Team
Programme Management Team
Teresa McGrane
Programme Co-Director and Deputy CEO at Screen Ireland
Teresa is the Deputy CEO of Screen Ireland. She is across all aspects of the Boards work from the commercial and financial aspects of projects that the Board invest in to the marketing and promotion of Irish films and the Irish film sector, domestically and internationally. She is also across the Boards strategy with regard to the audio-visual industry training to increase the creative and business capacity of the sector. Prior to working in the Board she was an independent producer and also a production accountant on many large-scale feature films that shot in Ireland. She also worked for many years in the UK television sector. She is a qualified Certified Accountant and has a Masters in Business Administration.
Gareth Lee
Programme Co-Director and Manager at Screen Skills Ireland
Gareth Lee is the Skills Development Manager for Screen Skills Ireland, responsible for the development of skills across the whole screen sectors to include Film, TV Drama, Animation, Television production, VFX, Games and VR / AR. Prior to joining Screen Skills Ireland, Gareth worked at Ballyfermot College of Further Education where he ran the Animation degree programme and most recently established the inaugural diploma programme in 3D & Visual Effects – the first programme of its kind in Ireland. Gareth also has a vast wealth of experience in training from his role in Animation Skillnet where he established the network which has delivered industry-focused training solutions for the Animation and related sectors in Ireland. Gareth has a proven track record of working with key stakeholders to deliver successful work-based training initiatives for the sector that better align education/training to the needs of industry. He is a graduate of TCD, DCU and DIT with a BA in English, an MSc in Multimedia and an MA in Music Technology. He is a member of the Advisory Board for Animation Ireland, specialising in education/training.
Barbara Henkes
Programme Manager
Barbara Henkes is an experienced filmmaker, editor, and trainer with more than 25 years experience of working in the film industry and in education. Barbara has been the Programme Manager of the Screen Leaders programme since 2019. Prior to working with Screen Skills Ireland Barbara has worked as the Equipment Manager and Editing Trainer for Filmbase, a training centre for independent filmmakers in Dublin and for NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Dublin. A graduate in Fine Arts and Film Production from Galway Institute of Technology, Barbara has an MA in Media Studies from TUDublin. She is currently also working as a documentary editor.
Programme Delivery Team
Bernie Cullinan
Course Director Strategy
Bernie has over 25 years of dealing at a senior level in business in Ireland and internationally, both as a senior executive as well as in a consulting capacity. Bernie has held positions in a financial, strategic planning and general management capacity in the Virgin Group internationally, and held COO and CEO positions in companies which have been successfully sold to multi-national organisations. In a consulting capacity, Bernie has worked with many companies at all stages of growth, supporting them in the challenges of scaling from a small domestic market to establishing their successful international presence. Bernie is currently the Lead Business Advisor for the International Selling Programme run by DIT on behalf of Enterprise Ireland. In her capacity as CEO of Pragma, Bernie works with range of organisations, including media, services, technology & sport dealing with the complex challenges that can be encountered scaling companies. Bernie has a strong interest in, and significant experience in strategy and leadership development and the building of teams for success.
Dr. Joe MacAree
Course Director Leadership
Joe Mac Aree has 30 years’ experience in Leadership Development, Assessment, Coaching, Selection and Succession Planning across Europe, USA and Asia. He helps senior leaders and their teams identify their strategic goals and equip them with the skills necessary to lead and drive behavioural change at all levels in their organisations. He holds a Doctorate in psychology from Trinity College Dublin and additional postgraduate qualifications in Statistics and Human Resources. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel Development, a registered psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland and a registered coach with the Association for Coaching. A short sample of Joe’s recent development and coaching assignments include working with Microsoft, Screen Leaders Europe, PWC, Bank of Ireland Group, Total, Daiken, Google, M & S, Kerry Group, Mercer, Central Bank of Ireland, BG Exploration, GSK, Herbert Smith Freehills and Enterprise Ireland’s International Selling Programme.
Caroline Williams
Lead Finance Tutor & Financial Mentor
Caroline is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants with over 25 years’ operating as a senior finance executive and consultant to businesses in London, LA and Dublin. Caroline commenced her career and training with the Virgin TV Group of Companies in 1987. During her time in Virgin she worked her way up to the position of Group Financial Controller looking after a mix of the Group’s operations in TV Post Production and Computer Games. Caroline subsequently became a founder member of a Soho based Post Production company Dean Street Post, which was successfully sold to the Barnes Trust Media Group. Within 4 years BTM had bought up interests in a satellite transmissions business, a film duplication facility, a commercial’s post business and had taken a majority share in the iconic Teddington Studios. Caroline was Group FD of the Soho based companies and held a position on the Teddington board with a reporting line up to the VC Gresham Trust. In 2005, Caroline was approached by leading global film technologist Filmlight. She took up position as their Finance Director in London with satellite offices in LA, Singapore, Mexico, Under her 8 year tenure as FD, the company grew from £1.5m to over £13m, won two Queens Awards for export and innovation, three technical Academy Awards, one Grammy award and exporter of the Year in London in 2010. In her capacity as CEO of CFOLean, Caroline now works as a consultant CFO to a a range of Creative business’s in London, Dublin and LA. She works with these companies at all stages of their growth, assisting them with the management tools they require to deal with the many inevitable and often complex financial challenges they often face in difficult economic times or when the business needs to scale up for expansion. Due to her vast body of experience Caroline has successfully assisted her clients in both the UK and in Ireland in their applications for European Grant funding, R&D funding and Film tax credits.
