I am delighted, proud and above all honoured to take the position of Chair of the Board of Directors of An Cosan. My Family, in particular my Mother have had a long association from almost the beginning when An Cosan was known as The Shanty. I am in the very fortunate position where 3rd level education was a given, I expected to go to university after completing my leaving cert. I was also fortunate to begin to get involved fundraising for The Shanty when I was still in school and I realised that not every teenager has the same expectations and opportunity. I joined the Board of Directors in 2010, and have been involved in various funding projects for many years, An Cosan is very close to my heart, and I never cease to be inspired by the wonderful students and staff. Professionally my background is hospitality management, property sales and I now work in sales & marketing in the leisure industry.
An Cosan offers a place of understanding, support, mentoring and learning and it is these additional pieces that make it such a successful model. In recent years we have become a national organisation, adding our Online Community Education approach to our repertoire. The Challenges we face are still present, some new, some the same old ones, but as our team has grown so has it strengthened and I look forward to working with the board of directors, the management team and all of the staff at An Cosan into the future.
I look forward to strengthening current relationships, forging new ones and maybe re-igniting old ones with our partners, funders and all of the extraordinary people who give so much of their time to make An Cosan the organisation that it is.
Anna Durkan, Chair of the Board of Directors