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Chairperson

The Organisation: 

The Asthma Society came into formal existence in 1973 following a meeting organised by Órán O Muire, a teacher who had struggled with asthma from an early age, and who was determined that asthma would not stop him leading an active life. 

Our mission is to stop asthma deaths in Ireland. We are the voice of the 380,000 people with asthma in Ireland, and our work radically transforms their quality of life. 

Our vision is that everyone with asthma in Ireland lives a full life, symptom-free. 

 

The Role: 

The Society is looking for a chairperson to help drive sustainable growth within the organisation.  The ideal candidate will be willing and able to support strategic conversations with key stakeholders and forge relationships with external bodies to position the organisation, promote the work of Society, and to secure funding for the ongoing work carried out on behalf of asthma patients.  

The Chairperson needs to have strong leadership skills and experience as a chairperson to harness the diverse skills of the board members to advise and support the internal Asthma Society team. 

 

General Trustee duties of a Charity Trustee:

  • Comply with the Charity’s governing document 

  • Ensuring charity is complying with its charitable purpose for the public benefit 

  • Acting in the best interest of the charity 

  • Act with Reasonable Care and Skill 

  • Manage the assets of your charity 

 

The responsibilities of the Chair are as follows: 

  • The Chairperson has a strategic role to play by communicating effectively the vision and purpose of the organisation, to ensure the Board functions well, that there is full participation at meetings. 

  • To plan and Chair meetings in accordance with the governing document. 

  • To liaise with CEO and to keep up to date on the affairs of the organisation 

  • To bring impartiality and objectivity to meetings and decision making 

  • To ensure that decisions made at meetings are implemented. 

  • To be aware of current issues that might affect the organisation. 

  • To advocate for and represent the organisation at external meetings and events if required. 

 

Qualities and skills required:

  • Good leadership skills 

  • Health Policy experience 

  • Government Affairs experience 

  • Previous Chair experience 

  • Good communication and interpersonal skills 

  • Impartiality, fairness and the ability to respect confidences 

  • Ability to ensure decisions are taken and followed-up 

  • Tact and diplomacy 

  • Understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a governing body 

  • Background in Marketing and/or Sales would be an advantage.  

 

Board Meetings: 

The meetings for 2024 are October 15th and December 3rd. Meetings are usually at 7pm and a mix of online and in-person. 

There are a number of board sub-committees however the Chair is not expected to sit on these but is required to attend if the agenda depicts.