The Pensions Board has appointed Jane Williams, managing director of The Sia Group its new chairwoman.
Ms Williams replaces Tiarnan O Mahoney who has served in the role since 2005.
Today's appointment was announced by Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív.
Ms Williams is MD of The Sia Group, a consultancy practice she established in 1988. She has just completed a nine month assignment as chief executive of Forfás, which she undertook on an interim basis.
A member of the Forfás Board for 8 years, she has a strong background in enterprise policy and has been a member of the Board of the National Competitiveness Council, the Irish Universities Quality Board, the Tourism Council, Wicklow County Enterprise Board, the Strategy Forum for the Institutes of Technology and the EU Marketing Grants Board for the Tourism Sector.
She also served as chair of the Small Business and Services Forum and a member of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland. She is currently a member of the Institute of Management Consultants of Ireland, the International Association of Facilitators and the Irish Institute of Training and Development. She is a CEDR accredited mediator.
Ms William's career includes two years in international banking with Banque Nationale de Paris, nine years in financial analysis and international marketing and sales with the IDA, both in Dublin and New York. She is a member of the board of EirGrid, the Decentralisation Implementation Group and a number of private organisations.
She holds a Bachelor in Business Studies from Trinity College Dublin, a Masters in Psychology from Colombia University, New York and is finalising her thesis for a PhD from Trinity College Dublin on the topic of gender in decision-making in the public sector.