Our Board

Dublin Simon Community is fully committed to upholding the highest standards of Corporate Governance. We believe that maintaining these high standards is integral to demonstrating accountability to those who fund and support our work. It also ensures that the organization is proactive and responsive in order to achieve the goals of Dublin Simon Community.

Dublin Simon Community is governed by a voluntary Board of Directors. It is made up of experienced and driven people in the fields of Human Resources, management, finance communications, education and IT. The Board is advised by a number of expert committees and is responsible for the overall control and strategic direction of the charity.

There are four committees that also report directly to the Board on a regular basis.

  • Audit and Risk
  • Property & Development
  • Clinical Services
  • Fundraising

Board of Dublin Simon Community

All directors are voluntary and receive no remuneration. The Board meets 11 times per year and has its AGM annually in May of each year.


Barry McKimm

Barry McKimm is the Human Resources Director with the St John of God Community Services.  He has over 30 years’ experience in Human Resources across a variety of sectors. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel & Development. Barry holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Strategy in addition to a primary BBS degree from DCU. He also volunteers on the Dublin Simon Soup runs. He has been involved with Dublin Simon since 2018.

Gene Clayton

Gene began his career in social housing managing hostels for ex-offenders in London in 1985 subsequently becoming Director of Housing with an Irish Housing Association before returning to Dublin in 2001 to take up the post of Housing Development Manager with Dublin Docklands Development Authority. He was then recruited to become the Chief Executive of the Iveagh Trust, the longest established provider of social housing in Ireland. During this time he held a number of elected positions both in Ireland and Brussels which include President and Vice Pesident of the Irish Council for Social Housing, Vice President of the Not for Profit sector and Chairman of the Economic Finance and Internal Markets Committee of Housing Europe, the Brussels based federation of social, public and co-operative housing bodies who collectively house 25 million tenants across Europe. Gene retired in 2019.

Gene joined the Board of Dublin Simon Community in April 2020 and is Chair of the Property & Development committee.

John Daly

John, now retired, had a career spanning almost 40 years, 31 of it with An Post. He held many senior management positions in both Finance and Operational roles, including 10 years as Retail Operations Director when he had responsibility for the national Post Office network. In his final years he was the Retail Finance Director and Deputy Managing Director of the An Post Retail Business. John is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a MSc in Management from Trinity College Dublin.

Edward Farrelly

Edward Farrelly is a practicing barrister working primarily in commercial, insolvency and property law. He became a Senior Counsel in 2019 and also practices as a Mediator. He has experience advising and litigating in relation to corporate governance issues and the role and duties of company directors.  He graduated from UCD with a degree in History and Politics (First Class) and obtained a scholarship to complete Master’s degree in Politics (First Class). After working in business for a time while attending Kings Inns he was called to the Bar in 2000. Edward was previously a member of Dublin Simon and is returning having been on the Board from 2005 to 2012. He was previously the DSC Chair, chair of the Audit and Governance Sub Committee and on the Board of the Simon Communities of Ireland.

Wendy Hamilton

Wendy Hamilton is CEO at Translation.ie, a leading Interpretations company. She previously held CEO and COO roles at Netwatch Group/System. Wendy served on the Board of Sunbeam House Services from 2016-2018, and previously also on the Board of FIT (Fastrak to Technology). A Dublin native, now enjoying the Garden County delights, Wendy holds a Masters in Lean Business Practice, along with a BA in International Marketing

Wendy Hamilton joined the Board of Dublin Simon Community in May 2022.

Alison Hodgson

Alison Hodgson has more than 25 years experience in senior management positions in Ireland and the UK with particular expertise in HR.  She is former Group Head of Resourcing at Royal Mail, Head of HR Ireland for Bank of America and most recently VP People at Virgin Media Ireland.  Alison is a graduate of Queens University Belfast with a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Occupational Psychology.  She joined the Board of Dublin Simon Community in May 2022.

James Howell

James Howell is Channel Sales Director for Microsoft’s IoT business in Europe Middle East and Africa. James has been with Microsoft for over 8 years and has held a number of senior sales roles during that time. James has over 28 years of sales and marketing experience. 20 years specifically in international sales and marketing positions across Hi-Tech, Telecoms, and Software industries. Prior to being elected to the board of Dublin Simon Community, James was a member of the Simon Community fund raising committee, and was also a volunteer for the Simon Community  soup run.

Etain Kidney

Etain Kidney is currently the Head of the School of Marketing and Entrepreneurship in TU Dublin and where she has worked as a researcher and lecturer for 15 years . She holds PhD in Inclusive Entrepreneurship, and her research interests are sustainability, digital marketing, and minority entrepreneurship. Etain has worked with the Simon Communities education programmes since 2015.

Neil McLoughlin

Neil McLoughlin is Chief Commercial and Legal Officer at Datalex plc, a technology company developing innovative e-commerce products. Prior to that, Neil was Chief Operating Officer and a member of the founding team at life sciences investment business Malin plc, having also served as General Counsel and Company Secretary during its IPO in 2015. Neil also spent 10 years at Elan plc, a biotech company that developed therapies for some of the world’s most difficult to treat diseases, where he served as Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at the time of its sale in 2013. Neil is a Barrister, a graduate of NUI Galway (B.Comm) and the Honorable Society of King’s Inns (BL) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. Neil joined the board of the Dublin Simon Community as a non-executive director in May 2022 and has also served as a non-executive director of the Dundalk Simon Community since 2019.

