Kieva Whitty-Ryan

Kieva Whitty-Ryan (she/her) is a queer Civil Servant in the National Shared Service Office (NSSO). With a BSc in Applied Psychology, she spent a number of years in the NSSO’s Local HR unit. Since promotion to Higher Executive Officer she has been working in the NSSO’s Solutions and Project Management Office, responsible for the governance and reporting of organisation wide IT projects. In the run up to Pride 2023 Kieva joined the NSSO’s LGBTI+ Network in a formal capacity, she formed the first Network Committee, and is the current chairperson. Kieva represents the NSSO while working with the Proud to Work for Ireland Network (PWIN). PWIN is an umbrella network of LGBT+ civil and public servants and allies, aiming to promote visibility and inclusion of queer staff at all levels of public service work, and to develop and share resources, awareness, and education across agencies. PWIN, with immense support from the more established Departments’ Networks, has been coordinating the annual participation of up to 1,200 public servants in Dublin Pride, and received the ‘Employee Resource Group’ award at the 2024 Galas LGBT+ Awards. Focussing on the strength of networking and community-building, the Network has grown substantially in recent years due to the passion and engagement of its members. At the inaugural PWIN AGM Kieva was elected co-secretary for the first official committee and will continue to work diligently to support the network’s growth, helping to develop stronger relationships with other employee resource groups, NGOs supporting minorities, and reaching into communities of public servants across all of Ireland, not just in large urban centres.