Members’ reception - Members only (4 April 2023)

Please note this event is for ICAEW members only

The future of Northern Ireland – its economy & infrastructure (5 April 2023) 

This event is open to all; ICAEW members and non-members are welcome to join us

Justin Kyriakou, ICAEW Regional Director

Justin is ICAEW’s Regional Director with responsibility for its activities in Northern Ireland and for supporting members across the province.

Before joining ICAEW, Justin worked for the Association of Accounting Technicians and was responsible for the significant growth of AAT in the North of England.

In 2014, he was promoted to Global Development Manager for AAT and lead its international strategy until 2019. In that time, Justin was responsible for taking AAT into various markets across South East Asia, Europe and the Middle East as well as delivering a number MOU’s with international accounting bodies.

Justin has a successful track record of leading and managing regional, national and international growth, reputation and influence and is experienced at providing national and international solutions in professional training and professional accounting organisational development.

He is a member of the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Bernard O’Hara, Director at KPMG

Bernard is a Director in KPMG and leads its Managed Solutions business in Northern Ireland, which provides tailored solutions utilising people, process and technology, in response to client challenges.
He has over 25 years' experience in Statutory Audit, Internal Audit, Risk & Governance, across a wide range of sectors, including Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail, Leisure and the Public Sector in Northern Ireland.

Mark Rhys, ICAEW Deputy President

Mark has spent over thirty years auditing banking and capital market clients.

He was Deloitte’s global lead contact for interactions with the Financial Stability Board. As joint Chair of the GPPC’s Bank Working Group, Mark led regular discussions between the profession, the FSB and IFIAR regarding bank accounting and audit quality and leads Deloitte’s discussions with the BCBS Accounting Experts Group. He was a member of the PRA’s Practitioner Panel for six years and sat on Sir Donald Brydon’s Auditors’ Advisory Group.

At the ICAEW, Mark was the first Chair of the Financial Services Faculty, and has chaired the Technical Strategy Board.

Mark qualified with Arthur Andersen, worked in Tokyo for two years and became a partner in 1996. He has a degree in Economics (University College London) and an MBA with distinction from Warwick Business School.

Gina McIntyre, 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 and working to the Government of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

She is currently responsible for the European Union’s PEACE IV and INTERREG VA funding 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, across Northern Ireland, the Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland (INTERREG only).

Having spent most of her career involved with EU support programmes, Gina has gained extensive knowledge of the complex cross-border development needs of the region and the appropriate European funding instruments available to meet them.

Gina is a qualified chartered accountant who trained and qualified with Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC). Before joining the SEUPB as the Director of Corporate Services in 2003, she gained extensive practical knowledge of managing the distribution of cross-border PEACE funding during her work for Co-operation Ireland.

Gina is a regular speaker at major conferences and exhibitions across Europe on the management of EU Programmes in a post conflict society.

Stuart Anderson, Head of Public Affairs, Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Head of Public Affairs, Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Stuart leads NI Chamber’s direct interactions with politicians, helping to shape the legislative agenda and supporting elected representatives to create the right conditions for business and economic growth. He works directly with NI Chamber members in all sectors, identifying their challenges and bringing forward their ideas as part of a collaborative approach between industry and policy makers. A qualified lawyer, he is also the current Convenor of the Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group and serves as a Commissioner on the UK Trade and Business Commission.

Sean McAllister, Co-Founder CEO plotbox.io

Beginning life in 2012, PlotBox has grown from an entrepreneurial startup, to become a leader in deathcare management technologies.
Founded by husband and wife team Sean and Leona McAllister, PlotBox was the first, purpose-built solution of its kind to integrate two previously separate functions - deathcare management software and geo-rectified mapping - transforming the market and placing the solution in a completely different space to anything previously available.

Paul McCoy, International Investment Manager at Invest Northern Ireland

Paul is Investment Manager at Invest NI, the economic development agency for Northern Ireland. Prior to this he worked in the ICT/Software sector, but started his working life with Short Brothers, working on Defence projects. The activities of Shorts are now split between Bombardier and Thales. He is a graduate of Queen's University of Belfast and is a strong advocate for technology and innovation.

Damian Duffy, Director of Development at Belfast Metropolitan College

With an academic background in business and economics, Damian’s early career focussed on development and delivery of training and employability contracts in the Midlands and London, working with TECs. Damian subsequently spent a number of years on the management of international development and TVET reform projects, working across Central and Eastern Europe on regional economic development programmes for the World Bank, the UK Department for International Development, the European Commission and Swedish International Development. Having previously worked as a special adviser on the EU Commission OPENCities programme with British Council, Damian’s work here was focussed around the development of approaches and toolkits to support integration of migrant communities.

Damian currently leads business development and training activities across Belfast Met and is a Further Education Sector representative on the Department of Finance Committee in Northern Ireland tasked with the design of European Union Structural Funds Programmes 2014-2020. A member of the Board of the Northern Ireland Centre for Competitiveness and CBIEducation and Skills Committee, and of Project Steering Committee and Project Monitoring Committee for European Union PEACE IV programme in Northern Ireland, Damian also acts as Lead Adviser for Northern Ireland Prison Service on the design of new outsourced solution to provide Learning, Skills and Employability solutions for offenders in criminal justice system across three prison sites.

Susan Nightingale, Director for the Devolved Nations, British Business Bank

Susan heads up the Bank’s activity in Northern Ireland with her remit also covering Wales and Scotland, she has been with the Bank since January 2020. Prior to joining the Bank, Susan’s career has spanned both public and private sector, with SME debt and equity funding experience gained from roles within Invest NI Corporate Finance and Ulster Bank Commercial Banking. Susan joined Ulster Bank after graduating from Queen’s University with a degree in economics and business and a Masters in finance.

Professor Sam Turner, CEO of Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) & HVM Catapult Net Zero Champion

Net Zero Champion, HVM Catapult; Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC);

Professor Sam Turner served as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult until November 2022. In this role, Sam worked across the HVM Catapult centres and stakeholders, including government, to develop manufacturing strategy for the UK. He chaired the D4I digital industry group, the Through Life Engineering Services (TES) Council and the IMechE Manufacturing Industries Division. Sam remains part of the Made Smarter strategy implementation group led by Juergen Maier and was part of the review team.

He joined the HVM Catapult team in 2017 from his role as CTO of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, where he worked on a range of projects and capabilities including the flagship digital facility Factory 2050, machining, casting and composites technology. As a founding member of the AMRC, Sam led the growth of the AMRC’s Machining Group, with successes in delivering impact to UK industry, before moving into the CTO role. Sam has over 20 years’ experience in manufacturing working across the aerospace, steel, defence, automotive sectors.

David Stewart OBE, Head of NIrCTO

As Head of NIrCTO, David works closely with the Department for the Economy, Invest NI, local professional bodies and companies, to encourage local businesses involved in R&D to apply for R&D Tax Relief.

NIrCTO was created to help promote inward investment and local business expansion and increase the level of awareness of R&D Tax Relief in Northern Ireland.

David was born and educated in Belfast and has worked for HMRC since 1985. During this time he has gained substantial experience in working with local business, local government and large multinational corporates. David is HMRC’s Northern Ireland R&D Tax Relief specialist and in 2017 was awarded an OBE for his services to inward investment to Northern Ireland.

David was also responsible for the introduction of the HMRC booklet ‘Your Research, Our Support’ which is an informative guide to help Northern Ireland companies and their professional advisers in claiming R&D Tax Relief.

Please note that the programme is subject to change

Tuesday 4 April 2023

Wednesday 5 April 2023