Board Members
Embrace FARM Board of Directors and Chairperson are volunteers and donate their time without payment to the continual operation and development of Embrace FARM and its values.
Padraig Higgins
Chairperson
Padraig has been a board member with Embrace FARM since the beginning. His own personal story of the loss of his six-year-old son, James, who died in 2008 due to a farming accident. Padraig shares the story of his son openly to all.
His story highlights the heart of Embrace FARM and its ethos of being a support to those affected by farming accidents. Padraig is an advocate for farm safety, his experiences of being a farmer, of his trauma and grief are completely invaluable to Embrace FARM.
Angela Hogan
Company Secretary
Angela is a civil servant living and working in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. After a farm accident that claimed the life of her partner, Brendan Kelly, Angela became a single parent and her family’s lives were changed forever that day. Brendan was a very popular agri-contractor in North Tipperary and was well thought of in the community.
Along with trying to deal emotionally with what has just happened, there are also the practical details that do not go away even in the face of grief. After Brendan’s accident happened in July 2011, it took nearly 6 years later to officially finalise matters in court. Angela brings a perspective into loss within a farm family that not all may understand. but those who do, greatly resonate with.
Willie Fahey
Board Member & Joint Treasurer
Willie worked with IFAC Accountants for 39 years. He started his career in 1976 as a statistical analyst with the IFAC unit in An Foras Talúntais (AFT). In 1979, he was appointed head of the IFAC analysis unit in the Irish Farm Centre and served as area manager for the Munster region from 1998 to 2004. He was IFAC chief executive from 2004 until his retirement in 2015. Willie stepped on the board of directors with Embrace FARM in March 2020.
Outside his career with IFAC, he has been involved for more than 40 years in voluntary national, local and community organisations. Currently he is treasurer of Cashel Lions Club and a volunteer with Citizens Information – Tipperary Town.
He is married to Kate since 1978, they have 4 sons and 3 grandchildren. From a family farm in Killenaule-Moyglass in Tipperary, he lives in Dualla, Cashel, Co Tipperary.
Anne Kinsella
Board Member & Joint Treasurer
Anne works in the Rural Economy and Development Programme (REDP) within Teagasc. As an economist, she specialises in the area of production economics and farm level analysis. Her research interests include land-use economics, with a particular interest on the impact of policy and taxation on decisions in relation to succession, inheritance and land mobility. Anne compliments her economics research with her professional qualification as a chartered certified accountant (ACCA), and also holds a Master of Science from University College Dublin.
She is currently working on a number of European Horizon funded projects to include Ruralization and Female Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas (FLIARA), in addition to a DAFM funded project on Transitions looking at collaborative farm arrangements and income provisioning and pensions. She is a member of numerous national advisory groups and steering committees and currently holds position as Chairperson of the Board of Directors for Galway Rural Development clg and also sits on the Board of Directors of Comhar na nOileán ctr.
Brian Rohan
Board Member
Brian is a dairy farmer, husband, father of 3 and Co-Founder of Embrace FARM with his wife, Norma, following on from the death of his father from a farm accident in June 2013. Brian originally wanted to host a Remembrance Day for all farmers who died from a farm accident and have one day in the year where we could remember them.
Following on from phone call after phone call from families who lost loved ones and listening to their stories, Brian quickly realised there was little or no help available to these families. Brian felt they had to try and provide some assistance to these people who found themselves in this situation through no fault of their own and so Embrace FARM was born.
Ciara McCormack
Board Member
Ciara currently works as a Business Analysis in for an investment bank in Kilkenny. Ciara has worked with this company for the past 10 years. She studied a degree in Finance & Investment in WIT and went on to complete a Masters in Economics & Finance. Ciara is currently living at home in Wexford where she is involved as assistant Treasurer at her local GAA club.
Ciara’s father, Noel McCormack, died in a farming accident at home in September 2003 when she was 13 years of age. Her family have engaged with Embrace since it’s establishment.
Morgan Keane
Board Member
Morgan is originally from Kerry, but living and working in Dublin as Senior Advertising Manager with the Irish Farmers Journal. He has over 17 years working in publishing, specifically the newspaper and magazine industries. During Morgan’s career, he successfully grew his own publishing company before this was acquired by an American publishing house in 2016.
Morgan advocates for Embrace FARM to a national, highly engaged farming audience through his work both in and outside of the Journal.
Brigid Quigley
Board Member
Brigid joined the board of Embrace FARM in 2021. She previously worked as a Training & Development Officer with Macra na Feirme and subsequently as manager of Macra Agricultural Skillnet for five years, before moving to the current role as General Manager with The Irish seed Trade Association.
Brigid farms part time with her husband and family in County Laois.
Peter Gohery
Board Member
Peter’s life was changed forever in 2009 because of a simple farm accident. He lost one leg and very nearly lost the other, and as a result has limited the work he can now do on the farm.
Peter became a director of Embrace FARM, and now helps other people like him, in the aftermath of an serious injury.
Peter openly tells his story and shows the type of prosthetic that he wears. Peter is an advocate for farm safety and highlighting the awareness of farming accidents. His place on the board is invaluable. You can hear about Peter’s story on our Survivors page.
Aisling Meehan
Legal Counsel
Aisling is a qualified solicitor, tax consultant and farmer. She trained in the Tax Department of one of Ireland’s top five law firms and subsequently set up her own practice on her family’s award winning dairy FARM in County Clare specialising in agricultural law and tax advice and has a nationwide client base. She takes an active part in shaping agricultural legal and tax policy and was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship, a scholarship awarded to future leaders in the agriculture industry.
She is regularly asked to speak on national television and radio and is solicitor to the Irish Farmers Journal. Aisling guides the board of Embrace FARM on legal and tax issues and helps in promoting the organisation in the media.
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