Ultan Courtney

Ultan currently provides a range of people management and leadership development services to leading Irish and international businesses through his consultancy company, CourtneyHR.

Ultan has 21 years of experience in HR which includes:

• HR Director in C&C Group PLC, Superquinn and Waterford Foods providing expert advice on all aspects of conflict management and HR.
• Advisor in IBEC advising many companies on all aspects of HR and Employment Law.
• Representative at the Employment Appeals Tribunal, Labour Court and the Equality Tribunal dealing with cases, process, procedures and practice.
• Lay Member of the Law Society’s Complaints & Customer Relations Committee.
• Member of the Equality Authority

Ultan's qualification's include:

• BA (Hons.) in Economics (TCD) and M.A from (Dubl).
• Post Graduate Diploma in Employment Law from UCD.
• Post Graduate Diploma in Executive Coaching from DIT.
• Qualified Mediator in Commercial & Civil Law.
• FETAC/DIT/IBEC Level 6 Training Certificate.

Tara Flynn

Tara is currently a director at Attain Consulting. Attain Consulting is an independent consulting firm that specialises in offering advice and services in pension and actuarial consulting; HR and employee engagement; Communications and Financial strategy. Tara also advises both employers and unions.

Tara has eighteen years experience in the field of HR which includes:

• HR Executive in IBEC which included representing employers at union negotiations and all third party institutions including Labour Court and Employment Appeals Tribunal.
• HR Director in Ulster Bank Markets.
• Director of Corporate Resources at Abbey National Financial Investment Services.

Tara's education consists of:

• B.A (Hons) in Business Studies and Political Science from TCD
• Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism
• FETAC/DIT/IBEC Level 6 Training Certificate.
• Member of CIPD
• Associate member of Irish Institute of Mediation

Lynda Murphy

Lynda Murphy has extensive experience in all aspects of Human Resources and is currently a partner with MacKenzieYoung, a broadbased HR consultancy with particular emphasis on coaching, change management and workplace dispute resolution.

She has previous experience as:

• Director in the Financial Services sector with executive responsibility for human resources.
• Trustee of the Industrial Relations Research Trust, a qualified 360 Degree Facilitator.

• post graduate diploma in Executive Coaching and Business Mentoring.
• an accredited Mediator;
• member of the Irish Institute of Mediation, and
• accredited in the use of BarOn Emotional Intelligence Inventory.

Dr. John O'Dowd

John is an independent consultant specialising in organisational change and improvement in the unionised sector. His work includes mainstream consulting in the IR area, e.g. organisation/relationship reviews, as well as facilitation, mediation and investigation. He has chaired and facilitated many negotiations and has helped to resolve many disputes. He also provides coaching and training to managers, union representatives and joint groups in the skills of negotiation, joint problem solving, and conflict resolution. John’s previous roles include:

• director of the former National Centre for Partnership, based in the Department of the Taoiseach.
• general secretary of the Civil Public and Services Union and was also a member of the Executive Council of ICTU during this period.
• Assistant General Secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland.
• Certified Member of the Mediators' Institute of Ireland.

John has published a number of books and articles on topics including employee partnership and organisational change.

His education includes:

• Diploma in Employment Law, Independent College Dublin
• BA in English and French; Higher Diploma in Education, University College Dublin
• MBA, Open University Business School
• PhD in Industrial Relations, University College Dublin.

John is a strong advocate of continuing professional development and has taken courses on a variety of topics including Facilitation, Negotiation and Organisation Development’.

Dr. Claire Hayes

Claire has a keen interest in applying cognitive behavioural principles to the area of stress management. She continues to build on her 26 years’ training and experience as an executive coach, lecturer, clinical psychologist, author and teacher to help individuals, groups and large organisations to understand the particular nature of their stressors and to apply evidence based psychological principles to help them cope with these.

Her experience also includes:

• Executive Coach with a number of companies including Enterprise Ireland, C&C, Top Oil, Ergo
• Researcher into how managers cope with stress with Dr. Liam Gorman, Irish Management Institute
• Consultant in Conflict Management
• Lecturer in the Education Department, National University of Ireland Maynooth
• Part-time lecturer in Trinity College, UCD, St. Patrick’s College, National College of Art and Design, Dublin Business School
• Clinical Psychologist
• Author - her publications include her book ‘Stress Relief for Teachers: The Coping Triangle’ (2006). She is currently working on a book introducing cognitive behavioural principles to Directors and Senior Managers

Claire's educational background includes:

• Ph.D. Dublin City University 2001
• M.Psych.Sc. (Clin.Spec.) University College Dublin 1994
• M.Psych.Sc. (Research) University College Dublin 1991
• Dip. Psych. (Hons.) University College Dublin 1990
• B.Ed (Hons.) Carysfort College, Dublin 1986

Sophie Crosbie

Sophie Crosbie currently provides specialist people management services to employers in small to medium enterprises. She develops people management capability within clients and offers advice, facilitation and mediation on IR/HR issues. Sophie has over 13 years experience in employment law and employee relations including:

• Senior IR/HR Executive in IBEC advising many companies on all aspects of HR and Employment Law
• Representing clients at the Employment Appeals Tribunal, Labour Relations Commission, Labour Court and the Equality Tribunal
• Employment law solicitor in Freehills, an Australian law firm advising top tier Australian employers on employment law and industrial relations matters, including secondment as HR legal advisor to Telstra with responsibility for complex individual IR/HR matters
• Advising Australian federal government agency on legal and employee relations issue associated with rationalising 110,000 statutory minimum wages

Sophie’s education includes:

• BCL (UCC 1994) and BL (Kings Inns) 1996
• Australian Lawyer 2005 and Melbourne University Law School 2004
• Mediation, La Trobe University 2007
• Advanced Negotiation, Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, 2008
• Member of CIPD and IMCA
• Continuous learning and development in personal skills and awareness