In 1998, following the international merger of Coopers and Lybrand and Price Waterhouse, he was appointed Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Northern Ireland until his retirement in 2007.

Over the years he has held a number of Chairmanships and non-executive directorships across a range of sectors, including Action on Hearing Loss; Business in the Community; Invest Northern Ireland; Institute of Management Consultants; Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce; Northern Ireland Electricity and the Ulster Society of Chartered Accountants.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, he is the Principal of Stephen Kingon Associates, a consultancy.

Currently he is the Chairman of the Centre of Competitiveness and a distinguished fellow of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils. In addition, he is a non-executive director of ASG Holdings Limited; Balcas Limited; Collinbridge Limited; and NI Opera. In 2000, he was awarded a CBE for his services to Economic Development.

In 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Queen’s University for services to business and economic development, and in 2014 he was admitted as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy due his work on cross border economic and business development.

In 2011, Dr O’Hagan was awarded an Honorary Degree in Economics from the University of Ulster, and in 2013, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Queen's for exceptional services to business and commerce.  In 2014, Dr O’Hagan was awarded a CBE for his services to tourism and the economy in Northern Ireland.

Dr O’Hagan is a member of Hillsborough Castle Royal Historic Palaces and is also a Patron of Horatio’s Garden, Northern Ireland.

In 2007, she became the first woman to be introduced into the Invest NI Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame in recognition of her business achievements within the McAvoy Group and in 2008 Orla became a finalist at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

She is a past winner of the Women in Business NI’s Award for Entrepreneurship / Innovation and the Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year. She holds the distinction of becoming the first Entrepreneur in Residence in the Leadership Institute at the Queen’s University Management School.

Orla is a previous Director of Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and The Odyssey Trust Company (OTC) as well as Chair of the Board of Governors of St Patrick’s Academy.

Orla received an OBE in 2011 for services to the construction industry in Northern Ireland.

He has held a number of non-executive posts including Chair of the CBI Council in Northern Ireland, Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee for Friends of the Cancer Centre charity and is a past Examiner for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.  He was also a member of a HM Treasury appointed committee that reviewed infrastructure financing in the UK.

On 26 September 2018, Feargal was awarded Managing Partner of the year at the British Accountancy Awards and was commended “for going above and beyond by demonstrating the highest levels of innovation, business strategy and quality of service”.  In 2019, Feargal was selected as The Irish Accountant of the Year.  In June 2012, Feargal received the prestigious All-Ireland Award from the Institute of Management Consultants NI Region and the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisors (Ireland) in recognition “of his significant contribution to business and public life in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland over the past 20 years.”

Under his leadership FPM Accountants, which he founded in 1991, has grown significantly in size and influence.  It now operates out of 5 locations with over 120 employees across the Island of Ireland and has won many national and regional awards. In May 2022, FPM became an AAB Group Company. Feargal was elected President of Chartered Accountants Ireland in May 2018 and has been awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees by both Queen’s University Belfast (2021) and Ulster University (2018).

He is passionate about the importance of social responsibility and inclusion to the University’s mission, particularly widening participation, diversity & inclusion and civic engagement. He is a strong advocate for collaboration across and between sectors. His leadership has developed or expanded partnerships across the island of Ireland, the UK, the Middle East and the USA.

He is a past President of Universities Ireland, promoting collaboration across the island, a member of the British Council’s Education Advisory Group, Founder of both the Health Innovation Research Alliance, Northern Ireland (HIRANI) and the Northern Health Science Alliance, and non-executive Director of Dubai Academic Health Corporation. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast.

By way of background, he is a medical graduate of the University of Glasgow, with his research and clinical career in obstetrics & gynaecology, where he was recognised as an international authority on pregnancy complications, particularly thrombotic problems. He has published over 400 Publications including 14 Books and 28 Clinical Guidelines. He has held senior leadership positions in several UK Universities, and was Vice-President of the University of Manchester, immediately before moving to Queen’s. He was made a Knight Bachelor in the King’s Birthday Honours 2023 for services to education and the economy.

