BELFAST HARBOUR - Key Persons
Councillor Ciaran Beattie is a full-time member of Belfast City Council and represents the Black Mountain Electoral Area. He is a member of the City Growth and Regeneration Committee, Strategic Policy and Resource Committee and a board member of the West Belfast Partnership Board. He does not hold any other public appointments.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- COUNCILLOR
A native of Dublin, Donal has lived in Belfast for 19 years and has represented Balmoral as councillor since 2015. After studying Chemistry at University College Dublin, Donal worked in Dail Eireann, before building a career in public policy and human rights. He is SDLP Group leader on Belfast City Council and a former Chairperson of the Planning Committee and the City Growth and Regeneration Committee. Donal has particular interest in lifelong learning.
Job Titles:
- Certified Public Accountant
- Member of the Board
Deborah was first appointed to the Board in February 2016. She is also Co-Chair of the Diversity Mark Board of Assessors and is past Deputy Chair and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of Invest NI.
Deborah is a Certified Public Accountant. Previously she was Senior Vice President of Tax at Oracle Corporation based in California. She was also a member of the boards of Planitax and Liquid Engines, both software companies; Chair of the Silicon Valley Tax Directors Group; past Chair of the Tax Committee of the American Electronics Association and a member of the Executive Committee of the Tax Executive Institute. Deborah is a past member of the Board of Queen's University Belfast Foundation.
Diana Fitzsimons holds a MSC in Town Planning and an MA in Economics and is a Fellow of the RTPI, the RICS and the IoD. Her career included Senior Lecturer in Planning & Development; Principal Planning Appeals Commissioner; Director of the planning consultancy Turley; and a sole practitioner planning consultant.
She has extensive experience in urban regeneration, port planning, housing development and master planning. She was formerly Chair of the RTPI and the RICS NI Branches and received the UK Lifetime Achievement Award from the RICS in Oct 2022. Diana was a member of RICS Governing Council; a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group; deputy President of the International Federation for Housing and Planning; and Chair of Radius Housing Association. She is a Visiting Professor at Ulster University and in 2021 she was awarded Non-Executive Director of the Year by IoD NI.
Dr Theresa Donaldson is Chair of Belfast Harbour and is a Chartered Director and Fellow of the Institute of Directors. Theresa is also Vice Chair of the Eirgrid Group and Chair of SONI. Theresa previously held non-Executive positions with the NI Equality Commission and the NI Health and Social Care Board. She is a member of the LCJ Solicitors' Disciplinary Panel and a Board member of the Centre for Effective Services and NI Appeals Committee for BBC Children in Need. She is a former Local Government Chief Executive and held several senior management positions in health and social care and legal services in NI, including as Director of Policy and Civil Service Delivery in the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Business Leader
Gerry McGinn is an experienced business leader. He has been CEO of financial institutions in London, Dublin, and Belfast, as well as Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education and the former Department for Regional Development.
He is an Independent Non-Executive Director of both the Progressive Building Society and AXA Insurance DAC. He is currently Chair of the Ulster University Economics Policy Centre.
Job Titles:
- Property Director
- Property and Place Director
Graeme Johnston, Property Director, started his real estate career after graduating in 1982. He later went on to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor and a Chartered Project Management Surveyor. Since then he has been employed by a number of consultancy practices and a property developer/contractor latterly in management roles.
He became all Ireland Property Manager for Ulster Bank Limited, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, leading the property teams in the bank's expansion primarily in the Republic of Ireland and the head office centralisation projects in both Belfast and Dublin. Prior to joining Belfast Harbour Commissioners he was a Director of both Henderson Group Property Limited and Henderson Retail Limited, Northern Ireland's fifth largest privately owned food wholesale and retail company.
Graeme is responsible for the strategic planning, development and management of Belfast Harbour's real estate offer covering some 2,000 acres strategically located within Belfast.
He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Association for Project Safety, CoreNet and Lambda Alpha International, where he undertakes the role of Treasurer for the Irish Chapter.
Graeme joined the organisation in 2007 having held a number of senior positions in the Banking and
Retail sectors. Graeme is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Project Management Surveyor and was previously Property Director for the Henderson Group and was all-Ireland Property Manager for Ulster Bank.
Graeme has extensive property sector experience in Ireland and the UK including roles in property & business acquisition, construction, development, and asset management.
Heather started her career with Belfast Harbour Commissioners in the Engineering Department in 1973. In 1995 she transferred to the Property Department, bringing with her invaluable experience of the infrastructure within the Harbour Estate.
As Property Administrator Heather helps ensure the smooth running of the Department, dealing with invoicing, service charges and general communication with tenants within the Harbour community.
Heather is a keen golfer and is Secretary of the Belfast Harbour Golf Society.
Job Titles:
- Sustainability and Infrastructure Director
Ian joined Belfast Harbour in August of 2021, relocating from St. Andrews in Scotland to take up this new post which was created to align the Harbour's Infrastructure and Sustainability ambitions.
He brings a wealth of infrastructure experience having led complex engineering and capital portfolios within an aviation setting as well as wider change programmes and corporate strategy. He has held posts at BAA Glasgow International, Bahrain International Airport in the Middle East and Edinburgh International Airport as Strategy and Capital Investment Director. Prior to joining Belfast Harbour Ian led the Transformation Programme at London Gatwick Airport focused on the airport's approach to managing long-term capacity and its £2bn transformation programme.
