Executive Committee
Lochlann Walsh
President
Sarah O’Shea
Vice President
BOARD MEMBERS
Moira Aston
Canoeing
Michelle Carpenter
Rowing
Nigel Cowman
Independent Director
Liam Cullen
Independent Director
John Feehan
Basketball
Roddy Guiney
Gymnastics
Sean Hawkshaw
Independent Director
Aifric Keogh OLY
Athletes’ Commission Chair
John Menton OLY
Sailling
Cecile Van Steenberge
Snowsports
EXECUTIVE EXTRA MEMBERS
Peter Sherrard
CEO & General Secretary
Ed Wyeth
Company Secretary & Financial Controller
Lochlann Walsh
CEO and General Secretary
Lochlann has a 20-year track record in sports administration, from grass roots to NGB Chair. In his professional life he has over 30 years’ experience in commercial leadership roles in large multi-nationals which complements the skills needed in Sport Administration.
Lochlann has spent over a decade chairing boards, leading teams, and delivering results for national and international sports organisations. As President of Triathlon Ireland, an OFI Board Member and Chair of the OFI Gender Equality Commission, he has seen firsthand what is possible when teams work together.
His passion for sport is driven not only by the competition, but by the values of how it brings us together, the stories of overcoming adversity and the positive impact sport has on us all as a society.
Lochlann was elected as President in 2024.
Sarah O’Shea
VICE PRESIDENT
Sarah is a qualified solicitor and holds an International Masters in Sports Law and Management. Having worked in general practice for 10 years she joined the FAI in 2005 as the first in-house lawyer in an NGB and worked there until she set up her own sports consultancy in 2015.
Professionally she works with NGB’s providing advice, support and guidance in governance and strategic projects. She also runs Women’s Leadership Courses and Directors Training Courses.
She previously Chaired the Federation of Irish Sport and was also a director for a number of years. She is a former member of the UEFA Hattrick committee, Women’s Sport International and a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She is currently on the HR committee of Gymnastics Ireland and also on the European Olympic Legal Committee.
Before her election to Vice President in 2024, Sarah O’Shea served as Honorary General Secretary.
Moira Aston
CANOEING
Moira Aston is the CEO of Canoeing Ireland since December 2018 and has extensive sports administration experience having worked with Athletics Ireland for twelve years in senior roles.
Moira has been instrumental in leading Canoeing Ireland during a period of transformational change, which included the implementation of a professional high-performance system and strategy and qualifiers for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020/2021. Currently a member of the board of Meath Local Sports Partnership, Moira volunteers and participates in both athletics and canoeing locally.
Moira was elected to a second term on the Executive Committee in 2024.
Roddy Guiney
GYMNASTICS
Roddy grew up in an Olympic household with his father Dave having competed in the shot-put at the 1948 Olympics and was press attaché in both Barcelona and Atlanta games.
He was former CEO/current Chair of Wilson Hartnell (WH), Ireland’s largest communications firm and one of the most successful firms in the global Ogilvy/WPP group. This Includes the WH sport division which is responsible for many of the largest Irish sport sponsorships/commercial partnerships.
Roddy is the Strategic comms advisor to NGBs including crisis communications.
John Menton OLY
SAILING
John is an Olympian, qualified solicitor, and is the current Chairperson of the Irish Sailing Olympic Steering Group.
His initial involvement with High-Performance sport was in Athletics, where he represented Ireland in the Discus at the 2000 Olympic Games, World University Games and Europa Cups.
Prior to retiring from Arthur Cox Solicitors in 2020, John spent 25 years working in various legal and management roles including heading up their New York Office (1996/1999), running the Technology Practice Group (2000-2013) and heading up the Corporate Department (2013- 2019). John also has experience as a director having served on the Boards of lrish subsidiaries of US multinationals such as Cisco, GAP and PayPal.
Having retired as a solicitor, John now works as an investor with a variety of venture/Angel groups with a focus on growth companies. He also serves as a Director of Fleetmatics Limited and the Irish Sailing Foundation.
John still participates and competes in a variety of sports including Master Athletics, Golf and Target Shooting. He has also volunteered across a diverse number of sports including Sailing (Chairperson of OSG), Athletics (coach with DSD), Rugby (member of Leinster Rugby Appeal Committee) and Shooting (Chairperson of Tokyo Olympic Selection Appeal 2021).
Cecile Van Steenberge
SNOWSPORTS
Cecile is a Managing Director at Google, leading a sales team that empowers businesses to achieve their growth goals through effective digital advertising strategies.
She also spearheads Google’s strategic AI initiatives for customer solutions across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, driving innovation and maximizing impact.
She is currently an active Board member of the Snowsports Association of Ireland.
Previously, Cecile served as the Director of Large Customer Sales for Northern Europe, where she collaborated with some of the world’s most prominent brand advertisers.
A dual citizen, Cecile lived and worked in 5 countries. Before joining Google 11 years ago, she spent more than 15 years in the US. She was the Executive Director for Global Marketing at General Electric (GE), at their Global HQ, driving sales and marketing excellence.
Previously, she served as the CMO for GE Energy Contractual Services. Before joining GE, she spent 10 years at Procter & Gamble where she built her customer centricity. Cecile also serves on external boards bringing digital acumen to several sports committees.
