Reappointment of Chair and Members to the Board of Children’s Health Ireland:

The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, has reappointed Dr. Yvonne Traynor as Chairperson of the Board of Children’s Health Ireland. The Minister has also reappointed the following as members of the Board with effect from the 4 December 2025 until 3 December 2029.

Dr. Yvonne Traynor - Chair

Dr Yvonne Traynor has more than 30 years’ experience in the Food and Chemical sectors. She was previously vice president of Regulatory & Scientific Affairs with Kerry Group. She also held a number of global & regional leadership positions in Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs and Research & Development, with German consumer goods company, Henkel. She has a particular interest in organisational transformation, risk management and delivering excellent customer experience. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin which, notably, resulted in a patent for the Nicotine Patch, as an aid for smoking cessation. Later, she obtained a Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance and an MSc in Executive Leadership. Dr. Traynor is also a chartered director and has several years board experience, including the role of chairperson of the audit, risk and compliance committee of the Irish Blood Transfusion Serviced. She is currently a member of the HSE board and has chaired the People & Culture committee and the Audit and Risk committee. She joined the board of CHI in May 2025.

Dr Traynor is nominated and appointed by the Minister for Health.

Suzanne Garvey

Ms Garvey has 42 years’ experience as a healthcare professional, strategist, and is operationally skilled at maximising inputs, outputs, and efficiencies while being recognised for prioritising patient and staff safety. She has extensive experience with Healthcare setups and frameworks (Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Ireland).

As the Director of Nursing/Director Clinical Hospital Operations in the Beacon Hospital she led out for 18 years, working collaboratively with team members, to deliver a full-service acute care hospital from a building site to a 181-inpatient facility with a staff of 1350 (2023).

She has wide ranging experience in managing and overseeing Corporate Governance programmes and ensuring compliance across organisations, working closely with all stakeholders. She led and steered all components of a comprehensive Risk management, quality, patient safety and patient satisfaction/ complaint programme. This included leading the Joint Commission International Accreditation programmes triennially (2007 2022).

Ms Garvey is nominated by the board of Children’s Health Ireland and appointed by the Minister for Health.

Anne Carrigy

Ms Anne Carrigy was appointed to the Board on 28 May 2025. Nurse by profession, served as Director of Nursing and Head of Corporate Affairs at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital before becoming Director of the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) Serious Incident Management Team and subsequently National Lead for Acute Hospital Services. Served as President of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland and the European Federation of Nursing Professions. She is currently a member of the HSE board.

Ms Carrigy is nominated and appointed by the Minister for Health.

Alan Seabourne

Mr Seabourne is a qualified Engineer and had a 35-year career in the NHS in Scotland until he retired in 2013. During his time in NHS Scotland, he was the project director on many major health projects and held numerous other senior management roles including Director of Estates & Facilities, Director of IM&T, Director of Community Care, Director of Health and Social Care Integration, Chief Operating Officer for two major acute hospitals, and Chief Officer for a Health and Social Care Partnership.

During his NHS career, he was responsible for delivering many healthcare projects in both service developments and in construction and has led the capital development processes of both PFI and Capital funded projects from start to completion. He has gained huge experience in many of the aspects of planning and delivering healthcare infrastructure including strategic planning, financial management and planning, project governance, project commissioning, programme management, commercial management and stakeholder management.

Since retiring from the NHS, he has held a number of non-executive roles for organisations including, Erskine Veterans Hospital, University of Glasgow overseeing their One Billion Pound campus development programme and Lar Housing Trust, set up to provide affordable housing throughout Scotland. He recently worked for Children’s Health Ireland in 2022 as Chief Operational Commissioning Officer leading the development of the operational commissioning plan for the New Children’s Hospital. Mr Seabourne was appointed to the Board of CHI on 9 July 2025.

Mr Seabourne is nominated by the board of Children’s Health Ireland and appointed by the Minister for Health.

Tim Hynes

Mr Hynes is a Member of the HSE Board and is the Chairperson of the HSE Strategy and Reform Board sub-committee. He is the former Group Chief Information Officer for AIB and has a broad range of experience across a number of disciplines, including brand marketing, operations, change management, and technology.

He has 30 years’ experience in blue chip organisations where he has held both regional and global roles, leading teams spread across more than 40 countries. He holds a Masters in Executive Leadership from Ulster University, is a qualified bank director, and Fellow of the Irish Computer Society. Mr Hynes was appointed to the Board of CHI on 9 July 2025.

Mr Hynes is nominated by the board of Children’s Health Ireland and appointed by the Minister for Health.

Dr Ruben Diaz

Ruben Diaz, M.D., Ph.D. is the Deputy CEO for International affairs at Sant Joan de Deu Barcelona Children’s Hospital and the Secretary General for European Children’s Hospitals Organisation (ECHO), an organisation that brings together Children’s hospitals across Europe.

As Deputy CEO for International affairs, he supports the hospital’s collaborative efforts with different international healthcare and public institutions in all areas of mutual interest. As the Secretary General for ECHO, he manages an organisation that includes participation of leading tertiary care children’s hospitals from 14 different European countries. The mission of ECHO is to “advocate for children’s health and their access to the best quality care.” ECHO is developing several interrelated work lines to support paediatric centres improve their quality and safety, promote collaborative research and innovation and enrich their capacity for training and workforce development. It also aspires to participate in forums that help establish policy in paediatric care while advocating for the needs of children who require tertiary care.

He is a M.D., Ph.D graduate from Washington University Medical School at Saint Louis, USA, in 1991 and completed both his paediatric residency and paediatric endocrinology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital in 1997. He had been part of the BCH medical/research staff and Harvard Medical School faculty for 15 years. In 2005, he became the Chief of the Endocrine Division at Hospital Sant Joan de Deu. Since then, he has held different leadership positions, including Chief Medical Officer (2008-14), Chief Knowledge and Training Officer (2014-16) prior to his current duties. He remains in practice as a paediatric endocrinologist and is a member of a clinical research group focused on diabetes and metabolic regulation.

Dr Diaz is nominated by the board of Children’s Health Ireland and appointed by the Minister for Health.