Board of Directors

Aidan Greene (Chairman)

Aidan Greene is the Deputy CEO of Core Media. As part of his role, he has strategic responsibilities across the nine Core Media companies. He was previously Managing Director of media planning and buying agency, Mediavest, and has 27 years' media experience. He launched the direct response media agency, Clear Blue Water, in 2005, before taking the reins of Mediavest in 2007. He previously was a director of Catseye, the internet solutions company in the Dialogue Group.

He has also worked in Ogilvy & Mather and Carat. Aidan represents the advertising industry as Chairman of the Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS) committee and sits on the management committee of the Joint National Outdoor Research (JNOR). He has lectured in media in the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Fitzwilliam Institute. Aidan is also the former President of IAPI, the trade association and professional institute for Irish advertising agencies.

Ruth Hunter

Ruth Hunter is a partner and head of the Entertainment Law Group at Matheson. She focuses on the area of film and television production including the negotiation and drafting of financing agreements, distribution agreements, equity and tax-based financing arrangements (including Section 481 tax credit financing), talent agreements (including film rights agreements), writers agreements, actors, directors, designers and composers agreements. She also provides advice in relation to errors and omissions, insurance and music copyright clearance as well as theatre and public performance contracts, music contracts and general intellectual property issues including trademarks.

Ruth also works with banks in relation to financing arrangements for film and television. Ruth works with Screen Producers Ireland (the film producers’ representative organisation in Ireland) and is a member of the Audiovisual Federation and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC).

Ronan Murphy

Ronan Murphy is currently COO of leading Irish ticket agency, Tickets.ie. Ronan oversees all elements of the company's agency business from strategy to ticket delivery. Ronan is recently returned from the USA, where he established and managed the US operations for Irish SME, Stimare. He previously served as Head of Ticketing in the GAA for six years and has worked in the finance industry for several years.

Suzanne Noble

Suzanne Noble is a leading film publicist and communications professional and has been the Head of UK Publicity and Corporate Communications at STUDIOCANAL in London since 2009 spearheading strategic campaigns for titles such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Four Lions, Rush, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Legend, Paddington and Shaun the Sheep: the Movie. She was previously VP International Publicity at The Weinstein Company and Head of Publicity for Icon with 20 years of industry experience.

Paula Woods

An alumna of Trinity College, Dublin, Paula Woods’ career in film publicity spans two decades. Since 2008, she has run her boutique consultancy out of LA and is currently working on global campaigns for Widows on behalf of Steve McQueen, If Beale Street Could Talk for Barry Jenkins and Adam McKay’s Vice, starring Christian Bale. Paula has handled many award-winning campaigns including Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, Adam McKay’s The Big Short, Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds as well as all Tim Burton’s titles and Netflix series The OA on behalf of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij.

Previously, Paula did a stint at Miramax and then The Weinstein Company where, as Senior Vice President, she headed the international publicity department for two years.

Elaine Gill

Elaine has been acting as an advisor to Irish film industry for over 25 years, specialising currently in providing tax advice for all productions filming in Ireland from small indigenous documentary productions, co-production feature films and large scale returning US television series. As a qualified accountant and chartered tax advisor with ten years specialist film sector banking experience she brings a broad range of skills to productions on the ground in Ireland.

Neasa Hardiman

Neasa is a BAFTA-winning Director and Writer for film and television drama. Born in Dublin, she began her career at the National College of Art and Design Ireland. In 2017, Neasa was awarded a BAFTA for the gritty murder drama Happy Valley (BBC / Netflix), before directing the finale of noir superhero drama Jessica Jones (Marvel / Netflix). Her earlier works include the two-hour story finale for BAFTA-nominated homicide thriller Scott & Bailey and acclaimed BBC six-part drama In The Club. Her feature début Sea Fever screened to critical acclaim on the opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival 2019 and Virgin Media DIFF in 2020.

John Butler

John wrote and directed Papi Chulo which received its world premiere as a Special Presentation at TIFF, and was Opening Film at Virgin Media DIFF 2019. Prior to that, John wrote and directed Handsome Devil, which sold to Netflix worldwide and picked up awards including the DIFF Critic’s Circle Award. In 2014, John directed and co-wrote The Stag which premiered at TIFF, TriBeCa, Turin and elsewhere. He’s currently directing and writing a TV show with Stephen Merchant for BBC1 / Amazon. 

Louise Kiely

Louise has a degree in Law from UCC and trained at the Gaiety School of Acting. She started casting for Film and Television in 2005. Recent credits include The Green Knight (Dir: David Lowery), Wolfwalkers (Dirs: Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart) & Herself (Dir: Phyllida Lloyd) Louise was nominated for an Emmy in 2020 for her work on Normal People (Dir: Lenny Abrahamson). 

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Governance

The board of directors is committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance and has embarked on the journey of compliance with the Governance Code. The organisation complies with all regulatory requirements and operates in accordance with its governing document. Their dates of appointment can be viewed here.

We keep detailed books and records of accounts and maintain strict financial controls. The organisation is transparent in its audited financial statements and we are working with our auditor toward compliance with SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) in our 2017 financial statements and beyond.

Organisation Structure

Virgin Media DIFF Festival CLG is an incorporated not-for-profit (company registration no: 365622), operating with charitable status (CHY 15821). The legal and financial responsibility for DIFF Festival CLG is vested in the board of directors, and the management is delegated to the Festival Director and the Managing Director.

Child Protection

Our Child Protection Policy can be found here.