Our Team

Our Team

Jane-Ann McKenna, Chief Executive Officer

Jane-Ann joined Dóchas as Chief Executive Officer in November 2021. She left a career in banking in 2007 to join Medicines Sans Frontier (MSF) where she worked for 12 years, including postings in Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Central African Republic and Afghanistan.  She served as Director of MSF Ireland from 2011-2016. Most recently, she returned to Ireland in 2020 to support Ireland’s Covid-19 response, working with the HSE in the National Social Inclusion Office.

Anna Farrell, Finance and Operations Manager

Anna joined the organisation in May 1981 when it was known as The Confederation of Non-Governmental Development Organisations (CONGOOD). She was the only staff member from May 1982 to October 2002 and was responsible for overseeing the amalgamation of CONGOOD and the Irish National Assembly (an EC related forum of Irish NGOs concerned with development) to form Dóchas – The Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organisations in 1993. She has negotiated office leases and moved the organisation a total of 7 times down through the years. 

Anna’s areas of responsibility include finance, office management and general administration. She attends and services meetings of the Dóchas Board, its sub-committees on Finance, Audit and Risk and on Governance and of the General Assembly. She also provides administrative support to the Company Secretary role. 

She is fiercely loyal to and protective of Dóchas members as well as of the organisation itself. She is a passionate advocate of justice and equality, responds positively to requests for help and is extremely supportive and encouraging of the Dóchas team.

Anna is very family orientated and likes reading and walking and is known to avoid cooking at all costs.

Simon Murtagh, Interim Head of Policy and Advocacy

Simon Murtagh is interim Head of Policy and Advocacy at Dóchas. Before then, he worked for Oxfam Ireland for two years, concentrating on economic justice, sustainable food systems and climate policies. Simon's background is in politics, having managed the Irish Section of the European Parliamentarians with Africa for several years, and he has also worked as a political and media adviser to politicians on global trade and human rights issues. He has worked at a number of international conferences including the COP climate conferences and the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation. Earlier in his career, Simon was a journalist specialising in migration and international issues, and he has worked as film-maker and podcast producer in the recent past.

Niall McDonald, Head of Communications and Media

Niall is a highly experienced media professional who has spent the last 15 years working in some of the biggest newsrooms in the world. He has a deep knowledge of Irish, UK, European and U.S. Politics, and has spent his career helping to interview some of the biggest names in the world, from the French President to British Royalty.

He has covered world events including the Arab Spring, Brexit, the Trump Presidency and the Covid Pandemic for Sky News, the Associated Press and CNN. He has been involved in the coverage of three US Presidential elections, three UK elections and was a key member of the production team for CNN's coverage of the Brexit referendum, which was broadcast in more than 200 countries. In 2021 Niall returned home to Ireland to produce 'The Tonight Show', on Virgin Media. He has also worked in Public Affairs with Rockwood.

Gillian Ivory, Head of Membership Engagement

Gillian joined Dóchas as Head of Membership Engagement in November 2022. She has worked in programme management roles with a number of non-profits in Ireland, Cambodia and South Africa, and has taught BA students in the Department of International Development at Maynooth University. Gillian also spent a number of years in business and communications working with clients in the private and public sectors, and as a freelance journalist has written for publications in Ireland, the UK and Canada. She holds a Masters Degree in International Development, a postgraduate diploma in Business and a BA in Hispanic Studies.

Claudia Lynch, Worldview Project Manager

Claudia joined Dóchas in March 2024 as the project manager of Worldview, a public engagement research project focused on tracking attitudes to overseas development aid within Ireland. With a background in policy, research, effective communications and reporting, Claudia has previously worked for the UNDP Crisis Bureau Geneva and UN Somalia in research roles. She supported the creation of the first ever UNDP policy brief on disability inclusive disaster risk reduction and resilience building and was the research assistant on a novel disability data collection and needs assessment in Somalia, working remotely on the pilot location of Kismayo to support the National Disability Agency.

Claudia has a keen interest in research, evidence based decision making, and the inclusion of marginalised cohorts. She holds an M.Sc. in Development Practice and a BA in Geography and Sociology, both from Trinity College Dublin. 

Leah Donaldson, Programme Support Officer

Leah joined Dóchas as Programme Support Officer in March 2023. She studied her Undergraduate degree in International Relations in Dublin City University and later an International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies. Leah has a backgrond in conflict and crisis management with a focus on the continued provision of humanitarian aid. Currently, Leah is writing her post-graduate dissertation, researching the implications of the Ukraine-Russia War on Irish neutrality. 

Previously, Leah worked as an Editor for a student-led think tank, The Security Distillery. More recently, Leah was a Security Advisor for an INGO. During this time she worked on developing security management plans for fragile and conflict affected states, and provided hostile environment training to staff in programme offices.