National President, Mairead Bushnell
The Society of St Vincent De Paul is a membership organisation and our governance structures reflect this. The basic operating unit of the Society is the local Conference, of which there are over 1,000. The Conferences are organised into 120 Areas. These are organised into 13 Regions, which in turn form the national organisation. Each Conference, Area and Region has an elected President who can serve between a 3 and 5 year term.
The supreme decision making body is the National Council, which normally meet once a year, and is made up of all Area and Regional Presidents, the National President and a small number of people appointed by the National President. A subset of this Council is the National Management Council, which normally meets 5 times a year, and is made up of the 13 Regional Presidents, the National President and a small number of people appointed by the National President.
The National Board is a subset of the National Management Council, meets 11 times a year, and is made up of the National President and their appointees, normally 8 – 10 in number. The current members of the National Board are: Mairead Bushnell, National President, Geoff Meagher, National Treasurer, Paul McKevitt, National Vice President, John Monaghan, National Vice President, Pauline Lohan, Tom MacSweeney, Sandra Brett, Rose McGowan, and Cormac Wilson.