Compliance Institute Council

References to Council mean the Council of Directors and references to members of Council replaces previous references to Board of Directors. For clarity, members of the Compliance Institute's Council are the directors of Compliance Institute.

President

Áine Hickey 

Áine Hickey is Head of Risk, Compliance and MLRO for Amova Asset Management in Ireland, a leading asset manager and progressive investment solutions provider.

Formerly, Áine was Director, Compliance, Risk and Control with BNY, combining Fund Administration and Corporate Trust EMEA coverage. Áine was Head of Risk & Compliance for Crestbridge (now Gen II)(PCF12, PCF 14 and PCF52), leading and promoting the compliance strategy and risk management framework. Áine was previously Head of Compliance (PCF15) and Chief Risk Officer (PCF14) for the fund administration business of Intertrust (now CSC), after performing strategic operations, relationship management and directorship roles across funds, corporate and capital markets. Áine has over 18 years’ experience in financial services. She worked within governance, board and company secretarial compliance with Northern Trust. Working as regulatory advisor with PwC, Áine gained extensive experience of prudential and conduct of business regulation, risk and compliance frameworks, processes and controls, and governance structures, across asset management, insurance and banking to deliver a comprehensive range of professional services including compliance management, governance, responding to regulatory change, risk management, outsourced assurance and internal audit, training and remediation.

Áine is a Fellow of both the Compliance Institute (including CDPO and CFCP) and the Chartered Governance Institute. She holds an MSc in Compliance (CI/IOB/UCD (placed 1st)) and a Bachelor of Law and European Studies from University of Limerick. She has a Diploma in Investment Fund Services from the IOB, a Professional Diploma in Corporate Law and Governance from the Law Society of Ireland and a Diploma in Investing from the Irish Institute of Financial Trading. Áine also completed the PRINCE2 Practitioner qualification in Project Management.

Vice President

Mick Stewart

Mick Stewart is Head of Regulatory Risk and Data Protection in Permanent TSB, having joined in 2017. From 2011 to 2016 he was Deputy Head of Consumer Protection in the Central Bank of Ireland covering all financial services sectors at various stages during his tenure. He represented the Central Bank both domestically, on Government committees, and internationally on ESA committees.

From 2014 Mick served a three year term as a director of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and a member of its Audit Committee. Prior to that, he worked in Bank of Ireland for 24 years holding a variety of positions in Finance, Investor Relations, Regulatory Compliance and Operational Risk.

Mick is a Fellow of the Institute of Accounting Technicians in Ireland, Licentiate of the Institute of Bankers, a Licentiate of the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland and a Certified Data Protection Officer. He was elected to the Council in January 2020.

Séamus Canning

Séamus Canning has worked in the Financial Services for the past 35 years in various roles in the area of insurance claims. Séamus previously worked for an insurer, several loss adjusting companies in Ireland and the UK and latterly as a consultant acting on behalf of the consumer providing assistance with their insurance claims. He is currently a consultant to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the UK.

Séamus is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters. Séamus is an Accredited Mediator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Séamus has an International MBA from DCU and recently obtained a MSc. in Compliance offered by IOB, a recognised college of UCD. Séamus is a Fellow of Compliance Institute (FCI) and is a Certified Data Protection Officer (CDPO) and Certified Financial Crime Professional (CFCP). Séamus joined Compliance Institute's Council in January 2017.

Elaine Duffy

Elaine is the PCF – 12 Head of Compliance for BNY Pershing in Ireland. Elaine's responsibilities include supporting and providing Compliance advice to the Board of Directors and the business to fulfil their regulatory obligations. Elaine works with the Board of Directors, management and employees to ensure they are in compliance with the rules and regulations of the appropriate regulatory bodies, primarily the Central Bank of Ireland and that company policies and procedures are being followed

Prior to joining BNY Pershing, Elaine worked in a number of Financial Institutions including Barclays Bank, Credit Suisse and Goodbody Stockbrokers in various Compliance roles. Elaine has also worked in the Markets Supervision Department of Euronext Dublin. Elaine has an MSc Compliance and BSc Marketing and is a Qualified Financial Advisor. Elaine has also reviewed the textbooks for the Institute of Banking Professional Certificate in Stockbroking and Professional Certificate in Compliance examinations and co- chaired the IMIA’s Individual Accountability Framework Working Group as well as being a member of the IMIA Executive.

Mary Colhoun

Mary Colhoun is a Senior lawyer with 20+ years experience (both in-house and top tier practice) driving data protection and privacy compliance across global enterprises. Mary has extensive experience in regulatory engagement, corporate governance and risk management. Mary is a Director in the Office of the Data Protection Officer at Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (formerly Facebook Ireland Limited). Mary's previous roles include Group Executive sponsor for Privacy & Data Protection and Global Data Protection Officer at ICON Plc,  a global top 3 clinical research organisation, and Director of Data Protection at Eir, (formerly Eircom) the former state telecommunications company in Ireland. 

