Mr. Brendan Brennan has served as Chief Financial Officer since February 2012. Mr. Brennan has developed his career over the last 21 years from experience in various industries. Mr. Brennan joined ICON in 2006 and he has served in a number of senior finance roles in the Company including the role of Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance. Prior to this he developed his broad financial experience in Cement Roadstone Holdings, a major Irish building materials organization. Mr. Brennan spent a number of years in public accounting with PwC prior to this. Mr. Brennan is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Dublin City University. Over his many years of experience in the CRO industry Mr. Brennan has been involved in many industry organizations and developments including ACRO (Association of Clinical Research Organizations) where he was the founding Chairman of the industry CFO round table group, a group formed to aid CROs dealing with the various industry challenges. Mr. Brennan held the position of Chairman of the round table from its foundation in 2017 to December 31, 2019.

Mr. Diarmaid Cunningham is Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, Executive Vice President and Company Secretary. 

Mr. Cunningham joined the Company as General Counsel in November 2009.  From 2009 until 2013, Mr. Cunningham was based in the Company’s global headquarters in Dublin.  In 2013, Mr. Cunningham was seconded to the Company’s US headquarters in Pennsylvania and that secondment ended in 2018 when Mr. Cunningham returned to Dublin.

In July 2016, Mr. Cunningham’s role expanded to include Chief Administrative Officer in addition to General Counsel. This expansion of his role means Mr. Cunningham has responsibility to the Company’s Quality Assurance, Client Contracts Services, Facilities and Procurement groups in addition to his responsibility for the Company’s Legal group.

Mr. Cunningham graduated with a Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies from University College Dublin in 1997, qualified as a lawyer in 2001 and completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University in California in 2015.  Mr. Cunningham served as Secretary to the Board of the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) in 2013 and 2014. ACRO represents the CRO industry globally to key stakeholders including pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, regulators, legislators and patient groups.

Prior to joining the Company. Mr. Cunningham spent 10 years with A&L Goodbody, one of Ireland's premier corporate law firms.

Mr. Barry Balfe is President of ICON Functional Services (IFS). Mr. Balfe has been with ICON for over fifteen years and has held a number of senior roles, predominantly within the DOCS organisation, where he has successfully grown this business and has developed and led a number of new strategic partnerships. Mr. Balfe was previously EVP, Global Business Development. As part of the DOCS team, Mr. Balfe served as Senior Vice-President, Global Program Management where he oversaw operational design, planning & delivery within DOCS' resourcing & FSP businesses. He initially joined ICON’s Business Development team in 2003, before taking on the leadership of DOCS' US Business in early 2007 and subsequently overseeing DOCS' European Operations. Mr. Balfe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, having studied at Dublin City University and Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Toulouse. He subsequently studied pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of London.

Dr. Buck joins ICON from Optum Insights (part of the United Healthcare group) where she was SVP & Chief of Clinical Development. Dr. Buck led the clinical operations and regulatory groups to create a Real-World Evidence and Outcomes clinical trial business. Her experience ranges over multiple therapy areas including GI, neuroscience, dermatology, ophthalmology, oncology, cardiovascular/metabolic, immunology, renal, women’s health, orphan diseases, liver, and psychiatry.

Dr. Buck is a board certified and licenced physician from the Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine, and completed her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at Abington Memorial Hospital, before working as a primary care practitioner in a private practice. From there Dr. Buck moved to the FDA in the GI and Hematology division, where she was responsible for reviewing efficacy and safety for all new indications, as well as post-marketing safety for over 40 drugs. Dr. Buck spent time working at AstraZeneca in clinical development and in its Innovative Medicines group.

Ms. Dana Poff is Executive Vice President, Program Management and is a member of ICON’s Leadership Team. In her role, Dana has global responsibility for the delivery of ICON’s clinical research programs across all therapeutic areas. Dana has over 27 years of clinical research experience, almost all of which have been with ICON. She joined ICON as Project Manager in 1997 and over time held roles of increasing responsibility, including Global Head of Project Management and Clinical Operations, President of Alliance Management and Chief of Staff. Dana left ICON in 2017 to become Chief Operating Officer of a life science technology company, before re-joining ICON in January 2019 to take up her current role. Prior to ICON, Dana was at ClinTrials Research and she also has experience in neonatal and paediatric nursing, having worked at Vanderbilt University Hospital.