Enterprise Ireland has made three new appointments to its Executive Team

Jenny Melia has been appointed as Executive Director with responsibility for Regions & Local Enterprise, Food & Sustainability and Industrial, Life Sciences & Construction. Jenny will have responsibility for a wide portfolio including our largest client segments and our initiatives in providing deep infrastructure for enterprise development in regional Ireland.

Jenny has a strong track record in leadership roles within the organisation. She is passionate about helping Irish companies to innovate and grow, and supporting Ireland’s entrepreneurs to achieve their ambition. She first joined the Research and Innovation Division as a commercialisation specialist, and managed Enterprise Ireland’s national research and technology programmes between industry and third-level research institutes. As the Irish liaison for EU nanotech and advanced materials funding programmes, Jenny was appointed by the EU Commissioner to their high-level advisory group.

She has since held a number of senior roles within the organisation across a variety of sectors, led the High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) team and was most recently the Divisional Manager for Technology and Services. She graduated from UCD with a BSc and PhD in Chemistry.

Marina Donohoe has been appointed as Enterprise Ireland’s Head of Research and Innovation. In this role she will lead on Enterprise Ireland’s extensive portfolio of investments in industry focused academic research and commercialisation of third level intellectual property. She will also manage a wide range of programmes focused on advanced innovation including in company-based research, Disruptive Technologies as well as our very successful teams focused on European research programmes.

Marina has enjoyed a distinguished career with Enterprise Ireland and has held a number of senior positions in our head office in Ireland, as well as across our network of international offices, including the United States and UK. Marina led on the establishment of six new offices globally for Enterprise Ireland, including Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo and Copenhagen, and the development of the organisation’s Eurozone strategy.

She previously served as the Manager of our West Coast office in the US, as well as the Director for Americas. Marina also spent time as the Clean Tech manager in the organisation, as well as serving as Head of the Business and Consumer Services department and Head of Education in Ireland. She was most recently the Enterprise Ireland Director for UK and Northern Europe, a role she held for eight years.

Marina is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (BSc Mgmt), UCC/IMI (MoB) and has attended executive development programmes at IMI, Stanford, Colombia and LSE.

Gillian Brennan joined Enterprise Ireland earlier this month as Divisional Manager for Business Operations, leading all of Enterprise Ireland’s core business support functions. Gillian is a Chartered Accountant with 20 years’ experience across a range of Business Operations, Financial Management, and Portfolio Management roles.

Prior to joining Enterprise Ireland in 2023, Gillian spent nine years with Accenture, working with clients to prioritise, plan and deliver strategically important IT and business transformation programmes. Throughout her career, she has worked with a wide variety of companies across Public Sector, Technology and Financial Services. Gillian is passionate about mentoring young people entering STEM and business roles. She has an MBA from Smurfit Business School, a Diploma in Corporate Finance (ICAI), is a Project Management Professional (PMI), and certified in Lean Six Sigma.

Speaking about these appointments, Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said:

“I am delighted to announce the promotions of my colleagues Jenny Melia and Marina Donohoe and to welcome Gillian Brennan to Enterprise Ireland, taking up key positions on our Executive Team.

“Enterprise Ireland, through our new strategy, is committed to working with our excellent Irish owned enterprise sector to create a step change in impact for this country by the end of this decade. This depends on leadership and ambition among our clients, but also on ensuring we have leaders at all levels within our organisation.

“These colleagues have proven track-records of leadership in Enterprise Ireland and elsewhere. I am confident they will bring new and innovative approaches to their respective roles, focusing on our mission of accelerating the development of world class Irish companies.”