Mary's previous industry roles include Committee Member of the Association of Clinical Research Organisations’ (ACRO) sub-group on Privacy from 2018-2020; Chair of the Telecommunications and Internet Federation (TIF) Working Group on Data Protection 2016-2018; Member of TIF’s Working Group on Cyber Security 2017-2018; Member of the Irish Business & Employers Confederation’s (IBEC) Digital Strategy Group 2016-2018; Vice-chair of the Privacy Task Force for ETIS (European Community for Telecommunications Providers) 2016-2018; Member of the Compliance Institute’s Working Group on Data Protection & Information Security since 2015. Admitted to the Rolls of Solicitors in both Ireland and England & Wales.

Marc Sherriff

Marc Sherriff is currently Director of Compliance with the Fairstone Ireland Group a Retail Intermediary since April 2022.  He currently holds the roles of Head of Compliance (PCF 12 and PCF 52) and is also the Data Protection Officer (DPO). 

Over the last 20 years he has held variety compliance positions focusing on consumer and investor protection areas with KBC Bank Ireland, Allied Irish Bank, and permanent tsb as part of the Irish Life Group.

Marc is a Licentiate of the Compliance Institute and the Institute of Bankers (IOB) since 2007.  He recently obtained the Certified Financial Crime Professional (CFCP) and is currently undertaking the MSc in Compliance.  As well as holding the LCI designation, he is also Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA) with the IOB and an Operational Risk Manager (ORM) with Professional Risk Managers Internation Association (PRMIA).

Robert Farrell

Robert Farrell is a lecturer, trainer and speaker specialising in Digital Transformation and Digital Marketing. Robert has delivered training to audiences including Google, HubSpot, Citibank, DocuSign, Amplexor and many more. Prior to entering training, he has worked with the certified public accountants Ireland (CPA), the Musgrave group, Irish Life and Bear Stearns. Robert holds a postgraduate diploma in digital transformation, a masters in strategic management and several digital marketing certifications.

Laura Lipscombe

Laura Lipscombe is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.  She has a particular interest in Compliance from working in regulated environments and through cross-functional collaboration.  Laura trained in PwC’s Insurance assurance practice in Dublin where she gained significant experience at Manager level across non-life, life and reinsurance sectors, including a secondment to the Financial Services Regulatory Advisory practice. 

In 2014, Laura joined Zurich Insurance where she held a number of financial management roles within the Zurich Insurance Group European operations with responsibility for Financial and Regulatory reporting, Reinsurance and Finance operations. In 2025, she joined Axis Capital as the CSRD Implementation and Reporting Manager. She has significant experience in IFRS, Solvency II, performance reporting, risks and controls, audit and change management.

Thomas O'Hara

Thomas has over 16 years compliance, risk management, audit, financial reporting and investment accounting experience, having worked primarily within the financial services sector since 2007. Thomas currently works for a Central Bank of Ireland regulated insurance undertaking and currently acts as Chief Risk Officer (PCF-14), Head of Compliance (PCF-12) and Head of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Compliance (PCF-52). He also acts as Data Protection Officer.
Thomas is an Irish qualified barrister and holds qualifications from the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA). He is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Galway, Kings Inns, Dublin, Law Society of Ireland and University College Dublin. He also holds a MSc in Compliance.
Thomas currently serves as the Chair of the Finance, Risk, Administration Committee of the Compliance Institute.

Chris Martin

Chris over 16 years experience working in the public and private sectors as a financial regulation lawyer. He is currently Senior Counsel, Financial Crime and Regulation EMEA, in Coinbase, and previously was a Partner in KPMG Law, Of Counsel in A&L Goodbody, and worked in the Central Bank of Ireland in Legal and Policy in the Enforcement Department. 

In private practice, he provided legal and regulatory advice on financial services regulation and compliance to domestic, EU and international financial institutions, both regulated and unregulated, providing advice on authorisations, conduct of business, prudential and various compliance matters. In addition, he is and have been for a number of years, a supervisor on the Law Society of Ireland's Masters in Advanced Law, and was the internal examiner for Law Society's post-graduate diploma in regulation law and practice. He is the Deputy Chair of the Blockchain Ireland Legal and Regulatory Working Group, and the Ireland country lead of the Blockchain Lawyers Forum, as well as the former chair of the Irish Funds' Investment Firms Working Group, and the AML/CFT Working Group. He is the update author for the Insurance Institute's Compliance and Advice Textbook. 

In terms of my involvement with the Compliance Institute, Chris acted as the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Education Committee, the Co-Chair of the Education and Technical Committee, before his current role as Chair of the Central Steering Committee. He has also acted as the update author for PDC2 and a judge for the Niall Gallagher Scholarship Essay Competition for a number of years.