CEO Update

Chamber Chief’s UPDATE

During such an uncertain period, NI Chamber is committed to helping you and your business deal with the current situation and the challenges ahead. NI Chamber Chief Executive Ann McGregor provides an overview of what’s coming up and what’s taken place recently.

The half-way point of the year seems an appropriate time to acknowledge the efforts of business people across Northern Ireland, who approached another challenging six months with a great degree of pragmatism. With all sectors of the economy gradually re-opening and the prospect of practical solutions to cost and administrative issues with the Protocol, we all hope that the second half of 2021 will present significantly less challenges.

At NI Chamber, this month saw the election of a new President and Vice-President. I would like to warmly congratulate our new President, Paul Murnaghan, Head of BT in Northern Ireland and Gillian McAuley, Group HR Director at Devenish Nutrition, who takes on the role of Vice-President. They bring a breadth of experience which will become a great asset to this organisation and the Executive team looks forward to working with them both. We extend our sincere thanks to Past President Ian Henry of Henry Group, who made an immense contribution during his term.

As our new President, Paul has wasted no time in getting to work and his first engagement, hosting the Annual President’s Lunch, took place on his first day in office. Around 100 guests attended the virtual event, hearing from inspirational guest speaker, champion jockey Rachael Blackmore in an interview with sports broadcaster, Holly Hamilton. The Annual Lunch is usually a much anticipated event in the business calendar here and while we certainly missed hosting many more guests in person, it was a really enjoyable, optimistic afternoon and I know a great many people enjoyed it a lot.

On the theme of welcome, I am also pleased to say that Pinsent Masons is our newest International Champion and we are delighted to have the firm on board. As a professional services firm with a global reach, Andrea McIlroy-Rose and her team bring a truly international outlook and members will benefit enormously from what they have to offer.

June saw the return of our popular Leadership LIVE series, delivered in partnership with Electric Ireland. That event was about getting ‘back to the future’ and the critical role strong leadership will play in economic recovery and growth. I would like to thank guest speakers Gillian McLean, Managing Director at Ulster Weavers and Mairead Meyer, Director at Openreach NI for sharing their experiences and inspiration with us.

The most recent Future of Skills Forum was all about collaboration and attendees joined a discussion led by Carol Fitzsimons MBE, Chief Executive, Young Enterprise NI; John Healy OBE, Vice-President & Managing Director, Allstate NI; and Gordon Parkes, HR Director, NIE Networks. The focus of that session was about how, by working together, industry, educators and government can ensure that young people and employers can access the

Louise Turley (NI Chamber); Gillian McLean (Ulster Weavers) and David Fusco (Electric Ireland).