Board of Directors

Mr. Roddy Quinn (Chairperson)
Mr. Damien Tansey
Ms. Ana Leddy
Ms. Mabel Chah
Ms. Phil Shovlin
Mr. Colm Ryan
Mr. Des Power
Ms. Geraldine O’Neill
Cllr. Liam Brennan
Cllr. Fergal Nealon
Cllr. Arthur Gibbons
Cllr. Declan Bree
Ms. Mary Roche
Mr. Steve Wickham
Mr. Brían Flynn

Company Secretary / Financial Officer:
Mr. Noel McCrumlish

Mr. Roddy Quinn (chairperson)

Roddy was appointed to The Model Board in May 2025.

Mr. Damien Tansey

Damien is a solicitor with a national reputation. He founded the firm Damien Tansey & Associates in 1980. He specialises in litigation in all its forms, and has been involved in many landmark court decisions over more than 35 years of practice.

Damien was appointed to The Model Board in 2014.

Ms. Ana Leddy

A former Head of RTÉ Radio 1 - Ireland's national public service broadcaster, former Managing Editor of BBC Radio Foyle and Producer for BBC Radio 4 - and currently a producer with RTÉ Radio 1.

Ana was appointed to The Model Board in 2017.

Ms. Mabel Chah

Cameroonian born, Mabel Chah moved to Sligo in 2013 through the asylum system and quickly integrated into the Sligo community through its arts and culture. Co-set up the IFWG award-winning Sligo Global Kitchen in 2015. Governing Body Award Winner for highest score achieved in the Bachelor of Business Administration Degree program at The Sligo Institute of Technology. She is the recipient of the Sligo County Council Cathaoirleach awards in 2017 for Arts and Culture Individual. Currently Completing in Master of Science Degree in Human Resource Management at The Queen’s University in Belfast.

Mabel joined The Model’s Board of Directors in 2021.

Ms. Phil Shovlin

Phil has returned to live in Sligo town.  She brings with her experience from the front-line, management and leadership roles across public, private and voluntary health services.  She has also held non-executive director appointments on voluntary and commercial boards.

Phil was appointed to The Model Board in 2022.

Mr. Colm Ryan

Colm Ryan is a finance professional based in Dublin. Over a 30 year career he has held leadership positions at Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Scotland and most recently Goodbody, leading its fixed income business. Colm is passionate about the arts and has previously been a board member at Dance Ireland. He brings a diverse financial skill set to the Model board. Colm studied accountancy at the now ATU in Sligo and also holds an LLB.

Colm was appointed to The Model Board in 2023.

Mr. Des Power

Des Power was born curious and that curiosity along with a talent for leadership has been a driving force in an international Executive career marked by innovation, growth and talent mentoring. Des held senior Executive positions with Google, Fitbit, Harman and Philips while based in Europe, North America and China.

Now focused on using that experience as a board member across State Enterprise, Health Tech and Arts boards. Des completed the INSEAD flagship Corporate Governance program and was certified (IDP-C) in 2024. Today, in addition to The Model, Des serves as Non-Executive Director for Enterprise Ireland. He is also Non-Excecutive Director for Teac Damsa. Previously Des was an Executive Director for Fitbit International and a Non-Excecutive Director for Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo.

Des was appointed to The Model Board in October 2024.

Ms. Geraldine O'Neill

Geraldine O’Neill (b1971) is one of Ireland’s most recognisable artists. She is a member of the RHA since (2013) Aosdána (2015) and the Artists Collective Shell/ter (S/TAC) which she co-founded in 2020. A graduate of NCAD, she completed her MFA in 2008. She has exhibited extensively in Ireland and abroad.

Recent solo and group exhibitions include Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Curated by Hettie Judah in collaboration with Hayward Gallery, VISUAL Carlow (2025), Magic and Loss, Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin (2024), In a Dream in a Happy House, with the S/TAC collective, Limerick City Gallery of Art (2024), The Ties That Bind, with the S/TAC collective, GOMA Waterford (2024),The Sunset Belongs To You, a socially engaged portrait project with Mick O'Dea, The Model, Sligo, (2023-2024), The Ladder is always there, S/TAC with 10 emerging artists, Draíocht Arts Centre. (2023-2024), Shelter, with the S/TAC collective, The Print Gallery, National Gallery of Ireland (2023), It Took a Century, women artists and the RHA, The National Gallery of Ireland (2023), Portrait Lab, The Model Sligo (2022-23), Solastalgia, Solo exhibition, Kevin Kavanagh, (2022), Meat and Potatoes, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (2022), Golden Fleece Award 21 Years, Solstice Arts Centre, Navan (2022), Ground_Zero_ 360, Museum of Biblical Art, Dallas, USA (2021), New Perspectives, National Gallery of Ireland (2021).

O’Neill has given many guest lectures and is an external examiner with Atlantic Technological University, Sligo. O’Neill’s work is collected by the country’s leading cultural institutions including The National Gallery of Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Model, Sligo, Crawford Gallery, Cork, OPW, The Arts Council and the European Central Bank.

Geraldine O’Neill has long responded to the increasing confrontation with human engagement and relationship with the ecosystem, in particular the Anthropocene whose traces are now embedded within the geological layers of the Earth’s structure. She-makes what she calls “Slow Art” mostly painting but sometimes expanded paint, sculpture and print using traditional materials that is counter cultural to this fast paced disposable world that we now inhabit.

