Team

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Lisa Vaughan

Lisa Vaughan graduated from NUI Galway with a Bachelor of Commerce and has a Masters in International  Relations from Dublin City University. Prior to joining Tipperary Energy Agency, Lisa was a Director in Engineers Ireland and Divisional Manager in Enterprise Ireland. Lisa is a Chartered Director and is a Non-Executive Director of Bord Iascaigh Mhara since 2016.She is Chair of  both the Audit and Risk committee and the Training and Development Committee of BIM. Lisa was Board Chair of Work Equal, a social enterprise working with women to support economic independence for five years until 2020.

Director of Engineering

Eamonn O’Donovan

Eamonn is leading the energy consultancy and engineering aspects of TEA’s work. An energy engineer – he is a proven leader in managing teams to deliver energy audits, data-analytics, feasibility studies, energy-savings projects, renewable energy, metering, automation and digitalisation. As well as decarbonisation and digital, Eamonn has a past career delivering large construction projects. Eamonn leads the technical engineering team that works on Deep Retrofits and Investment Grade Audits to identify and deliver Net Zero projects from concept design to delivery.

Email: [email protected]

Climate Action Engagement & Communication Specialist

Dr. Sukanya D Saikia

Sukanya is managing various EU projects in the agency. She is contributing her climate expertise to work closely with local authorities across Ireland to implement actions from the Local Authority Climate Actions Plans through the tasks and deliverables of these projects. She is also involved in engaging with various European partners across the EU. She is a member of the evaluation Committee of the LEADER Program and also actively involves herself in SustainableTIPP – the external stakeholder group led by the agency to deliver climate actions from the Tipperary County Council Climate Action Plan. Sukanya has an interdisciplinary background with a PhD in Climate Adaptation and Civil Engineering and a Masters in Geoinformatics. Her past work across various sectors of health, agriculture and landscape restoration reflects an underlying focus on climate adaptation and spatial analysis.

Email: [email protected]

Energy Engineer

Leanne McKenna

Leanne joined the agency in 2023 as a Graduate Energy Engineer. Having recently completed a ME in Energy Systems Engineering in the University of Galway, she has a strong background in the use of renewable energy technologies to reduce carbon impacts, with a focus on decarbonisation of the transport sector using hydrogen fuel. She is currently involved energy auditing, and solar modelling and design to aid public sector organisations in their analysis and strategy planning to reach their 2030 targets.

Email: [email protected]

Energy Engineer

Mick O’Shea

Mick is a qualified Energy Engineer and domestic BER assessor, he joined the agency in 2024 and mainly works in the area of EU projects. He has worked on a wide range of national and EU projects in the area of residential heat pumps, training and capacity building in the construction sector, commercial energy surveying and is currently working in the area of community electricity generation and integrated spatial planning.

Mick is passionate about finding solutions to the global challenge of carbon reduction and believes that a combination of creative problem solving with solid data and effective communication has the greatest potential to bring about positive change.

Email: [email protected]

Energy Engineer

Kevin Simpson

Kevin joined the agency in 2024 as an Energy Engineer. He graduated from South East Technological University with a Bachelor’s in Energy Management, and previously studied Engineering Design at North East Scotland College.

Kevin has over twenty years experience in the power generation and oil and gas industries, where he provided quality assurance and technical support to customers and engineering management. With a keen interest in energy efficiency and emissions reduction, Kevin is ideally suited to working as part of the engineering team to assess and deliver energy efficient projects.

Email: [email protected]

Graduate Energy Engineer

Jijoy Vijayan Udayageetha

Jijoy joined the agency in 2024 as a Graduate Energy Engineer. He graduated from Kerala University with Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and has Master’s in Business Administration from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He has previous experience working as a design engineer on multiple nationwide projects focused on optimizing efficiency and product reliability. He is passionate about identifying opportunities to drive the energy transition to carbon neutrality. He is currently involved in project designs, energy auditing and reporting.

Email: [email protected]

Graduate Energy Engineer

Jason Daly

Jason joined the agency in 2024 as a Graduate Energy Engineer. He graduated from Limerick Institute of Technology with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering, and has a MEng by Research from the Technological University of the Shannon. Jason is involved in project design, solar modelling, energy auditing and reporting.

Email: [email protected]

Graduate Energy Engineer

Dylan Whiteford

Dylan joined the agency in 2024 as a graduate Energy Engineer. He graduated for the University of Limerick with a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering. Dylan has a strong interest in the sustainable transition to renewable energy. Dylan is currently involved in project design, energy auditing and reporting.

Email: [email protected]

EU Sustainable Energy and Climate Project Lead

Georgina Johnston

Georgina joined the agency in 2024 and is involved in managing various EU projects.
Previously, she completed a Bachelor of Laws and worked as an environmental and planning law paralegal. Having graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master of Science in Environmental Justice, Georgina is passionate about community empowerment for a just transition and has experience supporting participatory decision-making around climate action.

Email: [email protected]

Energy Engineer

Conor Bryce

Conor graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2022 with a Masters in Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, specializing in renewable energy. Since then, he has gained extensive experience in field of energy and sustainability, working on projects involving solar PV, wind, hydropower and energy auditing.

Email: [email protected]

Undergraduate Engineer

Ellen Cunneen

Ellen is an Undergraduate Engineer studying Biomedical Engineering at Dublin City University. She recently joined the team on a summer internship. Ellen is working on EU projects and is assisting with the maintenance of the website.

Email: [email protected]

Event & Programme Manager

Aileen Hoyne

Aileen has a wide range of Event Management, Project Coordination, Marketing and Client Relationship Management experience having worked in this field for over 20 years. Previous roles include Operations Manager and Conference & Events Management for Campus Life, University of Limerick, and Call Centre Manager for Momentum Marketing, Clonmel.

Since joining Tipperary Energy Agency in December 2014, Aileen has worked on Public Sector Programme Supports and Event Management on behalf of SEAI. She was also project manager for the Energy in Agriculture event in Gurteen (now known as the Energy and Farm Diversification Show). She currently acts as Sector Manager for SEAI supports to the Local Authority and Health Sectors in Ireland. She is also Communications and Events Coordinator for SEAI with specific responsibility for organising the flagship Public Sector Energy Conference on an annual basis.

Email: [email protected]

Finance & Operations Manager

Mary Buckley

Mary Buckley is the Finance & Operations Manager at the Agency. She leads the finance and operational activity of the Agency as well as overseeing all transactions from a finance, tax, compliance & legal perspective. Mary oversees all our strategic initiatives and EU projects from a financial perspective and is working to improve all our operating processes.

Mary is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Masters in Accounting from UCD Smurfit School as well as a Bachelor of Commerce from UCD. She started her career in audit in EY Dublin and worked for a substantive private business for ten years prior to joining the Agency.

Email: [email protected]

Accounts Assistant

Mairead Cooney

Mairéad joined the Agency in July 2022 as Accounts Assistant.  She was previously employed by Ulster Bank and Tipperary County Council.  Mairead studied with the Institute of Public Administration and holds a BA in Public Management.

Mairéad looks after the day-to-day processing of the Agency’s accounts, banking and EU project management as well as undertaking administrative duties and assisting the Finance Manager and Office Manager.

Email: [email protected]