The CEO of Animal Health Ireland (AHI) Dr David Graham has announced that he will be stepping down from his position at AHI in late spring 2024.

Graham joined AHI in 2010 and has held the role of CEO since 2017.

A statement from AHI on Friday said that during his tenure he has been “instrumental in leading the development and progression of a range of disease control programmes contributing to significant improvements in the health and welfare of the national herd in Ireland”.

“In particular, his achievements in relation to the reduction in the incidence of BVD and significant progress across several other animal health areas have made a huge contribution, for the betterment of Irish agriculture,” AHI said.

The process of selecting a new CEO for AHI will commence shortly.

April 2024

Graham said that it has been both an honour and a privilege to be CEO of AHI for the past six years.

“However, I have decided that the time has come for me to bring my tenure as CEO of AHI to a close. To that end, I will step down from the role in six months’ time, in April 2024, providing time for a smooth transition and handover to my successor. I would like to thank all my colleagues at AHI and in the industry for their support and wish to recognise the work of the technical working groups and I wish them all well for the future. I look forward to continuing to work closely with my team and the wider organisation over the coming months,” he said.

Chair of AHI James Lynch said thanked Graham on behalf of the board of AHI for his “extraordinary contribution to the mission of the organisation and the long-term strategy to deliver best in class programmes”.

The AHI board is comprised of dairy farmer James Lynch (chair), consultant Dr Seán Brady, beef farmer and director of Irish Hereford Prime Ivor Deverell, dean of the UCD school of veterinary medicine Prof Michael Doherty, Ornua managing director of its global foods division Roisin Hennerty, retired secretary general at the Department of Agriculture John Malone and dairy farmer Darran McKenna.