Our Team

Our Team

Jane-Ann McKenna, Chief Executive Officer

Jane-Ann joined Dóchas as Chief Executive Officer in November 2021. She left a career in banking in 2007 to join Medicines Sans Frontier (MSF) where she worked for 12 years, including postings in Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Central African Republic and Afghanistan.  She served as Director of MSF Ireland from 2011-2016. Most recently, she returned to Ireland in 2020 to support Ireland’s Covid-19 response, working with the HSE in the National Social Inclusion Office.

Anna Farrell, Finance and Operations Manager

 Anna joined the organisation in May 1981 when it was known as The Confederation of Non-Governmental Development Organisations (CONGOOD). She was the only staff member from May 1982 to October 2002 and was responsible for overseeing the amalgamation of CONGOOD and the Irish National Assembly (an EC related forum of Irish NGOs concerned with development) to form Dóchas – The Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organisations in 1993. She has negotiated office leases and moved the organisation a total of 7 times down through the years. 

Anna’s areas of responsibility include finance, office management and general administration. She attends and services meetings of the Dóchas Board, its sub-committees on Finance, Audit and Risk and on Governance and of the General Assembly. She also provides administrative support to the Company Secretary role. 

She is fiercely loyal to and protective of Dóchas members as well as of the organisation itself. She is a passionate advocate of justice and equality, responds positively to requests for help and is extremely supportive and encouraging of the Dóchas team.

Anna is very family orientated and likes reading and walking and is known to avoid cooking at all costs! 

Louise Finan, Head of Programme and Policy

Louise joined Dóchas as Head of Programme and Policy in September 2016. Louise has over 15 years of experience working in international development, including a number of years working in the Horn of Africa, Southern Africa and across the Middle East in conflict and humanitarian contexts. Louise holds a BA in European Studies, a Diploma in Journalism and a Graduate Diploma in International Development Practice. Louise is passionate about social justice, equality and human rights and is a proud mum to a little human.

She is also passionate about cheese, shouting at the telly, and cake.

Ronan Doyle, Head of Communications and Public Engagement

Ronan joined Dóchas as Head of Communications and Public Engagement in November 2019. Ronan has spent the last 15 years working as a communications professional. He began as a communications officer with Ballymun Regeneration Limited and while there completed a Masters Degree in Political Communication in DCU. Following this Ronan moved onto the role of Communications Manager with the Grangegorman Development Agency. He was part of the team responsible for the delivery of one of Ireland's largest public infrastructure projects, a new urban quarter in Dublin’s north inner city with health and education at its heart. 

Ronan has always had a keen interest in the work of INGOS ever since volunteering with UNICEF. During his time working in Grangegorman, Ronan took some time out to go to India with his family for eight months to volunteer as an English teacher in a school in Kerala.  When not working Ronan can be found biking, running or walking in the Dublin mountains.

Gillian Ivory, Head of Membership Engagement

Gillian joined Dóchas as Head of Membership Engagement in November 2022. She has worked in programme management roles with a number of non-profits in Ireland, Cambodia and South Africa, and has taught BA students in the Department of International Development at Maynooth University. Gillian also spent a number of years in business and communications working with clients in the private and public sectors, and as a freelance journalist has written for publications in Ireland, the UK and Canada. She holds a Masters Degree in International Development, a postgraduate diploma in Business and a BA in Hispanic Studies.

Laura Gibbons, Worldview Project Manager

Laura Gibbons joined Dóchas in 2022 as project manager of Worldview, a public engagement research project focused on tracking attitudes to overseas development aid within Ireland. Laura has over 10 years experience working in international development in both communications and programmes roles. Prior to Dóchas, Laura worked with the Irish League of Credit Union’s International Development Foundation, Irish Aid and with UNICEF in New Zealand, Fiji and Australia. Laura holds an MA in Communication for Development from Malmö University (Sweden) and an MA in Public Relations from the Technological University Dublin (Ireland).

Holly King, Programme Support Officer

 Holly joined Dóchas as Programme Support Officer in February 2023. She studied her Undergraduate degree in Cultural Analysis in The Netherlands and Master’s in Development Practice in Ireland, which included a research project in rural Uganda. Holly’s upbringing in Zimbabwe, combined with her field of education, sparked her innate interest in working in the INGO field. When not working, Holly can be found swimming in the Irish Sea.