Mary is a passionate advocate for values-led and impact-driven philanthropy and social investment in Ireland, in tandem with promoting fundraising as a respected and valued profession. Mary has over 20 years' experience of working in and consulting to the not-for-profit sector, and established O’Kennedy Consulting (OKC) in 2002. 

Mary is a previous recipient of the National Award for Outstanding Contribution to Fundraising and was also shortlisted for an IMAGE Business Women of the Year Award.  In 2014, she co-founded CCI Executive Search, a specialist not-for-profit sector recruitment company focused on ensuring that organisations recruit and retain great teams. This was followed in 2017 by the launch a new jobs platform Creative Careers, which promotes key roles across the Arts, Heritage, Culture, Media and Marketing sectors. 

Mary was the Founding Chair of Fundraising Ireland (now Charities Institute Ireland). She is also former chair and a current Board member of EU Consult, the European Association of Consultants to the not-for-profit sector and was previously Ireland’s Ambassador for the International Fundraising Congress. She is currently the Irish Advisor to the Global Leadership Foundation, founded in 2006 by Mr. FW de Klerk. Mary has recently joined the Board of the Seamus Heaney Estate, something that she feels hugely privileged to be part of.