Dr. Bro McFerran CBE DSc

Managing Director, Allstate Northern Ireland

Managing Director of Northern Ireland’s largest IT company, Allstate Northern Ireland, since it was set up in Northern Ireland in 1999, Dr. Bro McFerran has held prominent positions in leading IT companies for over three decades. He was Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing for IMRglobal Corporation in Florida and joint founder and Managing Director of Logicom Limited, a Northern Ireland based IT services company. He was also a founding board member of the Software Industry Federation in Northern Ireland (now Momentum), and its second Chairman.

Educated at St Malachy’s College and Queen’s University, Belfast where he studied Mechanical Engineering, he was awarded a CBE in 2005 for services to Northern Ireland’s IT industry. His numerous awards include an honorary degree from the University of Ulster for services to economic development.

He is currently a non-Executive Director of the Northern Bank, a non-executive Director of the Strategic Investment Board for Northern Ireland (an OFMDFM appointment), a board member of Business in the Community and Chairman of the Belfast Workforce Development Forum. Living in Belfast, he is married and has three children and one grandchild.

Mr. McFerran was educated at St. Malachy’s College and Queen’s University, Belfast where he studied Mechanical Engineering.  He is married to Pat and has three children and one grandchild, and lives in Belfast.

Austin Baird

MD Ravenhill Group

Austin is Managing Director of the Ravenhill Group, a group of companies based in Lisburn, Co Down, involved in investment and development within the commercial property sector. With a portfolio of retail and industrial assets, largely within the UK, the group holds investments in a number of other trading companies where Austin sits as a director.

Educated at Campbell College, Belfast, Austin read Pharmacy at Queens University, Belfast before working in management positions with Boots and Lloyds plc’s. Between 1988 and 2005 Austin developed the family pharmacy chain, Bairds Chemist, into Northern Irelands’ largest pharmacy group. During this period the group also developed its property portfolio, pioneering collaboration with other healthcare professionals in the creation of private health centres. In 2005 Austin led the group to a successful trade sale to a UK plc.

The Ravenhill Group was established in 2005 to manage and develop
the remaining commercial property interests whilst seeking out further opportunities. Austin is actively involved in several charitable foundations and was recently involved in the leadership group for Rediscover Northern Ireland in Washington. Living in Holywood, County Down, he is married with three young sons.

Terence Brannigan

Chairman, CBI Northern Ireland

The founder of resource™, Northern Ireland’s largest private sector employer, which delivers a range of support services to clients across the UK and Ireland, Terence Brannigan has established it as the fifth largest and the fastest growing company in its sector within the UK and Ireland.

Terence began the restructuring and re-branding process which would create resource™ by leading a management buy-in team to acquire what was then Maybin Support Services (NI) Ltd in 2006, followed by the acquisition of four strategically compatible companies.

Prior to this Terence held several senior executive positions within the Compass Group, including Chief Executive of their Defence Division, overseeing business in 48 countries, and CEO of the company’s Managed Services Division, which he grew from scratch to a £150m business in less than three years.

He is currently Chairman of the CBI in Northern Ireland, a visiting professor attached to the Business Institute, Ulster Business School at the University of Ulster, a Trustee of the Pushkin Trust, a board member of the Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland and a Trustee on the board of the George Best Foundation. Terence is married and
has a daughter and two sons.

Orla Corr

Business Development Director, Mc Avoy Group Limited

The first woman to be inducted into the Invest Northern Ireland Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame, in 2007, Orla is Business Development
Director of McAvoy Off-Site Solutions, a market leader in the design, off-site manufacture and installation of modular and sectional buildings. The company has manufacturing plants in Dungannon and Lisburn as well as depots in the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. In 2004, the company, which exports around the world, gained the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its exceptional export achievements.

A graduate in Accountancy from Queen’s University, Belfast, Orla qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and held a number of management posts in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland before joining the McAvoy Group in 1995.

She was appointed Financial Director in 1997 and Managing Director
in 2000. Orla stepped down as Managing Director in 2008 to enable her to focus her expertise and knowledge on the development of new opportunities for the business in the modular construction industry, especially in markets outside Northern Ireland.

