CHIEF EXECUTIVES FORUM - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Executive Director
• Executive Director of the Chief Executive

Anne Dickson is the Executive Director of the Chief Executive's Forum, working to its board to develop and deliver its policies and services. Anne brings almost 20 years' public sector experience to the post, most recently as Interim Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland. Prior to this, she was Principal Private Secretary to the deputy First Minister, working in the Private Office from 2007 - 2016. In this role, Anne worked at the heart of the devolved institutions, attending the Northern Ireland Executive, the North South Ministerial Council and British Irish Council. Previously, Anne was a Principal Information Officer in both the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the Department of Education. Before entering the public service, Anne worked in corporate communications in a number of private sector organisations.

Job Titles:

• Administrative Officer
• Administrative Support

Catherine has joined the Chief Executives Forum as Administrative Officer, on secondment from the Department for Communities, Child Maintenance Service where she started in NICS in May 2021. Previously Catherine participated in the HSC Leadership Graduate programme, working in the IT department. Catherine was responsible for generating productivity reports, tackling common IT issues like password resets, as well as creating and maintaining accounts for the covid19 track and trace system. Catherine has also worked within the Communications and Marketing section of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, maintaining it's social media, website, databases, administrative records, edited and issued press releases to multiple media outlets.

Job Titles:

• Chairman

David Sterling joined the Northern Ireland Civil service in 1978 and spent the early part of his career in the Police Authority for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office. He was transferred to Central Finance Group in the Department of Finance and Personnel in early 2000 and served in Supply Division and Central Expenditure Division. In this latter role he was responsible for coordinating public expenditure planning across the Northern Ireland departments. He was promoted to deputy secretary in January 2003 and transferred to the Department for Regional Development. As Senior Finance Director he had responsibility for DRD's resources and management services. David transferred to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in March 2008 where he led the Department's Policy Group. He was appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Department in October 2009. While in DETI he oversaw the implementation of a major review of economic policy in Northern Ireland and the development of the Executive's 2012-2016 Economic Strategy. He also led the implementation of a number of major attractions and events including the development of Titanic Belfast, the hosting of the 2012 Irish Open Golf Championship and the 2014 Grande Partenza of the Grio d'Italia. In 2013 he chaired the NI Executive's G8 Summit Steering Group. David transferred to the Department of Finance and Personnel on 1 July 2014 where he led the Department through a three year period during which the NICS was restructured from 12 departments down to nine, the Civil Service reduced in size by around 17% and the Executive's budget was subject to constant pressures. Despite these difficulties the Department expanded its provision of shared services to the rest of the public sector and there was an acceleration in the programme of digitalising public services. David served as Head of the Civil Service from June 2017 until his retirement in August 2020.

Job Titles:

• Chartered Accountant
• Chief Executive of the Special EU Programmes Body
• Chief Executive, SEUPB

Gina is the Chief Executive of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) a cross-border body established under the Good Friday Agreement. She is responsible for the implementation of the EU's PEACE IV and INTERREG VA programmes, totalling in excess of 0.5 billion. The PEACE Programme represents a unique investment by the European Union in support of the peace process, and both Programmes support the development of a more sustainable and prosperous cross-border region. Gina is currently leading the development of a new EU funding programme called PEACE PLUS for 2021-2027, which will be the only cross-border EU funding instrument operational across Northern Ireland and Ireland. Gina is a qualified chartered accountant who trained and qualified with Coopers and Lybrand (now known as PWC). She has also held additional roles over the last few years, including that of a Non-Executive Director for a private sector company, Chair and Member of an audit committee, and Member of a pensions committee.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
• Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Housing Executive

Grainia Long is the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the strategic housing authority for Northern Ireland and one of the largest publically owned social landlords in Europe.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Chief Executive Officer of the NI Community Relations Council
• Chief Executive, NI Community Relations Council

Jacqueline Irwin is the Chief Executive Officer of the NI Community Relations Council (CRC), a non-departmental public body sponsored by The Executive Office and the regional funding and development organisation supporting peace-building and community relations. Before joining CRC Jacqueline lead the National Asylum Support Services in Northern Ireland. She also lead the project to establish operational asylum support services across ten other locations in England, Scotland, and Wales in collaboration with the UK government, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and NI Assemblies, Local Authorities and voluntary groups. Prior to this Jacqueline had 20 years experience in the voluntary sector working in the fields of criminal justice, social welfare, law and voluntary and community development. She is a former Chair of the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) and in that capacity negotiated the first formal Compact between government and the voluntary sector. Jacqueline holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Ulster and is a PhD candidate at Queen's University Belfast. She is a member of the Northern Ireland Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund. She is also a member of the Peer Review College of the Economic and Social Research Council. Jacqueline is a former member of the BBC NI Appeals Advisory Committee and has served on the NI committee of BBC Children In Need.

