CMI Northern Ireland facilitates and supports professional development and networking for CMI members who live and/or work in Northern Ireland. The volunteers who form the Board are all members within the region and believe passionately in the vision, mission and values of CMI and the importance of excellent leadership and management for all individuals and organisations.
Our focus is on our Northern Ireland members however we work closely with the CMI executive team and with other regions to support members in their development of management and leadership competencies aligned to the CMI Professional Standard and in the growth of their professional networks.
We work with members to organise events relevant to them, share best practice and information using a range of media, and build links with other professional bodies, higher and further education institutions, employers and other community partners.
Myself and the Board look forward to meeting you and working together as we continue to jointly shape the future of leadership and management excellence in Northern Ireland and as Chair, I would like to personally invite you to join our community by connecting with us on social media.
If you would like to know further information about activities in your region or would like to get involved, get in touch.
01536 207394
David is a leadership and management consultant with 30 years experience of in managing and being a member of teams. Working predominantly within the public sector David has experience in delivering cross-government projects and capacity-building programmes within conflict and post-conflict countries. He is a Fellow of both the Chartered Management Institute and the Institute of Leadership as well as a qualified coach, mentor, civil and workplace mediator, and emotional intelligence practitioner.
David is a voluntary Trustee on the Board of a local charity which supports victims of crime. During his career he spent three years seconded to the United States Department of Defense as a Design Planner where he was part of a multi-disciplinary team responsible for overseas government institution capacity building. He is a strong believer that emotional intelligence, active listening skills and empathy are vital management skills that support both upcoming and experienced managers and how those skills impact positively on team wellbeing and performance.
Steven Egan is an academic, educator and youth worker with a background in developing young leaders. Having attended Queen’s University Belfast for nine years, he graduated as the top performing student of the 2016 B.A. History & Politics cohort, before continuing on to complete both a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in History (2017; 2022). He also graduated from the Washington Ireland Program’s Emerging Leaders program (2021) and shortly thereafter joined the team as Program Associate.
Since then, Steven has contributed to the team that has designed, researched, and delivered numerous leadership development programs, including the WIP Emerging Leaders program (2022-23), WIP Forums (2021-22), WIP Community Forums (2022), and most recently, the WIP Academy (2023).
Steven recently achieved Foundation Chartered Manager status and completed his first CMI qualification at South Eastern Regional College. A passionate believer in the importance of lifelong education, Steven will be commencing both a CMI L5 qualification and a Postgraduate Certificate in Executive Leadership at Ulster University later this year.
Outside of work, he has volunteered extensively on the committee of a sporting society, spearheading an award winning campaign (2019) and has a passion for smart home technology, for which he established a YouTube channel in 2020.
Emma Finney, Innovation Manager at South Eastern Regional College, and graduate with over 15 years management experience. Recently completed her CMI Chartered Manager accreditation. Emma is a professional, highly motivated, and organised individual who gains great satisfaction in ensuring success in her many responsibilities.
Emma has experience in both private and public sector in the areas of retail and education. She is a fellow of CMI and Belfast Hub Lead on the Devolved Board of CMI and has just completed her CMI Level 7 in Strategic Management Practice.
Emma is also a wife and mum to two children with one very spoilt fur baby! In her spare time Emma enjoys walking and swimming, both in a pool and open water.
Olivia is a passionate and innovative Educator who seeks to inspire her students to change the business narrative. Drawing on previous experience as a Marketing Manager she believes in building and working in collaborative teams. Olivia believes in developing ‘soft skills’ to enable people to cope with the demands of the workplace and become better Managers.
Gavin is the Practice Director and Company Secretary at Quigg Golden, a specialist law firm with offices in Belfast, Dublin and London. A former Army Major with over 20 years of leadership and management experience, Gavin is both a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the CMI. He also holds Chartered designations in both the Corporate Governance Institute (formerly the ICSA) and the CIPD.
He holds an MBA which included research at Lloyd’s of London to understand the role of management in successfully delivering regulatory change in the insurance industry. Concurrently, he completed the CMIs Level 7 award in Strategic Management and Leadership whilst a student at the UK Defence Academy. More recently, Gavin graduated from Ulster University with an MSc in Management & Corporate Governance. He is a qualified Civil and Commercial Mediator and a trained Mental Health First Aider.
Married to Sabrina, they have four children, all of whom remind him regularly that he isn’t nearly as funny (or as clever) as he’d sometimes like to think. When he isn’t being passionate about effective management and good governance, Gavin enjoys road cycling, homebrewing, cooking (especially anything over a flame) and learning to fly the Airbus A320.
Fiona joined PepsiCo in 2020 as Senior Vice President/General Manager of West Europe Snacks, with responsibility for business in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Nordics and Benelux. She was appointed to Chief Marketing Officer for PepsiCo UK and Ireland in July 2021.
Fiona has a long track record in consumer marketing and business leadership. She started her career at Procter & Gamble, then at Mars Inc and prior to Pepsi, worked for Kimberly Clark where she was the Global head for KC’s Women’s Personal Care business (revenue of more than £2 billion). Fiona has led successful local and global Consumer marketing
campaigns, driven business growth and led large teams of people on a range of categories and brands and has lived and worked in the UK and Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as USA and Australia.
Fiona is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and was educated at Oxford University, where she obtained a BA, MA (Oxon) in Modern History. Fiona is enjoying living back in Ireland after a long period of living overseas. Outside of work, Fiona is a fan of literature, plays golf, and is a keen traveller.
Claire is a highly skilled corporate governance professional with over 10 years’ experience working for Boards and committees. After gaining an undergraduate degree and subsequently a postgraduate diploma in Communication, Advertising and Public Relations; she began her career working as a constituency assistant for an MLA, before moving on to working in the voluntary sector. She gained experience in facilitation and research during this time, before moving on to work in corporate governance.
She had roles with the NI Human Rights Commission and Royal College of General Practitioners, before working as an Executive Assistant at the Pharmaceutical Society of NI, where her interest and passion for good governance was sparked. Since 2016, she has been Secretary to the Governing Body at South Eastern Regional College, where her enthusiasm for delivering good governance and objective- based outcomes is demonstrated.
Claire has recently completed a CMI Level 5 Women in Leadership course, and is hoping to move onto a level 7 course soon to further develop her leadership and strategic skills.
Claire is married to Ian and has two children, Edie and Conor. When she isn’t running about after the children, Claire enjoys strength and conditioning training, walking and a good night out!
Rachael has completed an undergraduate degree in Business Management at Ulster University, obtaining first-class honours and awarded top Business Management Student. She then went on to work for Randox Laboratories before embarking on her PhD journey in 2017, which she is currently completing at Ulster University. This multi-disciplinary research focuses on developing leaders of small businesses, utilising a Design Thinking approach.
Rachael has a key interest to increase owner-entrepreneurs capacity for growth, achieving positive economic impact. She is a Doctoral College representative at Ulster University.
Rachael has begun to write academic paper’s relating to leadership development and has teaching experience at an undergraduate level. She is secretary and committee member of a local charity which has a key education outcome and has been within this role for 3 years.
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