Inside the Gate – Farming for Nature

Philip became involved with the foundation in 2020, initially supporting behind the scenes before taking on the role of Foundation Lead in 2025. He holds an undergraduate and master’s degree in mechanical engineering, specialising in renewable energy, and spent three years working in the sector before making the move to philanthropy.

He now leads the day-to-day work of the foundation, with a particular focus on sustainable land use, nature restoration, and food systems in Ireland. He brings a systems mindset to the role, and a genuine curiosity about where philanthropic support can have real and lasting effect. He is drawn to the hard questions: what’s actually working, why, and what it would take to scale it.

Philip will also be quick to entertain any conversation regarding an unused pizza oven he build a decade ago or his grandfather’s old boat in Sweden.

Maurice was the CEO of the Lifes2good Foundation from 2017 to early 2026. He has worked in international development and humanitarian response for 17 years. He has been based in Ireland, Kenya and Baltimore, USA. He has been involved in the humanitarian response to many major crises from the Asian tsunami, to the Haiti earthquake to the more recent Syria crisis. Prior to working in the humanitarian sector Maurice worked in Irish politics and before that he spent a year in Bosnia with the EU, after the war, as a “Political and Humanitarian Monitor”.

He is a former Irish army cavalry officer.  He is an English literature graduate from NUIG and holds a Higher Diploma in Education and a degree in Human Resource Management. Maurice enjoys all sports, particularly Irish rugby, and for his sins he is a Leeds United soccer fan! Maurice recently completed his first triathlon (indoors!)

Maurice is no longer working operationally for the foundation but he provides support and advises in key decisions.

Tom is a Galway native and graduated with honours from G.M.I.T. with a Bachelors in Business Studies specialising in Accounting. After qualifying as an Accountant, Tom worked and travelled in Australia in the Banking sector before returning to Dublin where he worked in a number of senior accounting roles with Ormsby & Rhodes, the Royal College of Physicians and Eircom. His final role in Dublin was as Group Financial Controller for CPL Resources Plc managing all finance and tax aspects of the various acquisitions that the group was making. Whilst at CPL, he completed an executive MBA at Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

In 2011, he joined Lifes2good in Galway also as Group Financial Controller to help develop the global group structure for Lifes2good as they expanded rapidly with their health and beauty brands. This included set ups in Spain, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Turkey and covered all financial, corporate, tax and HR aspects of operating in those jurisdictions along with optimising the existing set ups in Ireland, UK, US, Portugal and the Netherlands. Between 2014 and 2015, Tom completed the CFO executive leadership for growth programme in Stanford University in California, US, bringing huge learnings to play in the fast growth of the company. Tom was centrally involved in the due diligence carried out by Church & Dwight in 2016 / 2017 when they purchased the Viviscal brand outright from Lifes2good. In January 2018, Tom was appointed CFO of the Lifes2good / Mount Amber group. The group has expanded into many other avenues such as property, strategic partnerships in the product innovation sector and Tom was appointed CFO of one of our investments Biogix, Inc in Los Angeles in 2018.

Tom is the Finance and Company Secretary for Lifes2good Foundation. Tom lives in Galway with his wife Jennie and their five young children. “Children’s sports training and events keeps everyone busy for the full week.”

Dearbhla is a dual qualified chartered accountant and internal auditor. She has a broad background in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, having worked in financial services, marketing and advertising, management consultancy, local and national government and with international charities.

Dearbhla’s expertise is in audit, governance, risk management, fraud investigation, compliance, internal control, regulatory requirements, accountability, value for money assessment, due diligence and assurance mapping.

Dearbhla is from County Down and now spends her family time between Kildare and Galway.

Denis served for 23 years as an Army Officer in the Irish Defence Forces,which included six overseas trips with the United Nations, OSCE and EU in the Balkans and Middle East.  He subsequently worked for Ability West as Area Manager for their services in East Galway for five years.  Since 2008 Denis has worked as Humanitarian Affairs Officer with UN-OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Middle East, Geneva and York.  Denis has a B.Comm and MBA from NUIG and is married and living in Galway.

Conor is delighted to chair the board of the Lifes2good foundation alongside his primary privilege of raising four children together with his wife Áine. He is a practicing GP with an interest in sports & exercise medicine, while also working in RCSI’s department of General Practice as a research fellow. 

He enjoys bringing this experience to the foundation’s diverse board, of which he has been a part since its inception. As the foundation drives towards generating and supporting impact in the area of land use in Ireland, amongst other priorities, he is looking forward to learning from experts in the field and maximising the value the foundation can bring to these partnerships.

