Non-Executive Chairman

Hugh McCullough

Hugh has over 40 years’ experience in gold and base metal exploration, principally in Ireland, Ghana, Mali and Papua New Guinea,.

Having previously worked as a project geologist, in 1982 he became chief executive of Glencar Mining plc.

Hugh was responsible for the management, financing and strategy of Glencar for over 27 years until it was acquired by Gold Fields Limited in September 2009.

Hugh is a geologist and holds an honours degree in geology from University College Dublin and a degree of Barrister-at-Law from the King’s Inns, Dublin.

Non-Executive Director

Patrick Purcell

Patrick served an apprenticeship in the Irish Air Corps in the 1950s and later qualified as an accountant in Australia in 1961.

When he returned to Ireland in 1967 he joined Shannon Diamond & Carbide Ltd, (later Boart Longyear) and worked in various capacities with their European Group Companies for the next 10 years.

His roles with Shannon Diamond & Carbide included that of cost accountant, sales and marketing director and a period as a general manager of their manufacturing plant in Norway before becoming their director for European sales companies and product development.

Patrick set up Mincon in 1977 and developed the group, firstly in Ireland and then into overseas areas including USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Sweden.

Patrick remained as executive chairman until 2012 but continued to work with the company as an adviser on new projects.

Senior Independent Non-Executive Director

Paul Lynch

Paul currently acts as strategic adviser for a number of companies having recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Applegreen plc, a quoted petrol forecourt retailer in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, between 2014 and 2017.

Paul qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1990, after which followed a wide ranging career in corporate finance and senior management across a number of industry sectors.

He was a director of Heiton Group plc for seven years, from 2000 to 2007, initially as Head of Corporate Development and subsequently as Managing Director of its Retail Division.

Paul served as chief executive of large-scale businesses in the retail, manufacturing, waste management and facility services sectors and he has led and concluded over 20 M&A transactions across diverse industries and jurisdictions.

Independent Non-Executive Director

Pirita Mikkanen

Pirita is currently a Vice President of Energy with the Metsä Group, a Finnish forest industry group operating in international markets, focused on the responsible processing of northern wood into first-class products. Her team at Metsa works to ensure reliable and cost-effective energy production and leads the sustainable development of Metsä utilities.

Prior to joining Metsa, her experience included roles with TM Systems Oy, an industrial air systems company with a focus on reducing energy usage and emissions, and serving as CEO of Lifa Air Ltd Oy, a pioneer in the development of services, machines and equipment that enable cleaner and healthier indoor air. She has acted as a fund manager and board member of climate funds.

Pirita holds a Ph.D in Applied Physics, focusing on cleantech on pollution prevention, from the Helsinki University of Technology.

Non-executive director

Orla O’Gorman

Orla has in-depth understanding of scaling companies through 25+ years’ experience of working with them from the perspectives of an executive leader, advisor, capital markets operator and non-executive director.

Orla was formerly Head of Listing for Ireland and UK at Euronext. In 2015 she founded Euronext’s IPOready programme, to give companies the required skillsets for raising strategic finance.  Orla is a strong advocate for funding scaling companies and is a member of Scale Ireland’s Steering Group.

Orla is a non-executive director of Cairn Homes plc, Cubic Telecom, Bon Secours Health System and Elite SpA; she is also a member of the Elkstone Ventures Advisory Board.

Orla has a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Accounting from University College Dublin.  She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and is a member of their Ethics and Governance Committee, and Sustainability Expert Working Group.