Andrea Dermody

Andrea Dermody, Diversity and Inclusion Expert  and Programme Director, Balance for Better BusinessAndrea Dermody has over twenty years’ experience working across the Global Financial Services marketplace. With experience in Talent Management, Learning & Development and Diversity & Inclusion, most recently Andrea led inclusion and diversity for State Street in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with responsibility for fourteen European locations, 12,000 employees and 50+ Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). She is now managing director of her own consulting practice, Dermody, working with clients across healthcare, technology, engineering, financial services, aviation and semi-state environments. Andrea holds a BA in History and Economics and a PgD in Business Studies from UCD and a MSc in Human Resource Development from Sheffield Hallam University. She has also completed a course in Black Studies with the Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies. She is a qualified executive coach and a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Andrea specialises in helping organisations to build inclusive cultures that embrace multiple points of view to drive business success. As deputy chair of the financial services sub-committee of the 30% Club in Ireland from 2019 to 2022, Andrea led their pivotal research project, “Making the Change Count”, working to drive gender diversity and she was also a founding member of the steering committee for OUTstanding in Ireland at its inception in 2017, driving LGBT+ inclusion across the marketplace. She is an adjunct lecturer in Dublin City University Business School and since 2021 has been Programme Director for the Irish government initiative, Balance for Better Balance, supporting Irish business to achieve gender balance at board and leadership level.