Professor Diarmuid Hegarty is the current Chair of the HECA Board. He is the founder and president of Griffith College, which he established as the Business and Accounting Training College in 1974. The institution was renamed Griffith College following its move to the site of the former Griffith Barracks in 1991 and is now the largest independent third level institution in Ireland, with campuses in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.

As President of Griffith College, with its wide network of European partners and as a former Bologna promoter, Professor Hegarty is actively involved in promoting the aims of the Bologna Process. As several times chairman and as founder of the Higher Education Colleges Association, he has spearheaded the quest for quality assurance in tertiary private education.

Professor Hegarty has served on the board of many organisations and committees including The Institute of Chartered Accounts of Ireland (as a Council member and chair of its various technical committees), The Royal City of Dublin (Baggot Street) Hospital as Chair of the Finance Committee and the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (appointed by Minister for Education and Science Dr Michael Woods). He is former Chairman of the Irish Higher Education Qualifications Network where he chaired a committee that produced the Irish Code for Pastoral care of international students. He is HECA’s nominated representative to the Department of Education and Science High Level Group and sits on the International Education Mark for Higher Education (IEM HE) External Advisory Group established by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) in April 2018.

Diarmuid was elected to the Council of Dublin Chamber of Commerce in February 2018.

Professor Hegarty is also Chairman of the Friends of the Vocal Arts and has served as Honorary Consul for Pakistan and advisor to the Pakistani government in the area of education and investment in the IT Sector. He has been chair of the Irish Pakistan Business Council.

He speaks conversational Italian and Chinese and fluent French.

Acad. Qual:
Barrister-at-Law, Honorable Society of King’s Inns; BComm, University College Dublin