Peter is a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Strategic Advisory Network and the SUPERGEN High Level Group. He was a member of EPSRC’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Energy between 2018 and 2022. Peter was also a member of sub Panel 8, Chemistry for REF2021. He is a member of the editorial board of Journal of Physics Energy, Photochem and an Invited Editor of The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry Series Published by Springer Verlag, specifically co-editor of Volumes II and III on Environmental Photochemistry.

Her last monographs, From Yoga to Kabbalah: Religious Exoticism and the Logics of Bricolage (OUP, 2014), won the book award of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion in 2017. She published Bringing the Social Back into the Sociology of Religion (Brill, 2018), a collective work which focuses on critical and reflexive sociological studies of religion. Her latest book, Religion and Conflict in Northern Ireland: What Does Religion Do? (Palgrave, 2022) is the first critical and comprehensive review of the ways in which social sciences have interpreted religion’s significance in Northern Ireland.

Véronique has been UCU General Secretary, Secretary for Local Issues, and Equality Officer (2016-2019). She is also a member of Dearcán, a group of QUB staff, students and members of the education sector supporting Language Rights. 

Patricia obtained a degree in Business Studies and Diploma in Industrial Studies from the University of Ulster in 2001 and subsequently completed an MSc in Computing and Information Systems in 2003.

Eoin is a member of the Queen’s Audit Committee; a Member of the Board of QUBIS; and the Honorary Treasurer of Queen's Graduates' Association, playing a key role in the creation and organisation of a series of networking events that aim to promote and maintain the links between the University's graduates.

He also has a background in events production, amassing more than seven years' experience in both a management and operational capacity for a variety of high profile events including concerts, sporting events and corporate fundraising. He is also a Judge of the Institute of Hospitality Professionalism Awards.

She is currently Co Chair of Belfast City Council’s multi agency Living Here Board which reports into the Belfast Agenda Community Planning Partnership. She also represents South Belfast in a number of city-wide partnerships - Shared City Partnership which focuses on improving good relations and support for BAME groups and the Jobs, Skills and Education Board. She has been a member of the Executive Committee for the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) since 2021 and remains a member of the Chinese Welfare Association’s Advisory Committee. She is currently working with a number of agencies to deliver a support Hub for the many Roma families who live in Belfast and require navigation and support for access to health, education and employment.

Briege’s background is in community development and education and she previously chaired ministerial working groups to develop policies and protocols around shared use of school sites. She is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion for all.

Roy has significant experience, built up over the last 46 years, of senior management and governance in the public, private and community organisations which he has led. This includes the following positions: Chair of the Baird Group (ongoing); Chair of the National Trust (NI) from 2011 to 2016; Chair of the Queen's University Belfast Students' Union Management Board from 2009 to 2016; and Board member of UTV PLC from 1997 to 2014.

As a former Chair of the Students' Union Management Board, Roy has gained an excellent understanding of the many and diverse challenges facing Higher Education. His close working relationship with the Students' Union has enabled him to view many of these challenges from a students' perspective.

He has chaired the Audit Committee at Queen’s since 2018.

Keith is the Chair and a Non-Executive Director of the Progressive Building Society. He chairs the Nomination Committee and is a member of the Personnel and Remuneration Committees. He previously served as chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Risk Committee.

He is a Non-Executive Director of Northern Ireland Networks Electricity Limited (“NIE”), the organisation which owns the electricity transmission and distribution network in NI. Keith chairs the Audit and Risk Committee at NIE and regularly attends the employee forum as a director representative.

In the Department of the Environment, he was responsible for the planning system; reform and reorganisation of local government; climate change policy; environmental policy; and vehicle and road haulage policy.  In the Department for Communities, he was responsible for social welfare; housing; local government; museums and libraries; arts, culture, sports, and leisure policy; and the regulation of charities.