David Gavaghan

Executive Director, Fund Management

David joined leading fund management company Quintain, which has more than £1.1 billion of funds under management (FUM) in healthcare, student accommodation, science parks and secondary property, in May 2010.

For six years prior to his appointment to Quintain, he was CEO of the Strategic Investment Board Limited (SIB), the body that advises the Executive in Northern Ireland on the region’s major infrastructure programmes. In 2007, David received Public Private Finance Awards for his individual contribution to the work of SIB. A year later, he was awarded a Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Before joining SIB, he worked with David Wylde Project Finance Limited for five years helping establish the company as a major adviser in project finance. He began his working career at Hambros Bank, specialising in property and tax-based finance. He stayed there for ten years, latterly as a director.

Married with seven children, David’s wife Helen O’Malley owns and manages the Bo Tree Thai Restaurant near to Queen’s University Belfast.

Philip Gilliland

President Londonderry Chamber of Commerce 2013

43-year-old Philip is Managing Partner of Caldwell and Robinson Solicitors, a locally based commercial and private client lawyers practice with a presence throughout the island of Ireland. His speciality is commercial and corporate law, particularly in the entrepreneurial and international areas, having strategic relationships with law firms in China, India and Brazil and many other countries.

Educated at Foyle College Preparatory School and Coleraine Academical Institution, he read History at Edinburgh University and the University of Pennsylvania before going to law school in London. His subsequent career involved working for the world’s largest law firm, Clifford Chance, who had sponsored him through law school, for three years. He has since worked for Derry-based Desmond & Sons Ltd, Marks & Spencer plc (responsible for the commercial, quality and ethical relationships of M&S) and J.Sainsbury plc as General Manager for Asia. In 2005 he returned to
his family’s legal practice in Derry.

Philip is Deputy Vice President of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, a member of the university lobby group U4D and Chair of the Board of Governors of Culmore Primary School.

Stephen Kelly

Managing Director, Spirit Marketing Group

Stephen Kelly is Managing Director of Spirit Marketing Group, a leading international marketing and management group with its headquarters in Belfast and offices around the world. Previously, Stephen was Chief Executive of the Federation of the Retail Licensed Trade, the representative body for Northern Ireland’s pub and hospitality trade.

Stephen was Chief Executive of the Derry~Londonderry City Centre management company, City Centre Initiative, for four years, working alongside stakeholders and partners on the effective management and regeneration of the city centre. He has continued this involvement by being a member of the Marketing SWG in Ilex’s regeneration planning.

Stephen was the 2003 UK National President of Junior Chamber
International and a member of the BBC’s Broadcasting Council for
Northern Ireland. He has also been Chairman of the Cresco Trust - a not-for-profit social economy organisation which grows the skills of those disadvantaged within the labour market and promotes social economy enterprise – since its formation in 2003. Married with three children, he lives in Derry.

Jason Kennedy

Group CEO Grafton Employment Group

Appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer of The Grafton Employment Group in May 2009, Jason Kennedy is responsible for the overall performance of the company as well as the development and implementation of long and short-term company objectives, policies and operating procedures. He plays a critical role in the strategic planning process and ensures that The Grafton Employment Group continues to deal effectively with emerging and changing business trends.

Jason Kennedy moved to Grafton Employment Group from Manpower Ireland, where he held the position of Managing Director for eight years. His success in that role saw him assume responsibility for Manpower Professional in the UK and he was also a member of Manpower’s US-based Global Leadership Team, responsible for leading their change management programme for strategic global initiatives.

Prior to joining Manpower Ireland, Jason held the position of Deputy
Managing Director at recruitment firm Marlborough PLC, where he played a key role in the flotation of the company on both the Dublin and London stock markets. Jason holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, a Masters Degree in Organisational Psychology and a Higher Diploma in Finance.

Jennifer Mc Keever

Director, Airporter

Jennifer McKeever is Director of Airporter, which she founded in 1996 on her return from Canada, along with her parents, Brian and Norma Smyth. A direct coach service connecting Derry City Centre to the two Belfast Airports, Airporter carries 80,000 passengers a year going to and from the airports, up from just 5,000 passengers in its first year of business.

