The Commission - Bios

The Commission comprises the following members (* denotes ex officio members):

Gabriel Makhlouf, Governor*

Gabriel Makhlouf took up his position as Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland on 1 September 2019. He chairs the Central Bank Commission, is a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, a member of the European Systemic Risk Board, and is Ireland's Alternate Governor at the International Monetary Fund.

Before joining the Central Bank Gabriel was Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury and the Government's chief economic and financial adviser from 2011 to 2019. During his time as Secretary, he led reviews of New Zealand's three macroeconomic pillars (monetary, financial stability and fiscal policy) and the development of a new framework for the development of economic and public policy focused on intergenerational wellbeing. In addition Gabriel was New Zealand's Alternate Governor at the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He was also co-chair of the Trans-Tasman Banking Council.

Previously Gabriel worked in the UK civil service where his roles ranged from policy on domestic and international tax issues through to large-scale operational delivery. He has also chaired the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs and was responsible for the UK's Government Banking Service.

Sharon Donnery, Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation*

Sharon Donnery was appointed Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation on 1 July 2022. She is an ex-officio Member of the Central Bank Commission and is a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the General Board of the European Systemic Risk Board.

As Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation, Sharon is responsible for leading the regulation and supervision of credit institutions, credit unions and payments/electronic money institutions and the insurance sector.  She is responsible for overseeing the Central Bank’s horizontal risk, data and analytics and regulatory policy functions and is responsible for leading the Central Bank’s regulatory policy at national, European and global level.  She chairs the Central Bank’s Supervisory Risk Committee. 

Sharon was Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 1 June 2019 to 31 August 2019.

Sharon was previously Deputy Governor, Central Banking from 1 March 2016 to 30 June 2022 and was the Governor’s Alternate on the Governing Council of the ECB.  She was responsible for leading the Central Bank’s work on economic analysis, monetary policy, financial operations and statistics.  She also led the establishment of the resolution and crisis management function following the transposition of the Bank and Recovery Resolution Directive (BRRD). 

Sharon has extensive experience chairing international committees, including being the Chair of the ECB Budget Committee (BuCom), Chair of the ECB High Level Group on Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), Chair of the European Banking Authority's (EBA) Consumer Protection Group and Vice-Chair of the EBA Standing Committee on Consumer Protection and Financial Innovation. Sharon currently co-chairs the Financial Stability Board’s Open-ended Funds Working Group.

Sharon has held a range of senior positions in the Central Bank. She was Director of Credit Institutions Supervision with responsibility for supervision of the Irish banking sector when the Single Supervisory Mechanism was being established. She was also an alternate member of the Supervisory Board at that time. She previously held the statutory position of Registrar of Credit Unions and was the Head of Consumer Protection.

Sharon joined the Central Bank in 1996 as an Economist in the Monetary Policy Division. Prior to joining the Central Bank, Sharon lectured in economics at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

Sharon holds a B.A. in Economics and Politics and a M.A. in Economics from University College Dublin and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors. In 2019, she was admitted to the Institute of Directors in London as a Chartered Director. In 2020, she was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Economics in Trinity College Dublin.

Vasileios Madouros, Deputy Governor, Monetary and Financial Stability*

Vasileios Madouros was appointed Deputy Governor, Monetary and Financial Stability in November 2022. In this role, he oversees the Economics & Statistics, Financial Stability and Financial Operations Directorates and leads engagement with domestic, Eurosystem and broader international stakeholders representing the Central Bank on wider financial system matters. Vasileios is an ex-officio Member of the Central Bank Commission  and is the Governor’s alternate at the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.

Prior to this appointment, Vasileios was Director of Financial Stability. In this role, he was responsible for the Central Bank's work to monitor threats to financial stability and provide advice on the use of macro-prudential tools, or other policy interventions, to mitigate those risks. Vasileios was also responsible for enhancing the Central Bank’s financial crisis preparedness and management capabilities as well as preparing for, and managing, the orderly resolution of relevant financial institutions. In this role, Vasileios was a member of the Plenary Board of the Single Resolution Board.  

Prior to joining the Central Bank, Vasileios spent most of his career at the Bank of England. His work at the Bank of England spanned a range of areas related to financial stability, covering macro-prudential policy development, stress testing, international finance, prudential policy and macro-financial risk assessment.

Vasileios holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Warwick and a M.Sc. in Economics from Birkbeck College, University of London.

Shay Cody

Shay Cody was General Secretary of Fórsa, Ireland's second largest trade union. He served on the Executive Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Union's Executive and also on its General Purposes Committee. As Chair of its Public Services Committee representing a total of twenty five unions, he was the lead negotiator in several rounds of public service talks. He has served as a member of the National Economic and Social Council and the National Competitiveness Council. Shay chaired the Aer Lingus Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) and has also served as a trustee of the Eircom ESOT. He was also a board member of the Workplace Relations Commission and served as a member of the Commission on the Defence Forces.

Shay was appointed to the Central Bank Commission on 1 December 2020.

Mary Condon

Mary Condon is a Professor of Securities Law and Financial Regulation. She teaches Securities Regulation and Advanced Securities in Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Canada, and directs/teaches in the Professional LLM in Securities Law programme. 

