Our Board Members

Paul McKeown

Paul is an Executive Director at Enterprise Ireland leading a Directorate incorporating the Agency’s People and Policy, Corporate Services and Regional Development Divisions. He is also the agency’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Paul is a non-executive Board Member of the Design & Crafts Council Ireland. Paul joined Enterprise Ireland as CFO in 2017 and was promoted to Executive Director in 2019. Prior to joining Enterprise Ireland, Paul was Director of Finance at St. Vincent’s University Hospital. Paul started his career in KPMG and during his five years with the firm he managed a wide portfolio of clients. A Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Paul also holds Bachelor of Commerce (B.Comm) and Master of Accounting (M.Acc) qualifications from University College Dublin.

Toby Scott

Toby Scott is a catalyst in the creative industries and an innovator within the commercial and public sectors. As a facilitator, he has been a director of the UK Design Council, a director of Arts Council England as well as head of Creative Industries for the UK Government. He established the Irish Centre for Design Innovation and was Senior Design Strategist for the Design 4 Growth pilot scheme delivered by Dublin City Local Enterprise Office (LEO). He has also been a board member of the UK Crafts Council. As a developer, Toby is a co-founder and Learning Director of FRAMLABS and Knowinnovation. He works with a number of NGOs and agencies such as the United Nations, the NHS and NASA to apply design thinking to solve “Wicked Problems”. Within business, he helps companies such as Cisco, Liberty Mutual and Irish Life create future value for their customers through the strategic use of design.

Breda Fox

Approved 38 creatives for financial support to grow their business since 2010. Approved 44 creatives for trading online vouchers since 2015. Progressed creative clients by subsidised participation at Showcase annually including providing mentoring, training and upskilling merchandising in advance of the international trade show. Established a local craft network, to share best practice, support and learn from each other. Worked with Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCOI) to develop Galway creatives including the provision of DCCOI mentors and training. I have supported four Building Craft and Development programmes in Galway to date. Funded, organised and managed the Local Food and Craft fair to take place showcase the best of local Galway creatives and providing a platform for sales pre-Christmas since 2012. This initiative was borne from needs identified by the craft network Supported creative events, local markets and pop up shops such as Potters Market (from 2011), Creative Makers pop up shops (from 2016) and the Irish Fashion Innovation Awards since its foundation in 2010 Chaired the collaboration of creative innovation in 2019 with funding from Creative Ireland and Galway City Council and supported by the IDA Galway. The project matched local Galway business, designers and artists and involved collaboration with 5 local makers and 5 local multinational companies culminating in the creation of 5 unique and remarkable pieces of work. Connecting the business engineers with local artists, textile, jewellery, ceramic and furniture makers had lasting impacts on industry and makers creative processes. In 2010 I joined the Galway County & City Enterprise Board (now the Local Enterprise Office Galway) and have led the service delivery of the agency since then. In 2010 I joined the Galway County & City Enterprise Board (now the Local Enterprise Office Galway) and have led the service delivery of the agency since then. Training and advisory supports have increased threefold, and 37 clients businesses have transitioned to Enterprise Ireland to continue to develop and grow. I am particularly passionate about the design and craft sector and work hard to support the sector in my day to day role. Since I joined the enterprise agency, supports to creatives include: themselves. My history prior to enterprise support work included The Point (now The 3 Arena), Dublin as Finance Director in the 1990’s. During this time, I was also one of the youngest people ever appointed to a state board, serving as a nonexecutive Director of An Post for 5 years. Moving to Galway in 2000, I became Finance Director of Transitions Optical in 1999, dealing with everything from pricing to compliance. Two years later, I became Supply Chain & Customer Service Director for Europe. In 2006, I started my own business advising start-up and established businesses in the West including projects for locally based multinationals and helped clients with funding, efficiencies, cost-cutting and positioning for growth/recovery.

Maeve Murphy

Maeve is a passionate advocate for Irish craft & design and brings with her a breadth of experience spanning arts management and practice. She holds a BA (Hons) in Design in Textiles from GMIT and an MA in Cultural Policy & Arts Management from UCD. With over 10 years’ experience working in the Arts across multiple disciplines, Maeve has worked with Music Network, Music Generation and was the Programme Coordinator for the West Cork Chamber Music Festival. Also an entrepreneur, Maeve co-founded Forest & Flock, an independent Irish craft & design retail shop. She is the Operations Manager with Cork Craft and Design and Programme Coordinator for Cork Craft Month working closely with over 100 Craftspeople and Designers in County Cork.

Donagh Quigley

Donagh Quigley has a background in traditional music. After finishing a traineeship in thatching in his early 30s, Donagh started out on his own as a thatcher and began growing his own straw. Once the recession hit, Donagh was forced to re-evaluate and come up with something new; it needed to be scalable and of benefit to the end user. Donagh and his wife Gemma began creating handmade soap in their kitchen using only natural ingredients, before launching The Handmade Soap Company at Showcase in 2010. The Handmade Soap Company now employs 21 people in an upcycled mill in Slane, Co. Meath. The product range has expanded over the years and the company now exports widely. Donagh has extensive real-world experience of building and scaling a craft business.

Rachel Quinn

Rachel Quinn graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art from Sligo IT in 1995, gaining work experience in a variety of contexts before starting her own award winning ceramics business. A founding member of ‘Made in Sligo’ she has worked closely with the Sligo Local Enterprise Board and the Sligo Leader partnership to instigate a network of 15 micro craft producers. Rachel has been involved in several projects at local and national level including festivals, teaching, community initiated projects and is a member of DCCI’s CRAFTed programme.

Eddie Shanahan

Eddie Shanahan specialises in business and product development for the fashion and textiles, craft, homewares and retail sectors. He has developed and executed Business & Product Development programs for varied organisations including DCCI and the network of Local Enterprise Offices as well as providing effective mentoring services to individual craft and design across a range of disciplines. Eddie developed the ‘CREATE’ project with Brown Thomas to identify and develop Irish design talent with the capability to sell in the store side-by-side with the world’s leading luxury labels. He is Chairperson of the Council of Irish Fashion Designers.