Dr Mary Tilki 
Dr Mary Tilki is Chair of the Federation of Irish Societies and Principal Lecturer at Middlesex University. Her professional qualifications are in nursing/ nursing education and the last 15 years have been spent in higher education with responsibility for different social policy, health and social care programmes.  She has researched and published widely on cultural competence in health care, ethnic elders and inequality issues and the health of Irish people in Britain. Dr Tilki has twenty years experience as a trustee in Irish voluntary sector organisations providing housing, welfare, culturally sensitive community care and representing the Irish community. 

Mary Spillane

Born in Tralee, Co Kerry, Mary has 17 years of experience in the Voluntary Sector in the areas of strategic management, business planning, fundraising and freelance consulting. Additionally she has worked with the Samaritans and with Domestic Violence projects in Ireland and the UK, notably with Solas Anois, the Irish Woman’s Domestic Violence project in London.  

Mary has contributed significantly to the work of Victim Support, and held the post of Director at the Charity’s flagship Westminster Branch in London for a number of years. Currently, she is the Business Development Manager for the  Welfare to Work Charity, Careers Development.

Mary holds a degree in Psychology, a Diploma in Counselling and is a trained mediator specialising in Victim Offender mediation.

Sheila Large

As a management trainer and coach, Sheila specialises in organisational development and quality improvement.  She is passionate about social equality, ethics and justice and for seven years she was a director with Business in the Community, the UK’s leading social responsibility campaigning charity. 

Sheila was also founder chief executive of an award-winning training and enterprise social business, operating across several of Merseyside’s most marginalised housing estates to improve resident’s employment prospects and quality of life. Other board responsibilities include Tree Aid,  the Mersey Forest Trust and Groundwork North West. 

Sheila has twenty five year’s senior management, marketing and training experience supported by a masters degree in management and a post graduate diploma in housing. She is also a certified neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and an Appreciative Inquiry practitioner.