Keynote Speakers

Introducing your Members Conference 2024

Former Irish Navy Ships Captain & Motivational Speaker
Marie served as one of the first women in the Irish navy and has over twenty five years of maritime domain experience. During her military career Marie served as Captain of the LE AOIFE at sea for two years, was the first female officer to train a Naval Cadet Class and deployed overseas to Chad with the United Nations. Her military experience and training has given her unique insights into maximising human performance in high pressure environments.
Since leaving the navy in 2019, Marie has held the roles of Chief Strategy Officer and Director of External Affairs in the healthcare and renewables sectors. She is the founder of NavMar Leadership, a bespoke consultancy focused on the areas of human performance factors, strategy and leadership. She is a qualified Executive Coach and a speaker focusing on leadership, resilience and communication.
Marie has studied extensively and uses her practical experience and theoretical knowledge to best effect in supporting leaders and their teams in both public sector and corporate organisations. Marie is the 2022 30% Club Scholar completing the UCD Smurfit Business School Diploma in Corporate Governance with distinction. She is a Non-Executive Director on the State Board for the Seafood sector in Ireland, Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

Sonia Gill, is a qualified teacher who has taught children of all ages from Reception to 16 and was selected to join the prestigious John Lewis leadership programme where she led a number of multi-million-pound business areas. She is a speaker at educational events and the author of two number 1 ranked Amazon books ‘Journey to Outstanding (2nd edition)’ and ‘Successful Difficult Conversations in Schools’.
The Heads Up team has an impressive track record in supporting headteachers to create genuinely outstanding schools, which they do by helping leaders create higher performing cultures.
They don’t focus on the Ofsted framework and yet the schools they support are far more likely to achieve ‘outstanding’ than those that don’t*.
*https://ukheadsup.com/impact/

Karen Weekes is a performance psychologist and endurance adventurer. In February 2022, she became the first Irish female to row the Atlantic ocean solo and unsupported.
Working within business and sports teams for thirty years, Karen specialises in cognitive and practical coping strategies, pressure management and specific mechanisms for proactive motivation to achieve optimal performance in competitive business and sporting environments.
Her PhD and MSc research explored motivation and coping within ultra-endurance sport, which are tested throughout her personal endurance exploits. A sample of these can be seen in the ‘Adventures’ tab.
Twenty years University lecturing experience assures the client that quality communication and education for clients is present in all interactions.

Professor of Education Leadership at the University of Limerick
A post- primary teacher and experienced school leader, she works with a vibrant team in the Education Leadership and Learning Academy (ELLA) at UL. She is a teacher, successful academic author, and cohost of the popular leadership podcast Leadership Unwrapped.

Joe Rolston is Deputy Principal in Glenart College, Arklow, a co-educational school of 630 students, under the patronage of KWETB. He was appointed in December 2023. Prior to that, he taught English, Religious Education and Philosophy, for 16 years, in Presentation Secondary School, Wexford, with 6 of those years also working as an AP1. For the last 5 years, he has led a Community of Practice for English teachers, through the Wexford Education Support Centre. He also previously worked as an Associate Advisor with the JCT English Team. He is a proud native of Sligo.

Orla Jackson is a Deputy Principal of Presentation College Headford, Co Galway, a co-educational voluntary secondary school of 850 students, under the patronage of CEIST.
Orla has been a Deputy Principal for 5 years, she was also Acting Principal for almost 2 years. Before becoming a school leader, she was a teacher of Gaeilge, English, & SPHE. Orla has been back teaching in her hometown of Headford for 10 years, before that she taught for 18 very happy years in Holy Rosary College , Mountbellew. Orla's teaching career started in St Paul's in Greenhills. Her passion has always been the pastoral care of the student, increasingly she is allowing her practice to be empowered by emotional intelligence and the pivotal role of emotional leadership as a leadership style and not simply a 'soft skill'.

Newly appointed Principal in Athlone Community College, a large multi-denominational, co-educational school with an enrolment of approximately 1174 students under the patronage of LWETB.
Prior to this I was Deputy Principal in Firhouse Community College for 3 years. My teaching career started in Old Bawn Community School where I was a French and German teacher for 12 years. My leadership journey started by enrolling on the PDSL course, followed by appointments as an AP2 and AP1 in Old Bawn CS.
I have also previously worked as a JCT Associate and a NCCA Advisor during the Junior Cycle reform.
I am originally from Athlone so it was a big decision to relocate my whole life from Dublin back to my hometown.