Since he left the civil service in 2019 Leo has retained and developed his interests in governance, management, education and promoting leadership skills among SMEs. He is a non-executive member and deputy chair of the Independent Monitoring Authority (established by the UK Government post Brexit to protect the continuing rights of EU/EFTA citizens living in the UK); deputy chair of the Governing Bodies Association (NI) ( the representative body for all 50 voluntary grammar schools in NI); chair of the Board of Governors of Our Lady & St Patrick’s College, Knock;  an independent member of the audit and risk committee in the Office of the Police Ombudsman for NI: and a director of the Timoney Leadership Institute, (an Associate School of IESE Business School, Barcelona), an all-island body established to create and promote high quality senior leadership programmes to business leaders in the private and public sectors.

Leo was awarded CB in the New Year’s Honours 2017 for public service in Northern Ireland.

Mairéad is currently an Associate Consultant and Coach with Clarendon Executive, an HR Consultant and Life/Executive Coach.

Prior to her role in UTV, Mairéad held a number of human resources positions. She was Human Resources and Training Manager with CAPITA Management Consultants and Human Resources Executive with LEDU (now Invest NI), where she worked both internally with staff implementing change processes and programmes and externally, providing advice and assistance to LEDU Client companies on human resources and management development issues.

Mairéad is a Board member of N.I. Opera and a former Board Member of Creative Skillset (the UK Sector Skills Council for the Creative Industries). She chaired the Skillset/Northern Ireland Screen Skills Panel for 10 years. She was a panel member on the Creative Skillset Northern Ireland Board and chaired the Industry Advisory Board for the Skillset Media Academy in Northern Ireland. She was also a Board Member of the Grand Opera House Trust in Belfast and graduated from Queen's University with a First Class Honours in Psychology.

Kelly has a background in the field of national and international conflict transformation and peace building as a qualified mediator and has over 25 years’ experience in delivering programmes that contribute to social, physical, and economic regeneration in Northern Ireland.  In 1999 she was selected for the American Management Business Internship Training programme ran by the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA), in collaboration with the International Fund for Ireland (IFI).

In March 2021, Ms Robinson was publicly appointed by the Minister for Communities as a Director of the Northern Ireland Museums Council.  Kelly has also held positions on the Board Directors of the Belfast Hills Partnership; a public appointment to the Board of the Northern Ireland Police Fund; and as a member of the Belfast Resilience and Sustainability Board.

She was a member of the Council for Education in World Citizenship, the Association of School and College Leaders, the Post Primary Transfer Steering Committee and the South Belfast Area Learning Community.  Having taught in St Ciaran’s College, Ballygawley and St. Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon, she worked as a Field Officer with the Belfast Education and Library Board providing curriculum advice and support for two years before taking up a teaching position in Victoria College.

She has been a member of the Council for Legal Education at the Institute for Professional Legal Studies and is a lay member of the Student Union Management Board at QUB. She is also a member of the Board of the Council for the CCEA where she sits on the Educational and Finance Committees.

Patricia graduated from Queen’s University with a BA Honours degree in French Language and Literature, before completing her PGCE with commendation and a Masters Degree in Education. She completed the Professional Qualification in Headship and holds an Executive Coaching Diploma through AoEC.

Prior to this appointment as Vice-President, he was Director of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility at Queen’s and before that Director of Strategic Communication and Engagement at the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He was previously Head of Public Engagement at Queen’s University and was a Visiting Professor at Ulster University in Governance and Public Policy. Dr Feeney also served as an independent member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board from 2011-2018, where he was the lead member for Human Rights and Professional Standards. He has organised and curated six major international conferences, including the 20th and 25th Anniversary events at Queen’s marking the anniversaries of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and a major three-day international seminar in partnership with both the University of Chicago and the United Nations focused on International Human Rights and Refugees. 

He is a graduate of St Mary's University College and postgraduate in Law from Queen’s. He has a Doctorate in Governance, specialising in political science and public policy from the Institute of Public Administration, National University of Ireland, with a specific focus on the Stand 2 structures of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Dr Feeney was the Executive Producer for the RTE/BBC documentary, “The Agreement”, a two-part series on the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement negotiations and is also currently working as Executive Producer on a major international documentary chronicling the life of Senator George J. Mitchell.

He is also a Trustee of Politics in Action, a charity focused on enhancing the participation of young people in politics and civic leadership, a member of the CBI regional Council and a member of the Board of the Centre for Cross Border Studies.