Ita is one of Ireland’s most respected and experienced communications professionals with over 30 years at the forefront of media and Irish corporate life. She founded Gibney Communications in 1995 and drove it to become a real force as a source for strategic communications advice and action. She was previously Director in one of Ireland’s largest public relations consultancies and then became Group Director of Corporate Affairs in Greencore Group plc. She also served as a Council Member of the Institute of Directors, a Director of St. Francis Hospice and Treasurer of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland. She is an arts graduate of UCD and holds a Masters in Communications from Boston University which she attended as Ireland’s John F. Kennedy scholar.

Donnchadh has been a senior advisor for over fifteen years and took over as Managing Director in 2013. As well as leading a highly focused team, Donnchadh himself is on the front line of media and business issues, directing the work for key retained clients. His professional background is in journalism. He was a senior producer with RTE, Ireland’s national radio and TV broadcaster, editing a number of flagship daily programmes including Liveline and Drivetime as well as a contributor to numerous national and regional publications. A native of Newbridge, he is a communications graduate from Dublin City University.

Mark is a highly experienced political adviser who spent more than 13 years at the coalface of government affairs and policy development. He has been a Government Special Adviser to Ministers in the Department of An Taoiseach and the Department of Education and Skills, including over seven years in the Government Chief Whip’s Office. His work has spanned crisis communications, media and political strategy, issues management, election campaigns and policy development. Before this he worked in the insurance industry for seven years. A native of Kilkenny, he is a qualified Barrister and a law graduate from University College Cork.

Cathy has over 20 years of brand strategy and communications experience in Ireland and internationally. She established and ran her own PR consultancy called Outside Eye PR as well as working as a Mentor for Enterprise Ireland for almost 10 years. Previously, Cathy held a leadership role as Director of Communications for a digital entertainment (video games) company from start-up phase in Dublin through to their landmark acquisition, a deal valued at over $1 billion. She has also served as Interim Managing Director of the Virgin Media International Film Festival and is both an actor and writer. On the agency side, Cathy has worked for Hill & Knowlton Dublin (Associate Director) and with a range of other PR consultancy firms in London and USA. Her brand experience includes work for Coca-Cola, eBay, Electronic Arts, Foster’s Beer, Kraft Foods, Hewlett Packard, LeapFrog Toys, O2, PopCap Games, Shamrock Foods, The Walt Disney Company and more.Cathy holds a B.A. from Trinity College Dublin in Drama and Theatre Studies and an M.A. (1.1) in Public Relations from DIT. 

Karen is a trusted adviser to several of Ireland’s leading organisations operating in the corporate and financial services, State, transport and tourism sectors. With a background in both corporate and consumer PR, her work includes reputation management, corporate profiling, stakeholder communications and engagement programmes, particularly for major infrastructure development projects. Prior to joining Gibney Communications in 2007, Karen held in-house marketing communications roles with the German telecommunications provider Mox Telecom in Dublin, and with Tourism Ireland in Stockholm, Sweden. From Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Karen is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin with a first class honours degree in Law and German.

Tom is a senior adviser, servicing and implementing strategic pr programmes for a number of our corporate clients. He has a strong background in corporate and consumer PR. His work includes reputation and issues management particularly in the retail and health sectors. Prior to joining Gibney Communications in 2004, Tom worked for another Dublin-based agency and also in the marketing department of An Post. He holds a B.A. (Hons) in Economics and Business Studies from Trinity College Dublin. 

L. Gaye Torrance is president of TorranceCo, LLC, an independent New-York-based corporate, financial and marketing communications firm. Ms. Torrance brings more than 20 years of marketing, communications and media relations experience to the business/financial marketplace, having directed various corporate positioning initiatives and media campaigns for leading global brands and noteworthy organizations worldwide. Ms. Torrance holds a Master of Science degree from Boston University, and is a graduate of Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.