Our Board and Structure

Introduction

Please find below details of our board and structure at the National Standards Authority of Ireland.

If you would like to learn more please do not hesitate to get in touch at info@nsai.ie

Our Structure

You can view our internal management structure here.

NSAI Board Members

James Kennedy, NSAI Chairman

Mr Kennedy has extensive experience at senior management level, having enjoyed a distinguished career in the facilities management, multinational healthcare and agri-services industries in Ireland. He currently serves as a  Director of Pentathlon Ireland.

In previous roles, Mr Kennedy served as interim CEO of Horse Sport Ireland, Vice President of European Operations with Bausch & Lomb Inc and Chief Executive of Thomas McDonogh & Sons Ltd. He has also served as President of the Chambers of Commerce of Waterford; the South-East region and Ireland. A science graduate of University College Cork, he is a native of Co Limerick.

Geraldine Larkin, NSAI Chief Executive

Geraldine Larkin has led the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) since March 2017. The NSAI is Ireland’s official standards body and provides key services in certification, metrology and legal metrology across Ireland for public sector bodies, SMEs, and other private sector organisations. NSAI Certification UK and NSAI Inc.also provide certification services in the UK and the wider global market.

Geraldine leads out on the NSAI strategic plan that aims to provide innovative leadership in four key areas – digital transformation, housing, climate action, and medical technology. Her leadership is rooted in delivering the highest quality processes across the NSAI to facilitate growth and innovation right across the industry landscape and provide reassurance across a range of areas of public interest. 

Geraldine has held leadership roles in multiple public sector organisations, including the Chief Executive of the Private Security Authority, leading the organisation as the first Irish regulator in the private security industry. She also served  as the Chief Executive of the Irish Greyhound Board in addition to leadership roles in policy development across a range of areas related to policing, crime, and a variety of legal disciplines.

Geraldine is an effective influencer, decision maker, change agent and team builder and has a keen interest in using standards and regulation to support the growth of Irish industry. She also holds a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA – Technology) from the Open University.

Dermot Casey

Dermot joined the Industry Research and Development Group (IRDG) as CEO in November 2021.  IRDG, a non-profit business group, is the voice of Irish Innovation, representing hundreds of companies engaged in research and innovation nationally. IRDG has led learning, collaboration, and growth of Irish research and innovation for 30 years, directly supporting, networking, advocating for its members.

Dermot’s background is in technology and innovation. He’s worked as strategic advisor to hundreds of deep technology companies in spaces as diverse as AI, IoT and MedTech. He was Director of innovation consultancy Resolve Partners and Venture Leader at NDRC, Irelands national pre-seed investor and accelerator investing and supporting the growth of innovative companies.

Prior to this Dermot was Chief Operations Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Storyful growing the company from 2 to 35 people over three years. Before Storyful he worked in a variety of technical and leadership roles in General Electric. He’s also been an adjunct lecturer in Strategy, Innovation and Digital Transformation at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD. He is Director of the Festival of Curiosity

Marie O'Connell

Marie has extensive experience of leading and developing quality assurance teams in the health products sector. She has served in a number of roles in the Blood Transfusion Service Board, most recently as Director of Quality where she had responsibility for ensuring statutory and regulatory compliance across the organisation. Prior to this, Marie worked in a range of quality assurance roles in both the private and public sector, including NSAI Medical Devices.

Piers Devereux

Piers is currently European Vice President of Operations for Beckman Coulter Inc. He has worked for many years at senior management level within the medical device sector and has extensive experience in a wide range of areas including R&D, operations and commercial activities. Previous roles include Managing Director of Beckman Coulter Ireland and CEO of Olympus Life Science Research Ireland.

Tara Coogan

Tara Coogan is principal at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment  with responsibility for intellectual property policy and governance and financial oversight of the NSAI and Intellectual Property Office of Ireland. Tara has extensive experience of public policy, corporate governance, company, employment, equality and industrial relations law, and the administration of justice. Prior to joining the Department, Tara was assigned to the Permanent Representation of Ireland in Brussels for the Irish Presidency in 2013. Tara holds a M.Phil from Trinity College, Dublin and is also a qualified barrister.

