Alumni Leadership Series: Pat Dennigan, CEO of Focus Ireland

‘My granny minded me, and I got to mind her’ 

I grew up in Sligo, my dad was a civil servant, and my mum was a homemaker. I was an only child, and I lived with my parents and my Granny. In our house the news was always on the radio and there was always a copy of a newspaper somewhere. Early on the importance of what was happening in politics and in our community was engrained in me. My parents had an interest in people’s lives, and I was inspired by that. Caring for each other was another important value in my family, and my Granny lived with us until I was 16. When I was small my Granny minded me and when she grew older, I got to mind her. That was a really formative experience for me. I went to Summerhill school and I enjoyed accountancy. I was interested in how different aspects of an organisation related to one another and how money impacted each of them – to me it always felt like a story. A big part of why I decided to study accountancy after secondary school was also down to Miss Joan Delaney. She was a famous accountancy teacher in my school, and she really encouraged me and a lot of students to pursue it.  

‘I made great friends when I was in Deloitte. I still return to that network often.’ 

After my Leaving Cert I went straight into studying a commencement course in the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland. I liked the fact that it was similar to secondary school because the class sizes were small. I did have a friend who studied Commerce in Galway, and we would check in with each other occasionally, later I regretted not having gone to a larger college and had that ‘college experience’.  But still, it was a great way to get started. I worked in a small office in Sligo, and it was challenging. I was studying and working at the same time, and there were high expectations. It stood to me though and through the intensity, I built great working relationships. I knew though that I wanted to get experience on larger audits, so I moved to Deloitte. It was the year of the World Cup, and I still vividly remember one of the games was on while I was being interviewed for a position in Deloitte.  The years I spent at Deloitte were invaluable. The grounding I got in governance and internal controls was formative, especially as someone who now works in a charity. I lean on those skills I gained in Audit every day in my role as CEO of Focus Ireland, even if I don’t realise it. I made great friends when I was in Deloitte too. I still return to that network often. In a way, being in Deloitte was that university experience I didn’t have. I learned loads but also made great friendships. It’s not just the Deloitte people you work with every day but the organisations you’re in touch with, it makes for an impressive reach. 

Steps forwards and backwards, lessons in leadership

When you look back on your career so far, it can seem easy to chart all the twists and turns, and mark logical explanations for how you ended up where you are. But it isn’t always plain sailing or straightforward.  When I was getting married, my wife and I knew we wanted to move back West, so I decided to leave Deloitte for an opportunity in a multinational in Galway, where my wife and I still live. I worked in a few different organisations in the West, and in one for ten years, holding a few different roles over that time. It grew rapidly until the dot-com bubble crash and I was made redundant along with my whole team. That was challenging, but the hardest part was that we had to stay on for an additional six months to train the team who would be replacing us. I had to keep the team together and motivated during that time, and I did that by giving them as much space as they needed. It was a big lesson in leadership.  I am proud to lead Focus Ireland and of the work we do, supporting people who are homeless and preventing others from losing their homes in the first place. At the same time, I am conscious that my colleagues have stressful jobs and deal with trauma on a daily basis. Looking after our staff is key and there are a number of ways, we do that. Leadership is also really important, and I always go back to pointing out our successes. I do that as a way to mind myself too – looking out for the success keeps me going. During the pandemic, I sent out a daily email to all my staff and I’d finish it with ‘mind yourself’. It’s become a bit of a mantra now and people I bump into on the street say it to me. I try to focus on all the seemingly small interactions I have too and make sure they’re as human as possible. Focus Ireland is fundamentally about people and helping people in a particular phase of their life to make sure that phase lasts for as short amount of time as possible.  To look after myself, I spend a lot of time with my family and my time at home is really important to me. I have two sons and a daughter, and spending time with them, and my wife, is so important to me. I also have a dog – a Beagle - who is great fun and full of energy. I’m also deliberate with my commuting time – I use it to wind down at the end of the day. 

The power of volunteering and chance phone calls

I enjoyed working in different organsiations for nearly two decades in Galway, but I reached a point where I wanted to do something different, I just wasn’t sure what. I did know I wanted it to be more locally focused. My friend was an active volunteer with the Lions Club, a global organisation that empowers volunteers to strengthen communities, and he encouraged me to get involved. I loved it. It was a great combination of people doing something concrete for their community and having some craic while doing it.  People with different backgrounds and different qualifications came together to apply their expertise to solve a challenge. It opened my eyes to the fact that I could use the skills and experience I had gained in business and apply them in the non-profit sector, but I didn’t know how or where at that point yet. My move to the sector certainly wasn’t deliberate, it was a series of lucky coincidences. I had decided to go back to do my chartered tax consultancies exams and once a month I would go into lectures. I met new people who were highly motivated, highly experienced, and I ended up building a great network of people who were willing to support each other.  One day I was sitting in a coffee shop across from my home with my wife when one of my friends from the course rang me up. He’d been offered a job as Finance Director at Focus Ireland and wanted advice as to whether he should take it. I knew he’d be a tremendous success and encouraged him to do it, which he did. At the time it was a temporary position so after a year he had moved on to a different organisation when Focus Ireland needed someone to fill the role again. They went straight to my friend, but he already had a job, so he recommended me.  

I interviewed and agreed to stay on for a period of 6 months as Finance Director. That was in Spring 2014, I always tell people that they haven’t told me which 6 months I’m staying for! When I joined as Finance Director, Ireland’s economy was broken, banking was broken, and so was the housing sector. We’re still feeling the impact of that.  One of my goals was to get approval from the Housing Finance Agency to borrow money from the State so we could build, develop and purchase housing. In the last five years since I became CEO, we’ve tripled our number of long-term housing properties to over 1,544. When I joined, we had 500 properties.  While I’m proud of this growth, I’d like to see a day when it’s not needed. This year, our Annual Report highlighted that the number of people we supported in Focus Ireland rose by 12.5% in 2023. That isn’t just a statistic, that’s 18,000 individuals who are living with homelessness in Ireland, and many of them are children. We supported 486 families with children out of homelessness in 2023 and helped 657 households keep their homes. This is the vital work my team does day in and out. 

‘Shine A Light’ 

I became CEO of Focus Ireland in 2018, which I’d never imagined. I had short to medium term goals with my career but never an overarching plan. When I reflect on my career to date, I do see that building those strong relationships is something I do consistently, and it has really stood to me. It got me my foot in the door at Focus Ireland and the Deloitte network is a group I regularly still connect with. This Friday, on 11 October, Focus Ireland, Deloitte and so many other organisations and individuals will come together to shine a light on the thousands of people living in emergency accommodation, unseen. Shine A Light, our annual fundraiser, is a powerful call to action for everyone to work towards a future where everyone has a place to call home. 

Three pieces of career advice: 

1. Think about what you want to do and what you want to be – give yourself time to think about but don’t get bogged down in the long-term plan. 
2. Don’t underestimate yourself and your experience so far. You’ll always be able to able to apply your skills to different industries and organisations, and they’ll appreciate that fresh perspective. It’s something I’ve really enjoyed in my career. 
3. Networks are important – building those connections is a great way to help someone else and you never know when it can stand to you too.