Speakers

Tara McCarthy is the Chief Executive of Bord Bia and brings with her over 20years' experience in the wider food industry.  She was previously Chief Executive for Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland's seafood development agency.   She has operated in overseas markets such as Germany, France and Belgium for over 10 years.

Tara succeeded in delivering a number of instrumental initiatives for the Irish Food Industry under the 'Pathways for Growth' programme, working in entrepreneurship and talent development.  She was previously Director of the Food and Beverages Division in Bord Bia, and has led a team of senior executives on the development of the seafood, dairy, prepared foods, alcohol and small business sectors.

Tara holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with an MBS in Marketing from Smurfit Business School, and is an affiliate of IMD Business School, Switzerland.  Tara was awarded Fellowship of the Marketing Institute of Ireland in September 2018 and the 2019 UCD Smurfit School ‘Alumna of the Year’.

Padraig Brennan holds the position of Director of Meat, Food and Beverages with Bord Bia – Irish Food Board. This involves the management of Bord Bia work programme with meat, dairy, beverage, seafood and prepared consumer foods companies. Prior to this he held the position of Director of Markets, which involved the management of Bord Bia’s 13 international offices and implementing the Board’s international marketing and promotion programme for food and drink. Padraig also held the position of Sustainability Manager in Bord Bia and led the development and implementation of Bord Bia’s Origin Green Sustainability programme.

Padraig is from a family farming background, holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics from University College Dublin (UCD) and an MBA from the University of Western Australia.

Deirdre holds an MSc in Business Sustainability, an MBS in International Business from UCD Smurfit Graduate School, and a degree in International Commerce with Italian from University College Dublin. Prior to her appointment, Deirdre was Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Lidl Ireland & Northern Ireland, where she led the development and implementation of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s sustainability strategy. From 2013 to 2015, as part of Bord Bia’s Origin Green Ambassador programme, Deirdre was responsible for building trade awareness globally for the sustainability credentials of Irish food and drink producers.

Deirdre has also held positions with leading dairy exporter Ornua, Nestle Switzerland, and Metro Group, the world’s fourth largest retail group.

Grace leads the trends and insight programmes in Bord Bia. As a researcher she has worked broadly across the consumer insights team working with many client companies helping them with both product and brand development. She has built significant expertise working with start ups on both Food Works and Food Academy. Through Food Works Grace has worked with a significant number of companies and helped bring a significant number of them to market. Grace’s focus has been on immersing companies in the world of the consumer and has helped support and advise food and drinks companies as to how best articulate their product while helping them define their positioning for the market.

Grace worked for many years in the field of advertising working with the Grey Group in London and New York as well as spending a significant period of time with the Publicis Group in Dublin. Her love of insight led her into research, working for Lansdowne, now Kantar Millward Brown.