In her personal time, Cecile has deep experience in developing high performance athletes. She has a passion for shaping the future and is an avid skier and foiling sailor.
Michelle Carpenter
ROWING
Under her leadership, rowing has become one of Ireland’s most successful Olympic sports, achieving two recent Olympic golds, two bronze, and a remarkable number of international medals.
Michelle’s strategic vision has transformed Rowing Ireland, doubling the budget, implementing an organisational restructuring, and launching a new strategic plan. Her commitment to athlete safety led to the acclaimed Row Safe programme, recognised for setting industry-leading standards, while membership has grown by 150%, with affiliated clubs increasing by 50%.
Michelle’s dedication to innovation is seen in initiatives like Get Going…Get Rowing, which has introduced over 45,000 students to the sport. Her leadership in Women in Sport has advanced female participation to achieve a 50/50 gender balance from clubs to board. Recognising the future of coastal rowing, Michelle integrated it into Rowing Ireland, establishing pathways and resources to position Irish athletes for success at the LA 2028 Olympics.
Michelle was elected to a second term on the Executive Committee in 2024.
John Feehan
BasketBall
John has over 25 years proven track record of achievement in senior leadership roles (c-level/board) with blue-chip companies, primarily in National and International Sports, but also including Travel, FMCG, Print & Data Services, and business consultancy sectors.
For the last three years John has been the CEO of Basketball Ireland, the largest indoor sport in Ireland, and one of the top Irish participation sports overall. He is the also non-executive chairman of lrish Rugby Tours, a specialist international sporting tour operator.
Previously John was the CEO of three incredible international rugby properties for 16 years including the Six Nations, the British & Irish Lions, and for 5 years the PRO 12 (now the URC). For eight years he was also chairman of Lions Rugby Tours, the travel arm of the British & Irish Lions. He was also co-founder of Sport2Sport, a specialist spo11s business consultancy.
Nigel Cowman
Independent Director
Prior to taking up the role as Group Finance Director of Glen Dimplex in January 2022, Nigel spent the past 24 years working in various finance and commercial roles in the sports sector with Nike and Lifestyle Sports. He brings considerable financial experience covering strategic planning, business planning, budgeting and financial reporting as well as running finance functions for Nike’s UK & Ireland operation and for Lifestyle Sports as its Finance and Commercial Director for many years.
Nigel is passionate about sport. He played football with his local team, Clonkeen Utd and swam with Trojan swim club. He has also completed the Dublin and Amsterdam marathons, the Great North Run, Gael Force West, the London Triathlon and trekked to Everest base camp and to Kilimanjaro raising funds for Irish charities.
Liam Cullen
INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
Liam is the Director of Government Affairs and Strategic Partnerships in Ireland for Johnson and Johnson (J&J).
Prior to joining J&J last year, Liam was a Partner with a London based geopolitical consultancy, where he managed the Irish practice. He worked with GSK for over ten years leading a global policy team and also worked as the Head of Government Affairs in Ireland.
Liam served as an Irish government adviser on Health and Children’s policy and was also an economic and political adviser with the US State Department. He was CEO of an Irish NGO that supports foster care families and also served as a Non-Executive Director within the Irish Disability sector.
Sean Hawkshaw
INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
Seán Hawkshaw joined KBI Global Investors (‘KBIGI’) in 1992 and was appointed CEO in 2003. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1986 with a Bachelor of Business Studies degree and was in 1990 awarded an MBA with first class honours from University College Dublin. He is a director and former chairman of the Irish Association of Investment Managers, and a former director of the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority.
Seán has seen KBIGI through several changes of corporate ownership and led its successful transition from a domestically oriented investment firm to a specialist equity manager with a global client base, boasting mandates in the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia.
KBI Global Investors is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a US office in Boston, Massachusetts. Seán is married with four children, his interests include triathlon, sailing and golf.
Aifric Keogh OLY
Athletes’ Commission Chair
Aifric Keogh is a two time Olympian and Olympic bronze medalist in Rowing from Tokyo 2020. She was elected to the position of Chair of the Athletes’ Commission by her fellow members in 2025 and sits on the Executive Committee of the Olympic Federation of Ireland in that capacity.
View Aifric’s Athlete Profile
Peter Sherrard
CEO and GENERAL SECRETARY
Peter Sherrard has been Chief Executive of the Olympic Federation of Ireland since 2018. During that time, he has overseen a re-brand, the introduction of new sponsors, a doubling in staff numbers and the launch of Team Ireland’s sport science partnership agreement with the Sport Ireland Institute.
He had previous experience at director level in international commerce, tourism, aviation and sport, in roles covering commercial / marketing, sales, communications, operations and sponsorship with Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland, Ryanair and the FAI. Peter has fluent French and Italian and sits on the Sport Ireland High Performance Committee.
Ed Wyeth
Company Secretary & Financial Controller
Ed joined the OFI full-time during March 2021 as Financial Controller having consulted to the organisation since early 2017. Passionate about sport, he has extensive experience of the Irish sporting industry, having performed similar roles for Swim Ireland and Cricket Ireland since emigrating from his native South Africa back in 2008.
A fully qualified Chartered Accountant who trained at KPMG Pretoria, Ed has also performed numerous volunteer roles, sitting on various finance and audit committees of National and Provincial sporting governing bodies.
