine assisted intervention with her DFD dog Nate.

Joe is Chief Technology Officer/Founder at Workvivo which was recently acquired by Zoom.

With a background in software engineering and product management, Joe has a deep expertise and knowledge of building Saas companies and products, software infrastructure, cloud, technology architecture, scalability, security, performance, data migration, user experience and design.

We are very excited to have Joe bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our Board.

Jason Kelly is a Consultant Surgeon working in Cork University Hospital and the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital. He trained in Cork, Leeds, Umeä in Sweden and in Manchester. He has served as secretary of the Irish Association of Plastic Surgeons , as Chair of the National Skin Cancer experts committee at the National Cancer Control Programme and currently is acting Clinical Adviser to the Irish breast implant registry at National Office of Clinical Audit. He has a son who has benefitted enormously from two dogs from the Charity (Breffni and Henry). He is passionate about measuring the impact our dogs have on their partners.

As a long-established and successful business owner, Marnie Cafferkey is an exceptionally skilled Board Member for Dogs for the Disabled.

She possesses all of the skill sets of a business owner and CEO, with extensive experience in HR, business planning, strategic planning, financial management, networking and environmental issues.

John O’Sullivan is Vice President of Supply Chain Systems and Analytics at Johnson Controls and has a rich professional history.

Before joining Johnson Controls, he held several senior leadership roles at Flextronics from 2000 to 2013, including President of Global Services, SVP of WW Logistics, VP of EMEA Manufacturing Operations, and Managing Director. His expertise spans IT, supply chain, procurement, digital technologies, business intelligence, and data analytics. John graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Maths, and Applied Maths from University College Cork.

John O’Keefe has a long-establised Cork based legal firm and has been the charities board nominated solicitor for many years.

John always gives a calm, pragmatic and reassured guidance on any matter we need legal advice on and we are very grateful to have him on our trusted team.