Deirdre Donovan Joins Savills Ireland as People and Culture Director

Deirdre Donovan has been appointed as the Director of People, Culture & Internal Communications at Savills Ireland, where she has a new leadership role to oversee people strategy, organisational culture, leadership development and internal communications. In September 2026, she joined the organisation with over 20 years' senior leadership experience in people leadership, organisational transformation, human resources and business change.

Donovan’s appointment marks another step in a career defined by senior HR leadership roles across global organisations and complex business environments. As part of this new role, she will collaborate with the leadership team to enhance the organisation's people strategy and culture, and support teams in readiness for new opportunities and changes in the landscape due to AI and new technologies.

Key Highlights

• Deirdre Donovan joins Savills Ireland in newly created leadership role
• She brings over 20 years of senior people leadership experience
• Her expertise spans transformation, culture, talent and organisational strategy

Prior to joining Savills Ireland, Donovan served as an Independent People & Organisation Advisor, working with CEOs, Founders and Leadership Teams who were in the midst of business growth, organisational change and transformation. Her advisory experience focused on organisational effectiveness, leadership and culture, operating model design and executive coaching and senior talent strategy, enabling her to assist organisations in tackling both people and business priorities during transition.

Previously, Donovan was Group Chief People Officer at IPL Schoeller, a private equity-backed manufacturing organisation with its headquarters in Dublin. The role was in a company where she had expanded its business to around 4,000 employees with 26 manufacturing locations and the role was to work closely with the CEO on people priorities post business expansion. Her responsibilities included post-merger stabilisation and the development of the future HR integration strategy, further strengthening her experience in managing people priorities through organisational change.

A significant part of Donovan’s career was spent at Meta, where she worked for more than six years across senior HR leadership positions. She served for four years as HR Director – EMEA Sales & Meta Ireland, partnering with executive leaders while supporting approximately 1,600 employees across EMEA Sales and Partnerships. Alongside this remit, she served as Site HR Director for Meta Ireland, supporting an organisation of approximately 2,000 employees.

At Meta, her responsibilities included workforce and organisation design, talent strategy, employee engagement, culture, leadership development and change management. Earlier in her Meta career, she also headed HR for the company’s EMEA Data Centers & Engineering organisation.

Donovan’s professional journey also includes more than 17 years with Diageo, where she progressed through HR leadership, transformation, operations, business partnering and learning roles across Ireland, the UK and Europe. She held roles such as Senior HR & Transformation Manager, HR Transformation Lead – Europe and HR Operations Manager for the European HR Service Centre.

Her transformation program at Diageo involved implementing Workday to 14,000 users worldwide across EU countries, and standardising HR processes across 25 countries. She has built her skills and knowledge in large-scale transformation, people operations, organisational design and strategic HR leadership through these experiences.

As Savills Ireland's workforce continues to grow and evolve, Donovan will unite her wealth of expertise in women's leadership, people strategy, organisational transformation, culture and executive development to support the organisation. Her focus will include strengthening leadership capabilities, developing an effective workplace culture and helping teams navigate the opportunities presented by AI and new technologies.