She holds a law degree from Trinity College, Dublin, and MA, LLM and SJD degrees from the University of Toronto. She is a former Vice-Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission and has also served as a member of the board of the Capital Markets Authority Implementation Organisation, an interim body set up to assist with the establishment of a Capital Markets Regulatory Authority for co-operating jurisdictions in Canada. She was Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School from 2018 to 2023. 

John Hogan, Secretary General of the Department of Finance*

John Hogan is Secretary General of the Department of Finance and is responsible for economic, budgetary and fiscal, banking and financial service policy matters and oversight of Ireland's investments in and support for covered banks. He has previously been Assistant Secretary General with responsibility for Tax Policy Division in the Department of Finance and also Banking Policy in the Financial Services Division. Throughout his career, Mr Hogan has worked in a number of government departments and has served in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union. He is a member of the Board of the National Treasury Management Agency and the Civil Service Management Board. John was appointed to the Central Bank Commission on 8 June 2021.

Sarah Keane

Sarah Keane is Chief Executive Officer of Swim Ireland - the National Governing Body for Swimming, Water Polo, Diving and associated Aquatic Disciplines on the island of Ireland.  She  is a qualified solicitor and is a Matheson Alumni having worked with Matheson Solicitors, a leading Irish law firm, prior to taking up her CEO position with Swim Ireland.  

Sarah was elected in February 2017 as the first female President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) and reappointed in 2020 having been Board Director since 2014.

In 2018 she was appointed the Chair of the EOC’s Gender Equality in Sport Commission and is a member of the newly established ANOC (The Association of National Olympic Councils – 206 nations members) Gender Equality Commission.  In July 2019 she was appointed to the International Olympic Committee Women in Sport Commission which advises the IOC on the development and implementation of the IOC Gender Equality Policy and and she was re-appointed for a second term in 2022. In 2022 Sarah was also appointed as a member of the European Olympic Committee Organising Committee for the European Games 2023 – the biggest multi-sport event to be held in Europe since the 2012 Olympic Games.

Also in 2022 Sarah was appointed to the LEN Bureau (European Governing Body for Aquatic Sports) and Chair of LEN Inclusion 7 Diversity Commission with initial focus on gender (Oct 2022).

In December 2022, Sarah was appointed to the World Aquatics Bureau (formerly FINA: The International Governing Body for Aquatic Sports).

In addition to the foregoing, Sarah is a member of the Sports Leadership Group established in December 2018 to drive the implementation of the Government’s National Sports Policy 2018-2027.

Sarah was appointed to the Central Bank Commission on 1 December 2020 for five-year period.

Her qualifications include:  Honours Degree  Law (UCD),  Masters in Commercial Law and Diplomas in both Corporate Management and Financial Management.  She graduated from the Common Purpose Leadership Programme (2015) and achieved her Diploma in Company Direction/Governance from the Institute of Directors in 2017.

David Miles

David Miles is Professor of Financial Economics at Imperial College, London. He was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England between May 2009 and September 2015. As an economist he has focused on the interaction between financial markets and the wider economy. He was also Chief UK Economist at Morgan Stanley from October 2004 to May 2009.

In 2004 Professor Miles led a government review of the UK mortgage market. He recently completed a review for the UK Treasury on reference prices of UK government bonds. He has recently been an adviser to the IMF and to the reserve Bank of New Zealand.

He is a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and at the CESIFO research institute in Munich. He is a member of the Budget Responsibility Committee of the UK Office for Budget Responsibility.

Professor Miles was awarded a CBE in January 2016.

David was appointed to the Central Bank Commission on 1 December 2020.

Niamh Moloney

Niamh Moloney is Professor of Financial Markets Law and Head of the Department of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is elected a Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy. Niamh specialises in EU financial market regulation and consumer financial protection and has written several books on these subjects. She has been a Visiting Professor in several leading Law Schools internationally, including Columbia Law School, New York and is a member of the Editorial Boards of a several internationally-recognised journals.

Niamh is currently a Member of the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities and has previously been a member of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group of the European Securities and Markets Authority and Chair of the Central Bank of Ireland's Consumer Advisory Group. She also served as Chair of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare (2021 – 2022)

Niamh holds degrees from Harvard Law School and Trinity College Dublin and an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich.

Niamh was appointed to the Central Bank Commission on 11 September 2018 for a five year term.

John Trethowan

John Trethowan is a career banker with over 40 years of experience. He is currently the State appointed Credit Reviewer which assists viable SMEs and farms get access to credit from banks. John is a Fellow of the Institute of Banking, and was its President in 2006. He has served in various financial institutions at all levels, including at both executive and non-executive board roles.

John has an MBA from the University of Ulster Business School, and has extensive board experience. He currently is a member of the EirGrid plc board, and chairs its Audit Committee. John has previously served on boards in the public, private, and voluntary sectors including financial services, public transport, health & social care, and in various business related charities.

John was appointed to the Central Bank Commission on 11 September 2018 for a five year term, and has been reappointed to serve a further five year term. He currently chairs the Bank’s Risk Committee, and is member of the Audit Committee.

Neil Whoriskey, Secretary of the Bank

Neil Whoriskey is Head of the Internal Governance Division of the Central Bank of Ireland.