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 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.

Peter is Chairperson of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP), which was established by the Government to promote workplace change and innovation. He is Managing Director of Peter Cassells Consultants Ltd which specialises in the facilitation of change. In that capacity, Peter has worked as an independent consultant and facilitator to a range of agencies, including Aer Rianta, An Post, ESB, RTE and Failte Ireland. As General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for 12 years, Peter negotiated five National Partnership Agreements with government, employers, unions and voluntary organisations. Peter is a member of the Governing Body of NUI Maynooth, of the Institute of European Affairs and the Board of Clann Credo – the social finance agency. He is also the Chairperson of DHR Communications.

Ronan Lyons is an economist with experience in public policy, national competitiveness, property markets and economic development. Through his roles at the IBM Global Centre for Economic Development, daft.ie, Forfas and Ireland's National Competitiveness Council, he has developed a track record of trustworthy, accessible and relevant research. He runs a popular website at www.ronanlyons.com. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in economics at Oxford University. Along with two other graduates of the Washington-Ireland Program, he ran the Horizons Expo in 2004, which has gone on to become the Ireland Involved Online initiative. His other community and voluntary sector interests include family history and football.

Deiniol has been Assistant Director (Practice Coordination) with the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) since February 2003 and previous to that he was Director for Wales of the National Union of Students from 1992. Deiniol has a significant track record and experience in
working with young people, developing structures for their participation, and advocating for their rights. Whilst at NYCI, he has represented the Council on a varied range of external bodies such the Working Group on the establishment of Student Councils; the National Youth Work Advisory
Committee; the Board of Aontas as well as the committees of various European years such as People with Disabilities and Education through Sport. Deiniol leads for the NYCI on the practice coordination agenda which includes the Council’s work in the area of volunteering and volunteer support, and in 2007 developed the Council’s support manual for the youth sector. He has been a Board member of Volunteering Ireland since 2006 and treasurer since 2007.

Breda Lymer established West Training & Development Ltd (www.westtraining.ie) as a Regional Support Agency in 1994. She manages the day-to-day operation of the agency, is a director of the company and is a support worker for a number of community projects.
She obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology & Political Science and Classical Studies and a Masters in Rural Development from the National University of Ireland, Galway.
She also works as an independent trainer, facilitator and tutor. She has worked on a wide range of programmes and for organisations such as: NUI, Galway, University College Cork, GLEN, AONTAS, The Combat Poverty Agency, FÁS, and SIPTU and on a number of European funded projects.
Breda is a Fellow of the Irish Institute of Training & Development (IITD) and a Director of the Galway Rape Crisis Centre.

Kieran Murphy is National Director of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, with responsibility for running the Society’s national projects and programmes which includes supporting the national organisation in its response to the challenges and opportunities that the organisation faces. He was Director of Threshold, the not-for-profit housing advice and advocacy agency, from 1997 to 2003 and prior to that was Chief Executive for four years of Gingerbread in London, a lone parent self-help organisation.

Liz was a dietician with the South Eastern Health Board in Northern Ireland before moving to Dublin. A career break turned into retirement for a short while, but as she was so used to going to work, she soon found many other things to keep her occupied, including one-to-one computer training. Liz has volunteered for many hours with Parentline, the organisation for parents under stress and has raised thousands of pounds for the Carmichael Centre Development Fund. She joined the management committee/board in 1999.

Lorraine is the Student Volunteer Coordinator of the Community Knowledge Initiative based within the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the National University of Ireland Galway. As the coordinator of the ALIVE programme, Lorraine has written the Volunteering Guide and ALIVE Handbook to support over five hundred student volunteers and contributed to the 2006 Galway City Partnership Toolkit for Community and Voluntary Groups. In the past Lorraine has volunteered all over the US and received recognition from various bodies. Lorraine’s current interests include civic engagement and higher education, service learning, and human rights.