Shaping Skills, Shaping Society: From Research to Action

Dr. Claudia Igbrude consults on and advises organisational leaders on building capacity for technology innovation in healthcare, finance, scaling strategic talent development, and ensuring regulatory compliance, while innovating through training at scale and corporate governance. She has built, designed and implemented learning technology solutions for corporate and education spaces as well as health tech apps. She was an inaugural executive in residence at the Corporate Governance Lab in Trinity College where she taught on the AI and boards certificate programme, and was a Diversity and Inclusion advisory board member for HubSpot. She leads technology governance and intelligence for learning enablement for PayPal and is the convenor of EradaCollective where she participates in interdisciplinary research to enable innovation. 

Dr. Sheryl Lynch joined The Wheel’s Sector Skills team in September 2025, bringing over 15 years of research and programme leadership to her role as Skills Research and Impact Manager. Sheryl’s career started in academia where she taught and conducted qualitative research before moving into project management and consulting roles. Sheryl has carried out research for the nonprofit sector, lead and developed governance and compliance projects and delivered impact-focussed national and European funded programmes. Sheryl has a PhD in Anthropology and professional certifications in project management, financial markets, leadership, and sustainability. She is a social justice champion and firm believer in the power of equal access to training and development.

Lauren Carroll is the Interim Director of Skills at The Wheel. She drives The Wheel’s workforce development strategy for the nonprofit sector, leading a multidisciplinary team that is responsible for designing, delivering, evaluating and scaling training and development solutions, ensuring our sector has the tools and capacity to respond to current and emerging skills gaps. Since joining The Wheel in 2016, Lauren has managed national and European initiatives, including our Training Links funding programme and several Erasmus+ capacity-building projects. Her previous work experience in the sector includes voluntary positions with Sankalpa Addiction Service, The Aisling Project, and Suas Educational Development. 

Pat Watt is CEO of The Wheel and an experienced Chief Executive and senior business leader with over 25 years’ experience delivering organisational transformation, commercial growth, and operational excellence across the financial services, retail, logistics, and nonprofit sectors. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of the NSPCA, Ireland’s largest animal welfare charity, where he led a nationwide organisation of over 170 staff and 500 volunteers. Before this, he served as Director of Distribution at An Post Retail. He has served as a Trustee Director with the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras (IAYO) and has fundraised for a number of charities including the Irish Heart Foundation and Aware.  

Mairead O’Connor manages the policy and research work of the Skills Team at The Wheel, working to ensure that nonprofit organisations of all types, and those that work for them, are well served by the state’s skills development infrastructure. She engages extensively with various groups who have an interest in sector training and upskilling, including sector employers, policy makers, researchers, and education and training bodies.  She represents the Community and Voluntary Pillar on the National Skills Council. Mairead is an experienced education professional and has worked in nonprofit sector skills and training for more over a decade.