Our Board

Donal O’Riain is the Founder and Group Managing Director of Ecocem. As a consultant he developed an interest in the carbon footprint of the cement industry and following this passion in 2000, he founded Ecocem and has built it into the Europe’s leading low-carbon cement technology and production business. Donal is passionate about the power of innovation to decarbonise the cement industry rapidly and at low-cost and continues to pursue this goal.

Prior to Ecocem, Donal ran his own consultancy business specialising in cementitious materials and previously held senior management positions with KPMG, CRH plc. and Steetley/Redland plc.

Donal is fluent in French and English. He is married and has three adult sons. In his spare time, he enjoys exploring Paris with his family, playing tennis, and cycling.

“The problem is not technology, we can move rapidly to a 50% reduction of global CO2 emissions from cement as early as 2030 but we need to act fast and as an industry, we need to act together.”

Pat Cox was appointed as Chair of Ecocem in 2021.

His commitment to and passion for sustainability are evidenced by his experience. He chaired the inaugural Dublin Climate Dialogues in 2021 and is also Chair of the Gore Street Energy Storage Fund – the first ever listed fund for grid scale battery storage to list on the London Stock Exchange.

Pat’s roles as a board member of Supernode, an Irish renewables high tech start up, and Gresham House Ireland further demonstrate his commitment to the sector and his strong personal focus on ESG and impact investment.

His early career was as an academic economist, followed by several years in journalism in Ireland as a presenter on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster. Pat presented RTE’S flagship current affairs programme “Today Tonight”.  He left journalism to pursue a career in politics and was elected to the European Parliament in 1989 and he served as President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004. 

During his Presidency he campaigned ceaselessly throughout Europe to promote the enlargement of the European Union. 

Pat is a member of the board and a senior fellow of the Institute of International and European Affairs. In 2005, he was elected President of European Movement, an international pro-European non-governmental organisation, a post he held until 2011.  

He is a member of the European Investment Bank’s Appointment Advisory Committee and has held a number of advisory roles in the past including chair of KPMG’s Public Interest Committee and a member of Michelin’s supervisory board from 2005 -2018. 

Pat has received many awards and distinctions for his European leadership over the years. including Freeman of his home city of Limerick, the “International Charlemagne Prize” in Aachen for his outstanding contribution to the EU enlargement process. In Brussels he has twice been recognised in award ceremonies for his parliamentary activity. 

Since 1 January 2015 he has served as President of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe.   

Conor O’Riain is the Managing Director of Ecocem’s European business. He has a background in Sales and Marketing and has held a number of senior positions in the publishing and events industries.

He joined Ecocem in 2006 ignited by the passion of the Ecocem team to make a difference and the scale of the challenge facing the cement industry.  His focus is on operationalising Ecocem’s  Innovation and R&I capability to deliver both product and technology driven partnerships that can scale the impact and availability of Ecocem’s low-carbon cement capability and radically reduce the industry’s emissions. 

Conor is on the Board of Board of Network Irlande (a French Irish Chamber of Commerce). 

“It feels good to get up in the morning knowing you are making a positive difference to the health of our World.”

Ged Pierse has been a Non-Executive Director of the Ecocem Board since 2007. He is also a member of the Innovation Sub-Committee. He is the founder and former Chief Executive of one of Ireland’s largest Civil/Building contractors.

Gerard has a wealth of experience in the building and infrastructures industry including Dams, Resevoirs, Pipelines, Water Treatment Plants and Residential and Industrial Projects.

Gerard retired in 2007 and is a fellow of The Institute of Engineers of Ireland. He is a former member of the National Roads Authority and a former member of the National Standards Association of Ireland.  

Vivienne O’Riain is a medical laboratory scientist who co-founded Ecocem in 2000.

She played an integral part in establishing the business from the beginning, with a real focus on developing the original markets. She continues to drive the business forward at Board level.  

Brian became a Board member in February 2021 and is currently a partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures 

Brian’s experience includes building companies and commercializing hard tech.  Prior to joining Breakthrough Energy Ventures, he spent 15 years as a business founder and operator focused on the application of advanced materials to a wide range of industries.  These include energy, agriculture, healthcare, and consumer products among others.  
 
Brian has a passion for translating science and technology into real world solutions. He completed a PhD in Chemistry and Material Science at the University of Washington, Seattle, and Postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.  
 
To date he has co-authored 25 patents and 30 peer-reviewed publications. 

Thierry was appointed to the Ecocem Materials Ltd Board in March 2022 and is also a member the Innovation Committee following his appointment to the Ecocem Board by Saint-Gobain.  

Thierry is CEO of the Construction Chemicals BU, a division within the High Performance Solutions of the Saint-Gobain Group with over 2,700 employees in 45 countries.  

Before joining the Saint-Gobain Group, Thierry has been CEO of Chryso for almost 10 years under Private Equity ownership. Prior to this, he held multiple senior management positions within the Construction materials or chemicals industry in Europe, South America and in the USA. 

Frédéric Guimbal, a Civil Engineer and graduate of the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, joins Ecocem’s Board with over two decades of experience in the construction industry.

Having begun his career with Bouygues Construction, he then spent 17 years at Lafarge and Holcim, where he held leadership positions in the USA, India, Central Asia and France.

For the last four years, Frédéric has served as Group Vice President for Construction Chemicals Performance at Saint-Gobain. 

Brett Desmond is an investment professional with over 25 years’ experience in corporate finance, asset management, and business development. Brett started his career at Morgan Stanley in the Industrials Group, where he covered various sectors, including the cement industry. 

Brett is also a Non-Executive director of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc., Quinta do Lago Resort, and Camiral Golf and Wellness. 

He holds a Certificate of Business Excellence from Columbia Business School. 

Olivier Guise is Ecocem’s Executive Director overseeing Strategy, New Businesses, and Technology Deployment. He brings over two decades of experience in the cement and construction materials sector, having previously held senior roles at Holcim Group in France and Algeria.

Since joining Ecocem in 2022, he has led the Company’s strategic and technological development, with a focus on scaling the company’s market-leading products while building key partnerships with the global cement, concrete and construction industries.  

Eoin Condren is Ecocem’s Executive Director of Corporate Development. He has been with the Company since 2021 and brings over fifteen years’ experience structuring complex investment and joint venture transactions across Europe and the US, spanning real estate, clean infrastructure, and technology.

Eoin held senior roles at WP Carey, VTS, and U+I plc before joining Ecocem where he has played a key role in shaping the company’s corporate and financial strategy, overseeing funding, capital planning and international expansion.

He holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.