City Cllrs hide in long grass for Galway 2020 CEO Hannah
Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley
So now, finally, we know the identity of the Chief Executive Officer of Galway 2020. Hannah Kiely’s task will be to deliver the programme and vision for Galway’s European Capital of Culture in 2020.
With an advertised salary of €120,000, she has the most important job, in what we’re told is a seminal year for Galway, and in particular the arts and culture communities, and for the tourism industry.
She will be responsible for creating the environment to ‘enable’ the artistic director (advertised salary: €110,000) – apparently appointed but not yet publicly announced – and the team, to “deliver a truly unparalleled experience” through Galway 2020.
There are a lot of people, and organisations, hitching their wagons to the Galway 2020 star. No pressure then.
Hannah Kiely, in case you missed last week’s announcement, is an experienced CEO with 25 years leadership knowledge, who has won the Businesswoman of the Year Award.
A graduate of NUIG and GMIT and the Institute of Directors of Ireland, the Clarinbridge native is a former CEO of HC Financial Advisers; a former President of Galway Chamber of Commerce; and a former board member of Galway Arts Centre. She is well-known for her long association with Cope Galway, the homelessness and domestic violence charity.
But Galway 2020’s press statement about Hannah’s appointment is as interesting for what it omitted to mention, as much for what it does.
Hannah is not universally liked by Galway City Councillors.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing; but her appointment raised eyebrows among the political classes for her connections to two organisations in particular.
Conspicuous by their absence in the statement, was her links to the Picture Palace, the company tasked to deliver the city’s jinxed arthouse cinema; and to the committee to review local government arrangements in Galway.
Councillors remember vividly when Hannah came before them, with project leader Lelia Doolin, at full Council meetings and Corporate Policy Groups, to give presentations about finance, and so forth, relating to the arthouse cinema.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.