New team of directors appointed to the daa board

Dublin Airport Authority welcomes Dr Laura Burke, Lisa Dillon, Niamh O’Regan and Fred Barry and reappoints Ger Perdisatt to its board

Board members of daa: Dr Laura Burke, Lisa Dillon, Niamh O’Regan and Ger Perdisatt.

Experienced directors Dr Laura Burke, Lisa Dillon, Niamh O’Regan and Fred Barry have been appointed to the daa board.

Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, has also reappointed Ger Perdisatt the board of daa, the commercial semi-state company that manages and operates Dublin and Cork airports, as well as international businesses Aer Rianta International and daa International.

Minister O’Brien said: “These directors will bring an impressive and diverse collective experience to the board, with expertise and skills across many sectors including governance, regulation, finance, and infrastructure development. I wish each member the very best in their roles.”  

Gary Owens, chair of daa, said the new appointees bring wide experience and skills that will be hugely beneficial to daa in delivering on its mandate in the coming years.

Dr Laura Burke serves on the boards of Tyndall National Institute and Genio CLG. She was director general of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2011-26, president of Engineers Ireland from 2024-25, and chair of the European Environment Agency from 2017-23. She studied Chemical Engineering at UCD and holds an MSc from TCD, is a fellow of Engineers Ireland and a chartered director.

Lisa Dillon is an accredited chartered director. She was a board member of Enterprise Ireland for nine years, is currently non-executive chair of Scorebuddy, and is an advisory board member of Trinity College’s School of Engineering. She recently led a $25bn international business at Microsoft and has extensive experience in international scaling, go-to-market strategy, sales leadership and change management.

Niamh O’Regan is chair of RiverStone International Ireland DAC and is audit committee chair and director of a number of regulated financial services companies within the Crédit Agricole, Banco BPM, BNP Paribas and AXA groups. She has served on the board of CIÉ since 2019 and is chair of the CIÉ finance and investment committee.

Fred Barry brings extensive international experience in the planning, development and operation of major infrastructure projects across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He served as CEO of the National Roads Authority, where he led the delivery of Ireland’s motorway network during a decade of significant investment.

He previously spent 25 years with Jacobs, including as group managing director for the UK and Ireland, and is a chartered engineer, a qualified barrister-at-law, a fellow of Engineers Ireland and a fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering. He serves on the board of the Land Development Agency and previously chaired both the National Transport Authority and the National Paediatric Hospital development board.