Our Team

Our team consists of the Executive Director, Head of Strategic Fundraising, Policy Analyst, Research Lead, and Fundraising, Administration & Social Media Executive.

Executive Director – Ber Grogan

Ber Grogan joined the SCI team in January 2025. Having worked in the charity and political sectors for over two decades, Ber is bringing a wealth of knowledge, experience and passion to this role. Ber has joined us from Mental Health Reform, where homelessness and mental health difficulties were a part of her work. She has worked directly with young people experiencing homelessness, on legislation and amendments to address homelessness and has been involved in many campaigns in this area.

Chairperson of SCI Board – Johnny O’Rourke

Johnny is a seasoned governance and strategic expert. After almost 17 years working in the out-of-home care sector, Johnny has seen first-hand the acute and ongoing risk of homelessness that far too many children and young people face when they leave care. It is this direct experience of the intersection between care-leaving and homelessness that motivated him to take on the role of Chair of the Simon Communities of Ireland.

With a diverse career spanning the private, public, academic, and charity sectors, he specialises in transformational change through innovative risk management, organisational design, and performance improvement. Previously, Johnny served as CEO at Home Again, COO at Positive Care, and CEO at Clarehaven. Johnny has worked with various Boards of Management in domains such as domestic violence, alternative care for children, family resource centres, education providers and an international fundraising NGO. He offers expertise in ensuring alignment with regulatory frameworks and reporting requirements. Johnny has a proven track record in the Irish charity sector for reducing operating costs, negotiating funding, and managing complex workforce-related challenges. Johnny has been responsible for organisational design and change management in his senior appointments and currently sits on the Board of World Vision Ireland (WVI). He works in a full-time capacity as the National Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance with SVP Ireland. During his time with WVI, he contributed to World Vision Peer Reviews of governance in World Vision Austria, World Vision Albania, World Vision Canada and most recently chaired a review of World Vision India.

The Directors of the Board of SCI are as follows: