Board and Senior Members
Operating Executive

Board of Directors

Picture of Coillte's Chair, Vivienne Jupp

Vivienne Jupp

Vivienne Jupp was appointed as Chair of the Coillte Board in April 2024. Vivienne is an experienced senior executive, non executive director and chair in the private and public sector. She is a former senior executive in Accenture where she held roles with responsibility for operations and P&L at Irish, European and Global levels.

She is currently the chair of the National Lottery and member of the Board of Fáilte Ireland. She previously chaired the CIE Group, CIE Tours Inc and the Tourism Recovery Taskforce. She has been a member of several other boards in the private and public sector.

Vivienne is an alumnus of University College Dublin and is a recipient of the outstanding alumnus award from the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business.

 

Image of Coillte CEO Imelda Hurley

Imelda Hurley

Imelda Hurley was appointed as a Board Member of Coillte, Ireland’s state forestry company, in January 2022.

Imelda is an experienced executive and non-executive director having been a Board Member in public company, state owned, private equity and venture capital backed businesses. She has worked extensively in Ireland, the UK, Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, China and Australia and, as a result, has a strong international mindset. Imelda is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and an alumna of Harvard Business School.

 

Picture of Patrick Eamon King

Patrick Eamon King

Patrick Eamon was appointed to the board in 2018. He spent 13 years as Head of Corporate Development with the Ardagh Group SA and now holds the position of Corporate Development Consultant with Paragon Group Ltd.

 

Gerry Gray

Gerry was appointed to the board in 2018. He has more than 35 years’ experience working in senior financial and strategy roles in international blue chip organisations including PwC, Ford Motor Company and Pilkington. Now retired, Gerry holds numerous Non Executive positions in the UK and Ireland.

Gerard Murphy

Gerard was appointed to the Board in 2019. Gerard brings with him extensive experience having worked in a variety of senior roles with in Coillte.. He held the position of Managing Director in Coillte Forest Division for 9 years and most recently Managing Director of Coillte of the Land Solutions and Venturing Business within Coillte. Gerard has a B.Agr.Sci (Forestry) and an MBA from UCD.

 

Deirdre-Ann Barr 

Deirdre-Ann joined the Board in November 2022.  She is chairperson of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and of The Peter McVerry Trust, the housing and homeless charity. She is a member of the Regulatory Decisions Panel of the Central Bank of Ireland and an independent reviewer for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and the corresponding institute of England and Wales. Until 2019, Deirdre-Ann was General Counsel and Head of Risk in Matheson, a leading Irish law firm where she established the risk management function in 2009.  During the previous ten years, Deirdre-Ann was a solicitor, then partner, in Matheson’s Corporate Department, advising on Irish company law and governance issues. Deirdre-Ann has a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors and is a Notary Public.  She has also completed the IoD Leading Sustainability programme and is a member of Chapter Zero.

Eleanor O’Neill 

Eleanor was appointed to the Board in July 2019. She is Chair of the Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. She has more than 30 years’ experience working in digital transformation roles in technology multinationals, Symantec, Visio, Microsoft, Marrakech, and Digital Equipment Corporation. Eleanor also serves as a non-executive director of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), the National Transport Authority (NTA) and An Post. She is an Engineering graduate of the University of Galway. In addition, she has post graduate qualifications in Systems Analysis from the University of Galway, Cybersecurity from UCD and Corporate Governance from the Institute of Directors Ireland. She is also a member of Chapter Zero Ireland.

Picture of Coillte board member Michael Patten

Michael Patten

Michael was appointed to the Board in June 2025.  He is an experienced senior executive and non-executive director and advisor who has had an extensive career in the international agri-food and beverage sectors. Until recently he led senior corporate functions in Glanbia plc including as Chief People Officer and most recently as Chief Environmental, Social, Governance (“ESG”) & Corporate Affairs Officer.

Before joining Glanbia, Michael served as Global Public Affairs Director with Diageo plc, with responsibilities including government relations, international trade, tax and market access and EU Affairs. Earlier in his career, he served as Glanbia’s Director of Corporate Affairs.

Michael is currently a member of the Board of An Garda Siochana and of The Institute for International & European Affairs (IIEA), is Chair of the Irish Management Institute Council (IMI) and also serves as a Trustee of the Charitable Infirmary Charitable Trust. He was previously a non-executive director of Tirlán DAC. He is a Chartered Director, an Honorary Life Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland and a graduate of DCU.

 

Picture of Coillte board member Declan Meehan

Declan Meehan

Declan was appointed to the Board in June 2025. With over 30 years’ experience working in forestry Declan has extensive operational expertise and is committed to sustainable forestry management. In his current role as Operations Support, Declan is responsible for the management of forest operations, contractor coordination, and compliance with environmental and safety standards.  He is a former Trustee of the Coillte Pension No. 1 Fund and a long-standing SIPTU Executive Representative.