Aoife Gleeson

Ms Aoife Gleeson was appointed as a Board Member of the National Standards Authority of Ireland following an open Public Appointments Service (PAS) process.

Aoife has worked as a Finance Director in both the domestic and international charity sector since 2007. While working with Barnardos, Aoife held the role of the Director of Finance, Governance and IT and was also responsible for risk management and data protection. Prior to this, Aoife worked with Concern Worldwide for over 11 years. She held the post of Finance Director with Concern US in New York for a few years before returning to Ireland to take up the role of Finance Director for Concern in Dublin.

Aoife has also worked overseas in Sudan, Indonesia and Haiti (amongst others) supporting the international charity sector as an accountant.

Aoife holds a BComm from the National University of Ireland, Galway, is a Fellow with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) and is a qualified certified tax adviser. In addition, she holds qualifications in data protection and project management.

Ray Alcorn

Dr Raymond Alcorn has 25 years of experience in renewable energy from a commercial and R&D background both overseas and in Ireland. Originally a Chartered electrical engineer with a PhD in electrical control of ocean energy, Dr Alcorn has spent his entire career developing and commercialising renewable energy.

Dr Alcorn is founder and CEO of Exceedence Ltd who provide financial modelling digital tools and services to the renewables sector with particular emphasis on offshore and marine energy. Exceedence was spun out of a University College Cork SFI research centre in 2015 where Dr Alcorn had been the Executive Director for more than 8 years.  During this time, Dr Alcorn published several books on both renewable energy and finance.

Since its formation Exceedence have worked with clients on innovation, strategy and digital transformation.  Exceedence is also a long term member of Climate KIC having proven large scale positive climate impact benefits.

Dr Alcorn is also co-founder and corporate secretary of the Marine Renewables Industry Association representing companies and interests on the island of Ireland - Ireland and Northern Ireland - in the  Marine Renewables Emerging Technologies' (MRET) fields of floating wind, wave, tidal, and 'hybrid' energy “.   Through MRIA Dr Alcorn was involved in publishing a number of white papers on planning, consenting, environmental impact, grid, finance and non-technical barriers to marine energy.

Since 2018 Dr Alcorn has been Chair of the Irish Mirror committee of NSAI ETC TC18 (IEC TC114 ) for marine energy standards. He was involved in the very inception of the TC114 standards and has contributed to these standards over the past almost decade.

Mary Cronin

Mary is an innovation specialist, a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and a technologist.  As the founder of UpThink Innovation Agency, Mary works with SMEs and large organisations as a circular economy/ESG consultant.  Mary implements systems innovations to business models to create longer-term sustainable businesses.

Mary’s expertise lies in enabling organisations to transition to a low carbon future. She has an extensive and diverse network of both public and private sector clients across Europe, the US and Asia. Mary has gained a wide range of insights across sectors in very complex environments.  Using these unique perspectives, Mary helps organisations to generate growth and prepare for change. 

Mary lectures in the UCD School of Engineering in collaboration with UCD Energy Institute, delivering modules on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and decarbonisation.

Prior to establishing UpThink Innovation Agency Mary had a track record in building and managing large, technology systems and teams, as well as operating in strategic roles for bank and life assurance joint ventures.

Barry Cox

Barry Cox holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Dublin City University and has been a Standard Officer at the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) since 2019. His association with NSAI began in 2008, giving him over a decade of experience in conformity assessments and enforcement of National and European legislation related to measuring instruments, leading to successful prosecutions in various cases.

Barry manages a portfolio of manufacturing committees and actively participates in training courses and events to stay updated. He plays a crucial role in promoting Irish involvement in the development of International (ISO) and European (EN) Standards for emerging technologies like Additive Manufacturing and Industrial Robots.

In addition, Barry collaborates with researchers to facilitate their engagement in the standardization process, contributing to knowledge valorization through standardization. He supports researchers and innovators in transforming their results into sustainable products and solutions and advocates for their significant contributions to standardization within the broader community.

Inspired by Henry Ford’s motto, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success,” Barry emphasizes teamwork, drawing from his years of service in the Reserve Defence Forces.