Job Titles:

• Business Manager

Jane has joined the Chief Executives Forum as Business Manager on secondment from The National Lottery Community Fund. Jane began working for The Community Fund (previously Big Lottery Fund) in 2006 as an Information and Events Officer, responsible for updating customers on funding opportunities in addition to organising and running events to highlight the impact of National Lottery funding. Most recently her role was in the Communications Team of the Community Fund where she was responsible for digital communications and social media. Jane also completed a secondment with the Public Prosecutions Office, working in the Press Office. Prior to joining the Community Fund Jane worked for 9 years as a Senior Executive Assistant for a highly successful, locally owned, software company.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Chief Executive of Derry City
• Chief Executive, Derry City and Strabane District Council

John Kelpie is the Chief Executive of Derry City and Strabane District Council. Established in April 2015 as a result of a programme of local government reform in Northern Ireland, this new Council serves a larger geographical area and has a range of additional powers, functions and responsibilities than its predecessor councils. John led on the creation of the new organisation designing an innovative, flexible and responsive staffing structure with a clear vision and purpose to develop a thriving, prosperous and sustainable City and Region with equality of opportunity for all.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Chief Executive, NICCY

A graduate of both Queen's and Ulster University, Mairéad has worked on behalf of vulnerable children and young people for many years. Since 1998 she worked in the Education Sector, from a ‘Child's Rights' perspective, with young people outside the mainstream school system in the areas of education, training, health and youth justice. She moved on to run Integrated Services for Children & Young People's (ISCYP) in 2009 and rolled this model out across neighbourhood partnership areas, developing integrated working with statutory, community and voluntary sector agencies whose work impacted on the lives of marginalised children, young people and families. Mairead has also been involved in a number of strategic and advisory working groups e.g. DE's PEHAW strategy, Review of Community Relations, Equality and Diversity (CRED) in Schools and sat on the Bill of Rights NI Forum as well as its Economic & Social Rights Working Group. Mairéad has also been proactively involved in influencing policy and legislative developments e.g. in the areas of equality, inclusion and human rights, working in a voluntary capacity for over 10 years. She has served as a member of Belfast Education & Library Board (BELB), the Association of NI Education & Library Boards (ANIELB), the Children's & Young People's Strategic Partnership (CYPSP), as a School Governor in a large post primary school in Belfast, as well as Director on a number of Boards in the Community and Voluntary Sector. She is currently a member of the Chief Executive's Forum and the Institute of Directors.

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive
• Member of the Board
• Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service
• Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service

Michael Bloomfield was appointed as Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service in March 2018. Michael has 30 years' experience working in the public sector. He joined the Civil Service in 1987, moving to the Department of Health in 1998 where he held a number of posts including in Public Health policy and Secondary Care policy. In 2007 he was appointed Head of Performance Management in the Service Delivery Unit, before joining the Health and Social Care Board as Assistant Director of Performance Management when it was established in 2009. Michael was appointed Director of Corporate Services in the Board in March 2011 and in November 2012, also took on the role of Director of Performance Management and Service Improvement. In November 2016, he was appointed HSCB Deputy Chief Executive. Michael is Chair of the Northern Ireland Cancer Network, the Northern Ireland Major Trauma Network and Chair of the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care (NICON). He is a Trustee of the NHS Confederation and member of the NHS Confederation's Audit Committee.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Secretary
• Permanent Secretary, Department of Economy

Mike Brennan was temporarily promoted as Permanent Secretary at the Department for the Economy (DfE) on 2 December 2019. Mike has held a number of roles within the Northern Ireland Civil Service, most recently (until his temporary promotion) as Deputy Secretary EU Exit Policy Group within the DfE, which he joined in May 2017. Before joining DfE, Mike spent most of his civil service career in the Department of Finance (formerly known as the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP)) in a range of roles including Public Spending Director, Head of Central Expenditure Division, Chief Economist and Head of Strategic Policy Division, Assistant Secretary Supply Officer and as DFP's seconded Senior Economist for the Office for Regulation of Electricity and Gas. During this time Mike also spent several years as Senior Principal Economist in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Prior to joining the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Mike was an economist at the Northern Ireland Economic Council. Mike holds a BA Hons in Pure Economics (University College Dublin), an MSc in Applied Economics (University of Ulster) and a Diploma 'Leadership in a Changing World' (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, US). Mike's interests include sports, history and music.

Job Titles:

• Chartered Accountant
• Member of the Board
• Permanent Secretary, Department of Justice
• Secretary of the Department of Justice

Richard Pengelly was appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Justice on 4 April 2022. Prior to this Richard held the post of Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health from July 2014, and previously Permanent Secretary of the Department for Regional Development (DRD). Richard is a Chartered Accountant, and before joining the Department for Finance and Personnel in 1998 he worked in the Northern Ireland Audit Office and in private accounting practice. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration from Warwick University.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Chief Executive of Armagh City
• Chief Executive, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council

Roger Wilson was appointed as Chief Executive of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council on 1 April 2014. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of Coleraine Borough Council from October 2008, before which he was Strategic Director of Corporate Services with Armagh City and District Council. He has also worked in the private sector. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Chartered Company Secretary, holds the Certificate in Company Direction from the IoD, obtained his MBA from the University of Ulster and is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia. He has led and been involved in a number of strategic projects that have contributed to the economic, social and physical regeneration of local areas.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Chief Executive of the Education Authority
• Chief Executive, Education Authority

Sara Long took up post as Chief Executive of the Education Authority (EA) on 1st April, 2019. Previously the Director of Operations and Estates, Sara joined the Education Authority in 2016 and has been responsible for a wide range of services including home to school transport, school meals, school maintenance and capital development.