With her distinctive painterly approach she makes many layered and often very large compositions that quote past masters such as Patinir, Breugal, but she also appropriates new images, collected and gathered of the overlooked and fragmented, scientific formula and its diagrams and children’s drawings devising her own distinctive visual language. Found objects also feature such as the delicate stilled bird cadavers, gathered by care and gifted to O’Neill. All these elements reach across time  and space and feature in her robustly crafted multiverses.

Geraldine was appointed to The Model Board in October 2024.

Cllr. Liam Brennan

Councillor Liam Brennan, a lifelong resident of County Sligo, was elected to Sligo County Council in 2024, representing the Ballymote/Tubbercurry/Dromore West local electoral area. Liam has almost three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries in Sligo. He brings a practical and community-focused approach to his role in public service.

Deeply rooted in his local community, Liam has been actively involved in various community initiatives and is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get involved on the ground. Along with community development, he is keen to represent the elderly and vulnerable in our society.

Liam is enthusiastic about contributing to the gallery's mission of promoting contemporary arts. He is passionate about showcasing Sligo artists on both national and international stages. As an advocate for all things Sligo, Liam is committed to fostering cultural initiatives that celebrate the county's rich artistic heritage.

Liam was appointed to The Model Board in 2024.

Cllr. Fergal Nealon

Councillor Fergal Nealon is an experienced business leader with a strong background in business development and strategic management, bringing with him expertise across multiple sectors. He holds postgraduate qualification in Technology commercialisation and Entrepreneurship, which enhances his analytical and strategic capabilities.

In his role as a board member at the Model Arts Centre Sligo, Fergal applies his strategic vision to support the organisation's mission of fostering artistic expression and community engagement. His professional experience equips him with the skills needed to navigate the complexities of the creative sector while promoting initiatives that are beneficial to both artists and the community.

Fergal is committed to driving positive outcomes through collaboration and innovative thinking. Outside of his professional responsibilities, in his role on the local Council, he actively engages with various cultural initiatives, recognising the role of the arts in community development and cohesion.

With a focus on integrating business acumen with creative potential, Fergal is dedicated to contributing to the ongoing success of the Model Arts Centre Sligo.

Fergal was appointed to The Model Board in October 2024.

Cllr. Arthur Gibbons

Cllr. Declan Bree

Councillor Declan Bree, has an outstanding record in both local and national politics as a campaigning voice for social justice.

He was first elected to Sligo County Council in 1974 and has retained his seat at each subsequent election, topping the poll in the most recent Local Election (May 2024).

He was also a member of Sligo Corporation (Sligo Borough Council) from 1974 until it and other town councils were abolished by central government in 2014.

He is the current Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council. He served as Mayor of Sligo in 2004 and as Mayor of the Sligo Municipal District in 2024. He also served as Chair of Sligo County Council in 1986.

He has served at many levels in local, regional and national politics, including membership of the Northern & Western Regional Assembly and the Regional Health Forum West. He served as a Dail Deputy for Sligo/Leitrim from 1992 to 1997.

A member of Ireland’s radical socialist youth organisation the Connolly Youth Movement in the late 1960’s and early 70’s, he went on to become National Chairperson of the movement. A founder and former Chairperson and General Secretary of the Sligo/Leitrim Independent Socialist Organisation he has been a lifelong political activist campaigning on issues stretching from the campaign against the war in Vietnam and the movement for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland to the current Palestine Solidarity campaign.

He was the Sligo/Leitrim Campaign Director in both Divorce referendum campaigns and he was a lifelong member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement. He continues to actively support the international campaign of solidarity with Palestine and with the Republic of Cuba.

He is the President of the Connolly Forum (Sligo) and Chairperson of People First. He is Secretary of the Gralton Labour History Committee (Leitrim). He is a patron of the People’s Movement – Gluaiseacht an Phobail.

He is a member of SIPTU and the Unite Trade Union and is a former member of the Western branch Committee of the Federated Workers Union of Ireland.

Involved in numerous voluntary and cultural organisations over the years he is a founder member of the Sligo Town branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and is a former Secretary of the Sligo County Board of Comhaltas.

He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Hawk's Well Theatre and served a number of terms as a member of the Board of the theatre. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Model in the past.

Declan was appointed to The Model Board in December 2024.

Ms. Mary Roche

Mary was appointed to The Model Board in May 2025.

Mr. Steve Wickham

Steve Wickham was born in Dublin. An accomplished and award winning violinist, Wickham has performed around the world and recorded on over 100 albums with various artists including The Waterboys, U2, Bob Dylan, REM Sinead O' Connor and many more. After a stint recording in the west of Ireland in the 1980s Wickham discovered his spiritual home and moved with his young family to Sligo. Steve has a Fine Art’s degree from YAADA in the Atlantic University Sligo and is married to the Artist Heidi Wickham.

Exhibitions: ‘SubText’ Model Sligo 2011, collaboration with fellow studio artists; ‘Geronimo’ Model Sligo 2013, Solo drawings prints sculpture; ‘Roadworks’ Model Sligo 2014, Solo show drawings / prints; ‘Tempest’ (Fifty Nights in a Dublin Hotel) 2024, Courthouse, Kells, Meath.

Solo Painting & Prints: ‘Au Revoir Tristesse’ Axis Ballymun, Dublin. 2024 Solo Paintings (response to Francoise Sagan’s novel with accompanying Suite for classical guitar by Joe Chester).

Steve was appointed to The Model Board in May 2025.