People

President

Brian Shanahan OAM is in his second term as Melbourne City Councillor where he is Chair of the Future Melbourne (Finance and Governance) Committee and Deputy Chair of the Future Melbourne (Eco-City) Committee. He sits on the Council ‘s Audit Committee and the Melbourne Arts Trust.

He is a director of Brimar Pty Ltd, a community relations and migration consultancy.

He has been an adviser to the Victorian Cabinet Secretary, Victorian Minister for Health and the Secretary of the Victorian Ethic Affairs Commission.

Brian’s ancestors came from County Tipperary and his involvement in local Irish affairs led him to become Melbourne’s Celtic Club President 1995–1997 and 2000–2006. He was awarded the Federation Medal in 2002 and received an award from the Governor of Victoria for services to multiculturalism in 2003. In 2011, Brian was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the Irish community and to local government.

He became Chamber President in 2010.


Vice President

Paul Moynes is Managing Director of Eco Guardians Pty Ltd – a company specialising in importing and exporting innovative environmental products, mainly between Ireland/UK and Australia.

He came to Australia from Northern Ireland in 1975 and on completing an Economics degree at Adelaide University, worked in London for three years, before returning to Australia to join Lend Lease.

Now an Australian citizen Paul retains a love of all things Irish whether cultural, political, historical or musical but his main Irish interest is in encouraging business links between Ireland and Australia and amongst the Australian Irish, especially in his adopted city of Melbourne.

Paul was Chamber President in 2001 and 2002 and returned to the Board in 2010.


Secretary

Peter Ryan currently works for the National Australia Bank at their Business Banking Office in Richmond. In his role as a Partner he looks after all his client's commercial & consumer finance requirements together with their transactional banking requirements. His particular areas of expertise are commercial property finance & trade finance.

With a Bachelor of Commerce degree, he spent 10-years with the Commonwealth Bank, having joined them in 1999 as part of the bank’s Graduate Intake Program. During this time he held a variety of roles in the Corporate & Institutional Banking divisions. Peter left the CBA in 2009 where he then worked independently for 2 years as a Commercial Finance Broker until he recently joined the NAB in 2011.

Melbourne-born, Peter’s father came from Tipperary in 1956. He has been a Chamber member since 2006 he joined the Board in June 2010 and became Secretary in 2011.


Treasurer

Colin Egan is a Partner with PPB Advisory and leads it’s Corporate Advisory practice in Melbourne. He has nearly 20 years' experience providing corporate finance and business advisory services across a range of industries in Europe and Australia and has advised on a number of significant M&A transactions.  Colin is originally from Dublin and came to Australia on a short transfer with (Arthur) Andersen in 1995.  While he has travelled in the interim period, he is settled in Melbourne with his wife and two children and has Australian citizenship.  Colin’s interests include rugby, travel and keeping up with the kids.  Colin returns to Ireland frequently and has a strong interest in developing communication and business interests between Australia and Ireland. 

Colin joined the Chamber’s Board in 2011 as Treasurer.

Board Members


Robert Clifford - National Manager EPICURE Venues & Events Australia, is an expert in entrepreneurial sales and marketing, bringing new and exciting concepts to undeveloped markets.

Robert’s career spans through the ranks of hospitality and includes senior international roles with the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, catering management for national government and general management in the convention and exhibition industry.  He has highly developed networks and established relationships with senior management at most major professional convention organisations.

Born in Perth, Robert’s Derry City family roots are what took him to Ireland at the start of his hospitality career.  Here he gained experience working in prestige establishments in both Dublin and Derry City.

Robert currently plays a key role representing Spotless Group Limited and EPICURE in a range of bodies and forums including the Victorian Tourism Industry Council, the Victorian Events Industry Council, Venue Managers Association, Melbourne Convention & Visitors Bureau and the national Restaurant & Catering Association.



Keith Cochrane - has over 12 years working within the recruitment industry having been involved in his own business in Dublin for 8 years before moving to Australia. He worked in various markets including IT, Engineering and Pharmaceutical.

Keith moved to Melbourne in 2009 where he has settled with his wife and recently had a baby boy. He is currently managing the Southern region for People 1st Consulting, ERP resourcing business, part of Plaut IT. He loves playing golf, following soccer, rugby but to name a few.

Having been a member of the Irish chamber in Dublin he is keen to help grow the chamber in Australia. Given the amount of Irish moving to Australia and the challenges of moving to a new country so far from home, he believes there is a real opportunity to help these people with the process through the Chamber.


Fergal Coleman is a principal consultant at Symphony3. He helps clients to create successful online businesses. He enables his clients to bring business processes online, resulting in greater revenues, cost reductions and increased profitability. By combining strategic business tools and techniques with technology, Fergal aligns business and IT and delivers business results that benefit the bottom line.

Fergal has over 15 years experience in the IT/Internet industry in both Ireland and Australia and has an extensive knowledge of internet marketing, business models, IT and business strategy alignment. He has run his own businesses for many years and worked with a wide range of organisations across industries as diverse as manufacturing, professional services, local government, automotive, construction and mining. He is currently assisting in the implementation of social media in local government.

Fergal regularly speaks publicly to senior managers and small business owners about Social Media, Cloud Computing and Search Engine Optimisation.

He has a Masters of Business and IT from the University of Melbourne. He is also a keen sportsman and played football (soccer) at the highest level in the National League of Ireland for 10 years. He is now involved in coaching junior teams in Victoria.

Fergal is also a mentor in the mentoring programme at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, where he helps young graduates to not make all the mistakes he has made! He also facilitates some Mindshop Excellence programmes which give valuable work experience to young adults.


Sinead Cullen boasts a broad banking career, spanning 12 years in Corporate and Commercial sectors in Allied Irish Bank, London. Her specialisms include Private Healthcare, Public Sector & Charities (Not for Profit) and Professional Practices. 

Prior to her move to Melbourne in September 2010, Sinead held the role of NAMA Project Manager for the UK Division of AIB. She was responsible for the most complex, demanding and systemically important project, ever to impact upon Irish Banks. The role involved the transfer of STG£3bn worth of property loans to NAMA.

Sinead currently works on the Strategic Projects team in ANZ in Docklands. Her key role is to ensure all major projects are aligned to the Bank's key strategic drivers. 

Banking experience includes - Project Manager, Change Lead and Stakeholder Management, Credit Analyst, Business Developer & Relationship Manager. Sinead joined the Board in August 2011

Kieran Hughes - An Economics graduate from Manchester University, Kieran relocated to Melbourne in 2010, after spending over 15 years working in the City in London, for US banking giant Citicorp. In his capacity as a Vice President in the bank, he specialised in Credit Cards and Global Markets.

Since arriving in Australia, Kieran has worked at National Australia Bank as a consultant on a number of major enterprise wide programs. After many seasons playing Gaelic football and soccer at a competitive standard, he can now be found on a weekend working on his golf at Albert Park.

With a passion for enterprise and opportunity, Kieran’s interests extend to encouraging the development of Irish Australian links, and promoting Irish businesses in Australia.

Ronan Lehane - On completion of a Joint Honours Degree in Business and Economics from Trinity College Dublin in 2003, Ronan spent time working in London before spending two years working in Boston in real estate investing and development. He then returned to Ireland where he trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ronan arrived in Melbourne in 2010 and currently works for PPB Advisory in their Melbourne office specialising in Corporate Recovery and Insolvency. Ronan’s interests include Soccer, Rugby and travelling. He has a strong interest in developing stronger ties between Australia and Ireland and particular to help new arrivals settle into Melbourne life and develop business links between the two countries.