Board of
Directors
Delia Breathnach is happily retired and enjoying pursuing new personal projects. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, she arrived in Galway in 2004 and pursued an HD in Arts Administration at NUI Galway. After the successful completion of a marketing project for Music for Galway, Delia was invited to be on its board and considers this one of the nicest things to have happened to her since her arrival. She has served as its chair from 2009 to 2014 and remains an active board member. Having been a music lover for most of her life and a frequent audience member of the New York Philharmonic (both at Concerts in the Parks and at Lincoln Center) she is very happy to have the opportunity to support great classical music here in Galway.
Cyril Briscoe is a creative professional based in the West Of Ireland. He works as an independent marketing strategist on the culture and tourism industries as well as in entertainment and event production. He holds master degrees in Fine Art & Media from the National College of Art & Design.
Mark Gantly (Chair) has spent his career in the computer industry, most recently with Hewlett Packard Enterprise where he held the position of R&D Director. He was also site leader and Managing Director of HP Galway from 2009-2015. An active board member of the American Chamber of Commerce, he served as the chamber’s national president in 2019. Since 2017 he has been chair of the Western Regional Skills Forum, a government initiative aimed at improving the linkages between industry and education.
Since retiring from HPE in 2020, Mark has taken up an adjunct professor role at the NUI-Galway School of Business, along with non-executive director positions at two Galway tech startups, and some private consulting. He is a board member of the Galway Chamber of Commerce, and a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering.
Like many of his generation, Mark took piano lessons as a child, and has returned to the instrument in recent years, studying under Judit Csullog at Maoin Ceoil na Gaillimhe. A board member of Music for Galway since 2014, his particular brief has been to connect MfG with the business community and to increase corporate sponsorship.
Anne O’Maille is the director and owner of The Original House of Style in Galway. Anne is a lifelong admirer of Classical music. Active Board member of MfG since 2006 with responsibility for Marketing and Strategic Planning. Chair from 2014 to 2022.
Liz McConnell is the Head of Development at Kylemore Abbey and a native of Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. Educated at University of Galway, she graduated with a BA (English and Philosophy) and completed an MA degree on the works of Irish writer, George Moore, before training as a librarian at Trinity College Dublin and UCD.
She has over 25 years’ experience in educational development and fundraising, having served as Assistant Director of Development at Trinity Foundation and Deputy Director of Galway University Foundation. From 2003 to 2019, she was Director of Public Affairs at University of Galway, during a period of exponential growth and development, which saw the University steadily increase its position in global rankings. She is currently on a career break from University of Galway.
Claire McLaughlin joined the board as the GMIT representative. She has has recently taken early retirement, having been a member of staff there, lecturing in Art and Design since 2000. Her work with the Board continues to include the encouragement of students to volunteer with Music for Galway and to experience the live performance of classical music, often for the first time. She also brings her experience in assessing and managing risk to the Board. Claire maintains her own art practice through the medium of clay. Her interest in music finds expression in singing. She is engaged in ongoing research which will explore the inclusion of song and sound in her art practice.
Cathal O'Donoghue has been the Established Chair of Social and Public Policy at NUI Galway from 2016. He was the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences from 2016-2020. Prior to this he was since 2005, Head of Teagasc’s (Ireland's Agriculture and Food Development Authority) Rural Economy and Development Programme, one of the 4 research programmes of Teagasc. He was a member of the board of Teagasc’s research directorate. He was a member of the Fund Council of CGIAR, a $1 billion a year International Agri-Food Research organisation from 2014-2016.
From 2012-2014, he was CEO of the Irish Government's Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas 2012-2014, Chairman of the Irish Sport Horse Strategy Committee 2013-2015, was President of the International Microsimulation Association 2011-2015 and is on the Executive of the UK Agricultural Economics Society.
He is a UCC graduate, a Statistician and Economist by training, with postgraduate degrees from Oxford, UCD, the LSE, and Warwick, having worked previously at the ESRI, UK Government Economics Service, the University of Cambridge and NUI Galway.
Dan Shields is a solicitor and Mediator with thirty years experience in general practice. He has extensive commercial, litigation and environmental background. Dan is a true lover of music and has been an avid concert goer and friend of MfG for many years, before joining the board in 2018.
Ludmila Snigireva is the Russian Development Officer at Marino Institute of Education and teaches at Post Primary Languages Ireland - a dedicated unit providing expertise and support for foreign languages education in Ireland. Her interests and education are passionately connected with arts, music and literature and that is why Ludmila also teaches Russian Literature at Centre for Adult Learning and Professional Development at University of Galway. She is Chairperson of Association of Teachers of Russian in Ireland, a professional association of language teachers together with Department of Education & Skills and National Council of Curriculum & Assessment. Ludmila is Associate Member of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies.
Music has been always an integral part of her life and career, that is why she is happily involved in Music for Galway activities. Every year she introduces new members to MfG, establishes connections between Irish and multicultural communities of Galway City and County. Her students become MfG concert-goers. Due to her involvement in national, local and multicultural mass-media and organisations like the first Irish newspaper in Russian, internationally spread journals in Russian, first Russian Book Club in Galway City Library, she promotes MfG concerts and gets first time goers acquainted with programmes, composers and musicians. Her role also includes greeting the audience, selling/circulating programmes, looking after the artists before and during the concerts.
