Helen Downes
Chief Executive
Email: hdownes@shannonchamber.ie
Helen is responsible for the operational activities of the Chamber, working with the President and Board of Directors in developing the overall strategic plan of the Chamber and coordinating its implementation.
Helen is also the promoter of Shannon Chamber Skillnet.
Dr. Wassim Derguech
Chairperson of Shannon Chamber Skillnet Steering Committee
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, FMCI
Email: info@futuremobilityireland.ie
Dr. Wassim Derguech is Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of FMCI – Future Mobility Campus Ireland based in Shannon. FMCI is Ireland’s first testbed of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and Advanced Aerial Mobility. Prior to joining FMCI, Wassim was a product owner and agile delivery lead at Jaguar Land Rover Ireland where he was leading the SRE team responsible for the deployment solution of the cloud infrastructure for managing real-time vehicle data. Wassim worked as the technical manager at Derilinx, an SME that develops Open Data solutions for clients (such as the Irish Government, Central Statistics Office, the World Bank group and others) interested in publishing, linking, analysing and visualising their data using Linked Open Data principles.
Wassim is member of Robots, Cobots and Robotics Technical Committee TC49 of the National Standards Authority of Ireland. He also worked as a research scientist at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, National University of Ireland, Galway where got his PhD and worked as the technical lead and solution architect for various national and European projects.
Orla McCarthy
HR Director, Pepper Finance Corporation Ireland
Email: OMcCarthy@peppergroup.ie
Orla is an experienced Human Resources Lead with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Orla is skilled in Organisation Design, Talent Management, Compensation, Employee Engagement, Succession Planning, and Talent Acquisition.
She has degrees in Education, HR and is CIPD and PMP qualified.
Reg Bennett
Site Learning & Development, Technopath Clinical Diagnostics
Email: Reg.Bennett@lgcgroup.com
Reg is an experienced Learning & Development lead, with over 30 years’ experience working with National and Multinational organisations and has a broad experience in the Life Science & Medical Device sectors.
Reg currently manages the Learning & Professional Development of colleagues at Technopath Clinical Diagnostics, a division of LGC CDx Group. Reg is dedicated to driving organizational growth through employee development and his goals include empowering employees with the knowledge and skills they need to excel in their roles, while also supporting the achievement of an organisation’s overall objectives.
Reg holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Technical University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (TUS) and a MSc in Human Resource Management and Training from the University of Leicester. Reg is a member of the Learning & Development Institute (L&DI).
Fiona Gilchrist
Shannon R&D Strategy Lead, Jaguar Land Rover
Email: fgilchri@jaguarlandrover.com
Fiona has broad expertise within the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Engineering & Life Science Sectors. Fiona’s expertise includes applications for EU Horizon 2020 projects with a large consortium of industrial partners in addition to Enterprise Ireland feasibility grants, Innovation partnerships and commercialisation fund programmes. Fiona has also broad experience in managing the identification and capture of intellectual property arising from EU, EI and SFI State funded research projects. Considerable experience in managing industry focused projects for both MNCs & SMEs and contract research projects, technology assessment and implementation, writing business plans & RFPs, creating laboratory infrastructure, board level communication, intellectual property assessment and due diligence.
Edmund Jennings
Managing Director, CREGG Group
Email: edmund@cregg.ie
A microbiology and biochemistry graduate from the National University Galway (BSc, HDip in Ed, Dip QA.,) Edmund Jennings is managing director of the CREGG Group – a group of independent companies involved in automation, European sales, outsourcing, recruitment, and resources, that collectively trade under the Group banner.
Edmund took up the position of Chairman of Shannon Chamber Skillnet in September of 2015.
Maria Frost
Vice President, Human Resources, Engine Lease Finance
Email: maria.frost@elfc.com
A business degree graduate from the University of Limerick. Maria also holds a MSc in Human Resource Management and a Specialist Diploma in Aviation Leasing & Finance.
Maria is an experienced HR professional with broad experience within the Aviation Leasing and Semi – Conductor industry.
She currently manages the global HR function in ELF, with offices located in Shannon, London, Boston and Hong Kong.
Maria is a member of the CIPD, and the Chairperson of the ICBE Aviation Skillnet Steering Committee.