Heather Pope has been a Galway resident for the last 30 years. She is married to Ciarán and they have 3 adult children, who have all now flown the nest.  Heather went back out into the workforce 15 years ago and  has been engaged in finance, governance and administration.  After a chapter employed as Diocesan Administrator for the CoI in the West of Ireland, she has recently been appointed as Grants Officer (RoI & NI) for the Benefact Trust.

Heather has long been involved with Galway Samaritans and her local church community. She was Branch Director of Galway Samaritans from 2010-2013 and has held other leadership roles within the organisation. Heather sits on the CoI Representative Church Body, the Pensions Board, Stipends Committee and the RCB Library & Archives Committee.

Pierce is a sustainable energy consultant based in London with a broad background in energy, infrastructure, and sustainable agricultural consulting. Pierce brings a business management undergraduate background from Technological University Dublin and an MSc in Climate Change Finance and Investment from the University of Edinburgh. Along with currently pursuing a part-time post graduate diploma in agriculture. Pierce comes from an agricultural family background in Tipperary and is passionate about advancing sustainable land-use initiatives in Ireland and aims to bring this perspective, enthusiasm, and early career experience to effect real change with Lifes2Good Foundation. Other interests include sports, travel, and nature.

Zhanna O’Clery currently leads the advancement team at UWC Dilijan College Armenia. She has worked in a variety of settings and roles with the Atlantic Philanthropies, Trinity College Dublin, the Swiss-based International Baccalaureate Organization, Western Academy of Beijing, the World Bank in Washington DC and Krasnoyarsk Pedagogical Institute. Zhanna completed her Ph.D. in Moscow Pedagogical University. 

She serves on the board of Research Motor Neurone. 

An Armenian and a native of the former Soviet Union, Zhanna resides in Dublin with her husband, the writer and journalist Conor O’Clery, with whom she shares a passion for politics, reading, travel and producing fruit and vegetables. 

Conor wrote a book “Shoemaker and His Daughter” about Zhanna’s family.

Maria was born In Stockholm and grew up in Sweden. In her early career she worked in banking in Sweden, Luxembourg and Brussels. She met, and married, James when working for a Swedish bank In Luxembourg. She has lived in Ireland since 1991 and has four grown up children.

She has been on the board of several companies including Lifes2good which, in 2017, successfully sold Viviscal hair growth business to Church & Dwight, a public listed company based in New Jersey.

Maria has been actively involved in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church as Churchwarden and Glebewarden since 2006.

A dedicated board member of Lifes2good Foundation, she has helped invest in several worthy causes for vulnerable women and children at home and abroad. She also has a keen interest in, and concern for, environmental matters.

Other interests include music and the great outdoors.

James is the Founder and CEO of Lifes2good, having set-up the company in 1997. Born in Galway, he attended St. Jarlath’s College in Tuam and then attained a B. Comm in NUIG. before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1986. James then moved to Brussels where he worked for Coopers & Lybrand. He returned to Ireland in 1991 to join BMR-Slendertone where he built the brand, and then he sold out his participation in 1997 to start up Lifes2good.

Under James leadership, Lifes2good has grown from a small distribution company to a global enterprise. James made the company’s first acquisition in the UK in 2003. In 2007 he acquired the Viviscal brand.  The company continued to grow with further expansion throughout Europe and the US. Lifes2good grew the business worldwide with offices in Ireland, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Portugal. The Viviscal business grew to €50m in 2016 and in January 2017, Lifes2good successfully sold the Viviscal brand to the US Conglomerate Church & Dwight for €150m. He continues to invest in women’s healthcare and has had some significant success primarily in the US. . Beverley Life was acquired in 2017 and is being developed into a cardiovascular business which is expanding in the US 

James is a believer in lifelong learning. He has attended the Leadership 4 Growth programme at Stanford University in California. He was one of the finalists in the Ernst &Young Entrepreneur of the Year programme in 2013.

James has supported worthy causes in Galway down through the years and visited Kenya in 2005 and supported small local businesses in Nairobi slums. He set up Lifes2good Foundation in 2017.  The main sectoral focus of the Foundation is on vulnerable women and children but he also has an interest in supporting organisations working in active and vibrant communities that can positively impact on the society around them. The main geographical focus of the Foundation is on Galway / West of Ireland and two developing countries.

James lives in Galway with his wife Maria and they have four grown up children. He also enjoys participating in Triathlons, singing with the Galway Tenors, and supporting the local Rugby community.