Ian holds an MBA from Strathclyde University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Chartered Civil Engineer, Chartered Environmentalist and Chartered Water and Environmental Manager
Jane Chambers is a Chartered Civil Engineer, Chartered Environmentalist and Chartered Water and Environmental Manager holding a Masters' Degree in Civil Engineering from Queen's University, Belfast.
Jane has had a long career in both contracting and consultancy environments, specialising in environmental protection and major infrastructure delivery. Most recently, Jane has worked as project manager in the delivery of the Greater Dublin Drainage project for Irish Water. Previously, she delivered project management services for Water Service / Northern Ireland Water and, ultimately, eliminated risks of Infraction Proceedings being instigated by the European Commission for non-compliance with the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.
Joe O'Neill was appointed CEO of Belfast Harbour on 1 st January 2018 having joined the organisation in 1997 and held a number of prior roles within Belfast Harbour including Commercial Manager, Port Manager and Commercial Director.
Prior to joining the Port, Joe held positions with Undus Ltd and Cantrell and Cochrane Ltd. Joe was previously Chairman of the MAC theatre in Belfast, stepping down on 31 December 2017. Joe is Chair of the Simon Community and Chair of Renewed Ambition Real Estate Initiative. He is a member of the UK Major Ports Group; CBI Regional Council, the Centre for Competitiveness and the Advisory Board of Artemis Technologies. Joe is also a Council Member of the British Ports Association and is a Board Member for Business in the Community.
Kevin Kingston was the Chief Executive of Danske Bank UK from 2015 through to 2021, having previously held a number of roles in Danske Bank, Ulster Bank and KPMG. He is currently a Non-Executive Board Member of Norbrook Laboratories, and the Maritime Belfast Trust.
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, Kevin is a former President of the NI Chamber of Commerce & Industry and a former Chairman of the Chartered Accountants Ulster Society and completed his three-year term at Invest NI in March 2023. He was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to Financial Services during COVID-19.
Kevin joined Belfast Harbour in 2021 having held a number of senior positions in the Development and Retail sector. Kevin is a qualified Chartered Planning & Development Surveyor and was previously Director of Development for Hines based in Dublin and prior to Hines was the Head of Real Estate for Tesco Ireland. Kevin has extensive experience covering both client and development sectors within the commercial real estate market at executive and board level and has a proven track record in procurement, design, development, leasing, asset management and disposal of iconic landmark mixed-use destinations.
Mark Doherty, Property Manager, graduated with a degree in Business Studies in 1988 and worked for four years in the Operations Department of Belfast Harbour before moving into the newly created Property Department in 1994. He attained a degree in Estate Management in 1998 and has been a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors from 2001. Mark has extensive experience of Brownfield Regeneration projects in Belfast Harbour such as Clarendon Dock, Sydenham Business Park and Holywood Exchange Retail Park, together with the lease restructuring of a number of major tenants' interests such as Belfast City Airport. He is currently engaged in the development of the Titanic Quarter development entailing the regeneration of c.185 acres of surplus shipyard lands. Mark is responsible for the management of Belfast Harbour's real estate offer, covering some 2,000 acres strategically located within Belfast.
Prior to his retirement from the Northern Ireland Civil Service in November 2019, Noel was Permanent Secretary in the Department for the Economy. Before this he had held Permanent Secretary roles in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the former Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He has nearly 20 years of experience of economic development working in public sector policy, delivery and governance roles. He trained as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse and the first 15 years of his career were in the private sector. He has been a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland since 1995. Noel is the current Northern Ireland Co-Chair of the US-Ireland R&D Partnership Steering Group. He is also a trustee of a number of charities.
Senior business leader and Engineering Fellow with extensive commercial experience driving sustainable transformation in both the private and public sectors, in various sectors and businesses ranging from local start-ups, SMEs to global conglomerates such as Rolls Royce, Boeing and Ford.
Sir Malcolm McKibbin was Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service from 2011 to 2017. He was the Permanent Secretary of the former Departments of Regional Development and Agriculture and Rural Development. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Queens in 2017 in recognition of his public service.
Following his retirement, he led one of the five strands in the 2019 political negotiations aimed at restoring devolution. He is an Associate of Deloitte providing advice on Strategic Issues, a member of the Board of Co-operation Ireland and in 2021 assisted Sir Peter Hendy on NI aspects of the UK Connectivity Review.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Deputy Chief Constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary
- Non - Executive Chair of the Irish Football Association
Stephen Martin is the Deputy Chief Constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, a police service which protects Great Britain's major nuclear infrastructure and nuclear material in transit. He was previously a police officer in Northern Ireland for nearly 34 years, concluding in 2020 as the Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI.
Stephen is also the Non-Executive Chair of the Irish Football Association and sits on the Prince's Trust Northern Ireland advisory committee. He is a Chartered Director, a Fellow of the Institute of
Tim has worked in the Property Team at Belfast Harbour Commissioners since May 2005. After graduating with a Bsc Hons in Property Investment and Development in 2009, Tim achieved his status as a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Tim is proficient in the use of real estate based IT systems and leads the division's efforts in use of AutoCAD and various Property Management databases. Tim also has a keen interest in the regeneration process and as a consequence is heavily involved in the mixed use City Quays regeneration scheme.
Tim has previously worked as a valuer in a residential real estate agency and is qualified in Construction Management and Engineering.