Emma McKinley, Fiona Nolan, Helene Hugel
Our Board and Members
Meet our Board and members here. We are dedicated to transforming the healthcare experience of children and teenagers in Ireland through art, imagination and play.
Michael Bermingham (Chairperson)
(Joined 26th March, 2020)
Michael has worked for multinationals in London, New York and Dublin and has over 30 years’ experience gained in senior finance and executive director roles in the FMCG, development finance and banking sectors. He was previously CFO for a large French banking group in Ireland.
Michael holds a BA.BAI from Trinity College Dublin and is a member of the Institute of Engineers Ireland. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Director. A Fellow of both the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts and Institute of Banking in Ireland, he is also a Chartered Banker and a Certified Bank Director. Michael is a Patron of the National Gallery of Ireland and a Friend of the Dublin Theatre Festival.
Fiona Nolan
(Joined 6th September , 2019)
Fiona has worked in the IT & Telecommunications industry for over 30 years. She has held segment, regional, and global positions for industry leading players and is currently CMO for CommScope, a US telecommunications company. She holds a BComm from University College Dublin, is a qualified member of the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing, and holds a Diploma in Corporate Direction with the Institute of Directors (UK). Her professional interests include corporate culture, mentoring early talent & high potentials, and women in leadership.
Olaf Fitzsimmons
(Joined 22nd November, 2019)
Olaf Fitzsimmons has worked in the banking industry for over 20 years and during that time has held leadership positions across various customer segments including Corporate and SME businesses and most recently has held senior Compliance roles. He is currently Head of Regulatory Engagement for Ulster Bank, also holding responsibility for Upstream Risk management and Fitness & Probity. Olaf holds a B. Comm from UCD, is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, as well as holding qualifications in Financial Advice and Compliance.
James Quaine
(Joined 26th March, 2020)
James is a practising lawyer with particular expertise in commercial, technology, and data protection matters. He works for a multinational technology business in Dublin, having spent over 5 years with a leading Irish law firm before joining a US telecoms company in Ireland. James holds degrees in law from UCD and King’s College London, is a member of the Law Society of Ireland, and is a qualified trade mark attorney. He is excited by Helium Arts’ potential and believes it is essential to nurture an appreciation of culture and the arts in children.
Linda Devlin
(Joined 15th December, 2022)
Linda has 20 years experience in leading and developing community cultural projects and currently works as the Head of Creative Engagement at Dublin City Council Culture Company. Her work involves collaborating with people, communities, cultural organisations and businesses to embed cultural experiences and increase cultural participation for people throughout Dublin.
Prior to that, as a freelance Arts Manager and Creative Producer she has worked with artists and cultural organizations to support their development, create strategic plans, and has produced events and projects for Electric Picnic, Body & Soul, Dublin City Council, St Patrick’s Festival, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and All Together Now festival. She also co-founded and managed Lingo, Ireland’s first spoken word festival which ran from 2014-17.
Linda holds a PG Dip in Cultural Event Management & BA Hons Business in Entrepreneurship from IADT and is passionate about cultural participation and wellbeing.
Laverne McGuinness
(Joined 3rd December, 2024)
Laverne is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland with a Masters in Business and Leadership from University College Dublin and a Masters in Finance and Information Technology from Dublin City University .
Laverne has over 25 years’ experience at a Senior Executive and Board level across public and private health care services. Laverne was the Deputy Director General of Irelands National Health Service (HSE) where she led major transformation programmes and delivered significant change in operational service delivery . She joined the Talbot Group as CEO over 8 years ago with a mission to develop and enhance services for people with a disability.
In 2014 Laverne was recognised as one of Irelands Most Powerful Women Top 25 in the Public Sector.
She is passionate about delivering quality services and sustainable change.