Kathryn Holly has over 25 years senior level experience in the health and social care sectors in Ireland. Most recently she served as the group CEO of the Orchard Care Group which is engaged in the provision of residential and other services to vulnerable children and young adults. Prior to this Kathryn had an extensive career in the Mater Private Healthcare Group including serving as group COO. Previous board experience includes serving on the board on the Pieta charity from 2018 to 2022.

Kathryn obtained a BSc (Human Nutrition) from Trinity College and an MBA from the Smurfit Business School, she has also completed the Diploma in Company Direction organised by the Institute of Directors.



Executive Management Team


Catherine Kenny

Catherine Kenny was appointed CEO of Dublin Simon Community in 2022 and took up the role from 1st October.  She joined Dublin Simon Community in 2001 as a project worker and held a number of positions before becoming Head of Housing in 2007, progressing to Head of Property & Quality. During this time Catherine built on her Diploma in Social Studies to achieve an Honours Degree in Industrial Relation and Human Resource Management BA (Hons) and a Masters Degree in Strategic Management. Catherine has been committed to sectoral engagement consistently during this time being involved in numerous initiatives such as Sectoral Accommodation Co-ordination Group (DRHE), Long Term Accommodation Group (DRHE), Chairperson of the Homeless Network, one of founder’s of Sector Heads Group, Sector Sub Group of MAG regarding Sex Offenders, Reconfiguration of Sector Meetings.

Pat Greene

Pat Greene is Director of Policy, Advocacy and Volunteering. Pat has been with Dublin Simon for over 20 years and has held a number of management and senior management roles. His past experience covers management of Outreach and Settlement services and the development of new homeless services in the commuter counites of Dublin. Pat is responsible for the coordination and review of our five-year rolling strategy as well as our advocacy and policy positions supported by our research office. Since the pandemic he is also responsible for our part time and full-time volunteer programme.  Pat is the political lobbyist, one of our media spokespersons and the current company secretary to the organisation.

Emma Kilkenny

Emma Kilkenny joined Dublin Simon Community in November 2019. Emma brings with her 14 years of Fundraising and Communications experience in the not-for-profit sector, both internationally and within the Irish market. She has held strategic leadership roles in Australian, U.K. and Irish NGO sectors which includes experience working with global overseas development organisations as well as with charity’s that address domestic inequalities. Emma’s career focus has been to maximise financial growth from the donating public, while always taking a supporter centric approach to maximise engagement and loyalty by ensuring that supporters know it is because of them we achieve what we do. She values honest communication at the heart of fundraising and endeavours to promote the incredible impact of our work to the Irish public. Emma is passionate about developing strong teams by generating enthusiasm and professionalism while delivering awareness and growth for the organisation.

Tracey O’Malley

Tracey was appointed as Director of HR in January 2021, having formerly held the roles of Senior HR Manager, and HR Manager since joining Dublin Simon Community in 2014. Previously, Tracey worked as Community Services Programme Manager for Inishbofin Island, instilling her interest in the Community & Non-profit Sector. Tracey holds a Masters in Cultural Policy & Arts Management from UCD, Dublin and is a member of CIPD the professional body for HR and people development. Tracey is currently focused on how a people-first culture and workplace wellbeing can ensure that our staff are supported in delivering the highest quality service to clients.

David McKenna

David joined Dublin Simon Community as the new Director of Property in January 2023.

He is a Chartered Surveyor who has been working in the property sector in Ireland for over 28 years. David has a Diploma in Property Economics from DIT, BSc (Surveying) from Trinity College Dublin and a Master of Business Studies from Dublin City University.

During his career he has held senior property positions in a wide range of companies and organisations throughout the country which has included being responsible for budget management, acquisitions, property development and asset & facilities management.

David is keen to use his experience and background to help Dublin Simon achieve its strategic objectives, particularly those relating to providing new long term accommodation and delivering high quality buildings for the range of services provided by the organisation.

He is a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and has co-authored several published papers and professional codes of practice documents on several issues, including insurance and service charges, for both professional bodies.

Naomi Nicholson

Naomi joined the team as Director of Clinical Governance and Therapeutic Services in January 2023. Naomi is a Registered Psychiatric Nurse with over 26 years experience of working in Mental Health services with people who have complex needs. An experienced manager of acute and community mental health and crisis services in the UK as well as specialised Forensic Mental Health service management across Hampshire, England. Naomi led on, and set up, the very first jointly commissioned Health and Probation service for people leaving prison or secure hospitals which supported people to sustain housing, mental health and diversion from re offending in the UK, which has since been commissioned nationwide. Naomi moved to Ireland in early 2021. Naomi has undertaken three roles as Director of Nursing, one of which was in Ireland for a specialised Mental Health Service. Naomi has a keen interest and experience in service development and has been involved in service set up, change and strategy development, over the span of her 15 year career in senior management roles, ensuring that people who use services are at the centre and expereince positive outcomes for quality of life.

Emma McMillen

Emma has worked with Dublin Simon since June 2021, starting as the Support to Live Independently (SLI) Service Manager, moving to Long Term Accommodation (LTA) Senior Manager before she was appointed Director of Homeless and Community Services in September 2023.  Emma has over 24 years of experience within the Social Care Field, the Disability Sector, Youth Offending Services, Addiction and Recovery, and the Homeless Sector. She has worked in the Homeless Sector from 2008 moving from Project worker to Head of Service over the span of her career.

Emma has committed to the sector with a BSC Hons in Social Care, a Dublin City University FETAC level 7 in Homeless Prevention and Case Management,  a Dublin City University FETAC level 8 in Homeless Service Management, and is qualified in Community Reinforcement Approach a person centered addiction model.  Having worked in a number of services over the years, she brings emergency services experience, and housing experience including a national housing model and addiction and treatment approaches.