Jennifer Whelan
Jennifer Whelan Head of Operations
Chief Operating Officer
Jennifer has been with Allergy Standards Ltd since 2016. In her role as Chief Operating Officer she oversees the company’s operations and procedures, and ensures the efficiency of our business operations. She leads the development and embedding of standard operating procedures, business practices, coordination structures, and monitoring systems, to ensure that our team is equipped to deliver long-term success. She has a management role in the joint ventures that run certification programs in the USA and in Canada, and in product testing and standard development. She leads on portfolio project management, to drive our work in the direction of our strategic objectives and ensure that our team is aligned around our strategic goals.
Jennifer has a wide range of experience and skills in operations, project management, data analysis, policy development, team management, working in international and multi-cultural contexts, inter-personal and public communication, event management, human resource management, and service provision. She has academic qualifications in Psychology and French (BA, 2002), International Relations (MA, 2005), Statistics (Higher Diploma, 2016), and Strategic Project Management (Special Purpose Diploma, 2018).
Jennifer was an Irish diplomat for 9 years, working for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade both at its headquarters in Dublin and on overseas postings to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Beijing, China. During that time, some of the projects she led on included:
- Project management of the design and construction of a new chancery (office) building in Ethiopia, under significant budgetary constraints and in a difficult operating environment.
- Chairing of the donor human rights working group in Ethiopia for over a year.
- Management of the Department’s Reconciliation Fund, which awards up to €2.7 million each year in small grants to organisations delivering peace-building activities in Northern Ireland.
- Development of a three-year Reconciliation Fund Strategy for the Department of Foreign Affairs’ peace-building funding in Ireland, which was subsequently implemented.
- Management of a trade mission to China by the Minister for Education and a senior delegation from 12 Higher Education Institutions.
- Opening of a new Irish Consulate General in Hong Kong.
Jennifer speaks French, Chinese, Irish and German. She is a member of Ireland’s panel of EU and OSCE election observers. And she shares her research on the Dublin locations featured in James Joyce’s Ulysses on Twitter and Instagram – @dublininulysses.