Valerie Farrell appointed Teagasc chief operations officer
Teagasc has today (Thursday, August 3) confirmed the appointment of Valerie Farrell as its new chief operations officer (COO).
In her new role, Farrell will lead the operations directorate for the authority and will have responsibility for the finance, human resources, corporate services, business delivery and ICT departments.
In addition, she will serve as secretary to the Teagasc Authority.
The appointment was approved by the Teagasc Authority at its meeting yesterday.
Farrell will take over from Alan Phelan who retires later this year after serving as chief operations officer since October 2020.
Teagasc
Valerie Farrell has been head of human resources in Teagasc for six years.
Over the past 21 years, she has held a variety of roles in the authority in human resources.
In her early career, Farrell worked for Intel and before that for Xilinx Ireland.
She graduated from University of Limerick with a degree in Business Studies and went on to complete a Masters in Change Management and Innovation at the University of Brighton.
Farrell is a non-executive member of the University College Dublin (UCD) governing authority since January 2024 and is also a member of the UCD finance committee.
Previously, she served on the governing body of the Institute of Technology Carlow (now SETU), including two years as vice chairperson from 2020 to 2022.
She was a member of the South East Technological University implementation Steering Group.
Appointment
Teagasc chair Liam Herlihy congratulated Valerie Farrell on her new appointment.
"Valerie brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of Teagasc, its people and its programmes to this role.
"She has successfully developed and implemented a number of people strategies and corporate change programmes.
Director of Teagasc, Professor Frank O’Mara, added: "Teagasc is continuously improving how it operates and delivers services to its farmer clients, students and other stakeholders".
"Valerie will play a key role in leading further improvements and efficiencies in our operations, empowering our staff, and ultimately delivering for the agri-food sector.
"She will bring energy and commitment to the COO role, and I wish her well in this senior management position."
