Judges 2009

Mary Davis (Chairperson)

Mary Davis is Managing Director of Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia. She is the former CEO of Special Olympics Ireland and prior to that she served as Chief Executive Officer for the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games.Currently she serves on many committees and boards and was appointed by the Prime Minister in Ireland as Chair of the Taskforce on Active Citizenship. Mary has recently been appointed chair of the advisory committee to implement the recommendations
of the Taskforce. In November 2004 she was appointed by President Mary McAleese to serve on the Council of State for Ireland.

Marie Carroll

Marie Carroll is the founder and director of Bayside Gymnastics and unlockyourpotential.ie. Over the past 30 years, she has developed programmes of integration for children with and without disabilities, encouraging movement for people with disabilities through GymAbility™. Last year, Marie was selected Irish Volunteer of the Year as part of the inaugural Ireland Involved Awards. She represented Ireland at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, where she received a Bronze award for her inspiring voluntary work.

Fergus Finlay

Since June 2005 Fergus Finlay has been Chief Executive of Barnardos, Ireland’s largest children’s charity. For twenty years prior to that he was employed as Senior Adviser to the Labour Party, serving in three Governments and working for the Party in opposition. He was one of the drafters of the Downing Street Declaration and was centrally involved in the election of President Mary Robinson in 1990, together with other political events of the period.
Fergus Finlay is chair of the Volunteering Ireland Board of Directors and is the author of three best-selling books. He has founded a number of organisations that campaign for the rights of people with disabilities, and recently completed his term of office as Chairperson of Special Olympics. He broadcasts regularly on radio and television, and contributes a weekly column to the Irish Examiner.

Yvonne McKenna

Yvonne McKenna is the CEO of Volunteer Centres Ireland, a national support organisation for the volunteering infrastructure in Ireland that has a growing membership of 20 local volunteer centres across the country. VCI manages a national database of volunteering opportunities and co-ordinates Give It A Swirl Day. Yvonne joined VCI in 2005, taking on the role of CEO in 2007. Prior to VCI, Yvonne worked in academia and continues to be an associate lecturer at the University of Limerick.
Asked about her favourite quote, she said: ‘To me, the importance of volunteering was summed up in the White Paper when it described voluntary activty as the ‘essential sign of a society where people are concerned with each other’.

Andrina Moore

Andrina Moore has over 17 years experience in PR, Advertising and Marketing.  Having started her career in advertising at Des O’Meara & Partners and Hunter Advertising, she moved into Radio.  A former senior manager of Dublin’s 98FM she has extensive experience in radio communications both in Ireland and across Europe. She then moved to Esat Telecom as part of the marketing team with sole responsibility for the project management of the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. In 2001 she established Moore Communications to deliver highly effective holistic PR, event management and marketing solutions.
Andrina holds a Diploma in Public Relations and is a member of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) and Marketing Institute of Ireland (MMII). In 2004, Andrina was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the Fingal Women in Business Network Enterprise Awards.
In 2006, Andrina went on secondment to her client the Irish-based charity, The Rose Project and to date has raised over €2.2 million for its HIV/AIDS assistance programmes throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Andrina has excellent contacts throughout the Education and Science sectors having managed the annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition for 9 years and the 16th EU Contest for Young Scientists. Currently Andrina is working with Denis O’Brien in his charitable Foundation, The Iris O’Brien Foundation.

Pat Boyle

Pat Boyle is Assistant Principal Officer in the Community and Voluntary Supports Section of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Pat has specific responsibility for Volunteering and Volunteer Policy. He has over 20 years experience within the Irish Civil Service and has previously worked in several Government Departments including the Department of the Taoiseach and the Revenue Commissioners.
The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has specific responsibility for a range of functions including: Community Development Programmes; Local Development; the RAPID programmes for Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development; coordination of the National Drugs Strategy; Volunteering; Rural Development initiatives including CLÁR, LEADER, INTERREG and a number of measures under the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation. The Department also retains the responsibilities previously held by the former Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands for the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the development of Ireland’s inhabited off-shore islands.