The Irish Sailing Foundation has announced Catherine Tempany as its new Development Director.
The Irish Sailing Foundation was established in 2015 to provide Irish Sailing’s Performance Pathway with additional funding to provide world-class training, equipment and facilities to high-potential Irish sailing athletes.
Tempany has over 25 years business experience in operations, sales and marketing, across a range of industries including, professional services, telecoms and aviation.
With significant expertise in strategic planning, business development and marketing, she has a breadth of functional experience with blue-chip multinationals including American Airlines, Telefonica O2 and Vodafone.
Originally from Co Tipperary, Catherine sailed dinghies including Oppies, Mirrors, Lasers and Shannon One Designs at Lough Derg Yacht Club.
“We are delighted to have Catherine join us as our new Development Director,” said Colm Barrington, Chair of the Irish Sailing Foundation.
“We believe that Catherine’s experience and expertise will add greatly to our reach in expanding the financial support that is already assisting our young sailors achieve their ambitions and potential.”
“Catherine will have the full support of the Foundation’s board as she promotes the Foundation among our current and new supporters.”
“I am delighted to take on this important role supporting High Performance Sailing at such an exciting time for sailing in Ireland,” added Tempany.
“Since its inception, the Irish Sailing Foundation, through its network of generous supporters, has contributed significantly to bridging the gap in funding for its athletes.”
“The High-Performance HQ in Dun Laoghaire has been successful in reducing travel times for the athletes, as well as creating a focal point for the athletes to gather and to train together as a team with their coaches. This facility was made possible due to the financial support from the Foundation.”
“Our focus is to build on the Foundation’s successes and ensure that we can continue to offer world-class training and facilities to a broader and sustainable base of high-potential athletes. We want to take the financial pressure of funding off our athletes so that they can focus on training, competing and delivering podium success for Ireland.”
“Looking ahead to the Olympic Games in 2024, both the ILCA7 and 49’er classes have already qualified and there is confidence that the ILCA6 class will qualify in January. In addition, Irish male and female Youth sailors in the ILCA6 and 29’er classes are the current holders of both World and European titles, so there is every reason to be optimistic about the future of performance sailing in Ireland.”
