CMI Northern Ireland

James Copeland

James is a student with the CMI at the minute studying for his Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership and Management. He comes from a charity background having worked in either direct service delivery or operational management for his career to date. He has a strong passion for working with minority communities and works hard to make sure the issues they experience are not barriers to the world around them. He has been on various boards before from the UU Student’s Union to Nexus and Parenting NI. He currently works within Guide Dogs for the Blind as an Operations Manager supporting his team to help people who have recently lost their mobility, orientation and independence.

Rachael Fergie

Rachael Fergie 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.

Emma Finney CMgr FCMI

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 Hamill

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 Hendrie CMgr FCMI

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.