Clíona Diggins
Lead Leadership Tutor and Management
Clíona started her career with the BBC in London, and spent several years there. She led a team of Occupational Psychologists specialising in the assessment and development of key talent across the organisation. Moving back to Dublin, Clíona then worked in Pearn Kandola, a leading practice of business psychologists, and for nine years specialised in the design and implementation of talent management interventions for senior management. In 2009, Clíona founded Psyched (www.psyched.ie) specialising in helping individuals and teams to reach their true potential. Psyched is a founding partner of The Soar Foundation (www.soar.ie) a not- for-profit organisation that delivers positive life skills programmes to young people and sits on their board of directors. Clíona is member of the Psychological Society of Ireland and holds an Executive Coaching Certificate from the University of Sydney. As a chartered business psychologist, working in the area of leadership development, high performance teams and executive coaching for organisations globally, Clíona has gained vast experience of working with individuals from all professional backgrounds and has an in-depth understanding of everyday leadership challenges. Her drive is helping people to take on new challenges through widening self-understanding and focusing on clear goals. For the past twenty years Clíona has designed and implemented leadership development initiatives across Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia.
Guest Speakers
- Amanda Pyne
AP Media Ltd - Andrea Calderwood
Producer - Andrew Jenkinson
vStream Digital Media - Andrew Lowe
Element Pictures - Andrew Sheldon
Creative Director and Founder, True North - Andy Mayson
CEO, Altitude - Aoife Murphy
Boys + Girls - Barry Barnes
Actor - Bernie Cullinan
Course Director Strategy, Pragma Advisory Ltd - Bernie McNelis
Executive Coach, Shift Performance - Bo Ehrhardt
Nimbus Film - Brendan McCarthy
Producer, Fantastic Films - Bronagh O’Donovan
Strategy Director, Boys + Girls - Bryan Malone
Managing Director, Tyrell - Caroline Williams
Lead Finance Tutor & Financial Mentor, CFO Lean
- Caron Darwood
Actress/ Coach - Catherine Curran
Director & Business Psychologist, Level 4 - Christophe Vidal
Natixis Coficine - Clare Duignan
Non-Executive Director and Business Advisor - Cristian Nicolescu
Digital Cube & Avanpost Media - Daniel Frankl
Co-Founder, Frankl & Delaney - Daniel Simonyi
FREEWAY - David Cabannes
VoD Manager, Under the Milky Way - Deborah Rowland
Distribution, Tonic - Dera McLoughlin
Mazars - Emmet O’Neill
CEO, StoryToys - Eric Hemmendorff
Producer/Owner, Plattform Produktion - Esther Bannenberg
Acquisitions, Lumière Publishing NL - Evelyn McGrath
Co – Founder and Director, Blacknorth - Ewa Puszczyńska
Producer, OPUS Films
- Finn Gjerdrum
Producer, Paradox Norway - Francois Thos
Independent Financial Consultant - Grainne Delaney
Resonance Coaching, Masks at Work - Henric Larrson
CEO, Chimney - Jackie Larkin
Producer, Newgrange Pictures - Jennie Stacey
Brown Bag Films, 9 Story Media Group - Jezz Vernon
Consultant to 101 Films Ltd - Jim Wilson
Producer - Joe MacAree
Leadership Director, JMA - John Lovett
Actor/ Coach - John McDonnell
Producer, Fantastic Films - John Tracey
Venture Capital and Private Equity Investor - Jonathan Kelly
PhilipLee Solicitors - Karen Deignan
Director, SustainabilityWorks - Kate Ogborn
FLY FILM
- Kevin Gregory
Corporate Governance - Kris Kelly
Director, Blacknorth - Larry Bass
Company Development, Shinawil - Laurence Knell
Director, Strategic Innovation Partners - Lenny Crooks
Killer Films - Leonard Glowinski
22H22 - Lesley McKimm
Producer, Newgrange Pictures - Lisa White
Founder, Spireworks - Lorna Ross
Group Director, Fjord Dublin - Maggie Van Den Heuvel
Organisational Psychologist, Art of Work - Mark Fenton
MASF Consulting - Mark Little
CEO, Storyful - Marten Rabarts
Head of Development, NFDC India - Martin Paul-Hus
Producer, Amérique Film - Mia Bays
Film Producer, Missing In Action Films & Director Large, Bird’s Eye View
- Michael Coldewey
Managing Director, Producer, Trixter - Michael John Bell
CEO, Encycle Studios - Michele Maheux
Lead - Organizational Transition & Effectiveness - Miles Bullough
Independent Media Consultant - Nada Cirjanic
Great Point Media - Noemi Ferrer-Schwenk
Head of Co-Production, Danish Film Institute - Nuno Bernardo
Managing Director, BeActive - Oliver Fegan
Co-Founder, ushueru - Oliver Richard Hyatt
Co-Founder, Blue Zoo Animation - Orion Ross
Vice President, Content – Animation, Digital & Acquisitions, Disney Channels EMEA - Patricia V. Mayer
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp - Paul Donovan
Managing Director and Producer, Deadpan Pictures - Paul Young
Cartoon Saloon - Peter Buckingham
Kube - Philipp Klausing
Head of Production/Executive Producer, Pantaleon Films
- Pim Hermeling
Owner, September Film Distribution - Robbie Allen
Senior Screen Executive, Creative Scotland - Rod Ben Zeev
Actor/ Coach - Rosemary Turley
Turley Communications - Sarita Christensen
Founder & CEO, Copenagen Bombay - Silje Hopland Eik
CEO & Producer, Cinenord - Simon Kelehan
3Vision Media Consulting - Simon Shaps
Media Consultant - Sisse Graum Jørgensen
Producer, Zentropa - Siun Ni Raghallaigh
Biz Success - Vanessa Saal
Head of International Sales, Protagonist Pictures - Vratislav Slajer
Producer