The company, which originated from the family’s personal need for a service between the airports of Belfast and Derry, was joined by Jennifer’s husband Niall in 2003. In 2009 Airporter became the first coach company in Northern Ireland to offer on board free Wifi across their entire fleet and, a year later, it was the first to provide an online reservation system. The company has been given the Innovation Award for the past two years by the Federation of Passenger Transport and was named Coach Company of the Year 2010. It was also Highly Commended in the Best SME section by
the Business Eye Awards in 2010.

Christine Naylor

Partner Rockport Ventures LLP

With 20 year’s experience helping companies in the technology,
service and manufacturing sectors across the globe become effective and profitable, Christine operates Rockport Ventures LLP, a business growth partnership which specialises in business performance through focused strategy, smart operations/ processes, aligned technology and buy-in/out.

Christine began her business career as an accountant, before taking
on a variety of roles within Bombardier (Shorts) plc and then Price Waterhouse, where she became a Managing Consultant, working throughout Europe in many different areas from change and
performance management to cost effectiveness and reduction.

Joining the Industrial Society in 1996 she focused on strategic
management, change management, business excellence, cost
reduction, communication and management development with SMEs. Christine also worked on a variety of Business/IT strategy and operational/process design/implementation projects in Asia, Europe, USA and UK as a Managing Consultant for Kainos Software Ltd.

In 2006, Christine joined Intertek plc as Business Transformation Director, implementing business transformation across their global operations. Christine is currently advising a number of startup companies in Northern Ireland and is interested in small local companies requiring investment/purchase and business growth expertise.

Tim O’Connor

Tim O’Connor runs his own business providing strategic advice and
support to Irish and international companies and organizations such as Belfast-based Pi Communications, Failte Ireland and Microbide. He also holds several non-executive directorships.

Before starting his own business in March 2010, Tim had a 37- year career in the Irish public service, most recently as Secretary General to the President of Ireland (2007-2010). He spent 30 years in the Irish Diplomatic Service, including a lengthy spell working on the Northern Ireland Peace Process. He was part of the IrishGovernment negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreement and was the inaugural Joint Secretary of the North/South Ministerial Council. Between 2005 and 2007 he served as Consul General of Ireland in New York.

Among many not-for-profit positions, Tim is currently Chair of the
Advisory Board of the Clinton Institute for American Studies at
University College Dublin, and a member of the Leonardo Group, which advises the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin. He has been actively engaged in supporting Derry~Londonderry as UK City of Culture 2013. Tim holds a BA and an HDip (Ed) from NUI Maynooth and has several honorary doctorates.

Colm O'Neill

CEO BT Ireland

Colm O’Neill is Chief Executive Officer of BT in Ireland, a leading communications and IT services company with annual revenues of £750 million and close to 3,000 employees.  Colm joined BT in 2009 as Managing Director for Business, with responsibility for driving the company’s growth in the business and government sectors.

Colm previously worked in EMC for nine years, holding a number of senior management positions across the UK and Ireland, including Country Manager for EMC Ireland.  He has also held positions at Fujitsu Services and Price Waterhouse.

Colm graduated from University College Dublin (UCD) with an Honours degree in Computer Science and Maths and a Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance, and also holds a Diploma in Professional Selling from Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT).  Colm is married to Caomhie and has two daughters. His hobbies include music and rugby.

Katy Best

Commercial & Marketing Director, Belfast City Airport

Katy is responsible for all revenue streams and communications strategy at Belfast City Airport. This involves liaising and negotiating with entities such as airlines, tourism bodies, retail companies, advertisers. Katy has overseen the introduction of three new airlines and a £6m redevelopment in the past three years during which time BCA has been the fastest growing airport in the UK.

In 2003, Katy became a founding member and Commercial Director of ActivityBreaks.com, an innovative online travel start-up which was sold in 2007.

Prior to working at ActivityBreaks.com, Katy had been involved in a number of online, travel and tourism businesses in Belfast, London and Sydney.

Katy is currently a Council member of the NI Chamber of Commerce and a member of the advisory board of the Belfast Giants. Previously, Katy has been a Princes Trust Business Mentor.

Katy holds an MA(BComm) from Edinburgh University and was educated at Strathearn School, Belfast.
Katy is married with two children.