Council of The Prince's Trust - Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Council is established by The Council. Its function is to provide high level support to the Northern Ireland Director to enable him/her to develop and deliver the Business Plan and Budget. The Northern Ireland Council has no executive responsibility for the management, operations or administration of The Trust.

Terence Brannigan

Terence Brannigan is the former Chief Executive Officer of resource™, Northern Irelands largest private sector employer. resource™ is the UK and Ireland’s most innovative support services company with a long history of delivering great results to multi-site blue chip clients. Terence is a trustee of the Pushkin Trust, sits on the board of the George Best Foundation and the NI Council of the CBI and is also working with the NSPCC to help raise vital funds for the charity’s work.

Ronnie Hanna

Ronnie has held a number of senior positions within Ulster Bank Group and is currently Head of Credit Risk in N.I. Ronnie is a graduate of Queen’s University, a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland and a member of the Institute of Directors. His voluntary work involvement includes Disability Action, of which he is currently vice Chair. As well as being a Council member for the Prince’s Trust, Ronnie Chairs the Belfast and Eastern Regional Committee.

Mr. Denis Desmond CBE

Denis Desmond is a highly respected, retired Northern Ireland businessman. For over 30 years he lead Desmond & Sons Ltd. clothing manufacturers and a major employer in the north west of the province. He has also held non executive director positions with the Ulster Bank, Nationwide Building Society and a local hospital trust. He was awarded a CBE in 1989 for his outstanding contribution to Northern Ireland industry and to the economy at large.

Eddie Fung

Eddie Fung is a well known member of the Northern Ireland business community. From a poverty stricken background in Hong Kong, he came to Northern Ireland at the age of 16 and engineered his own extraordinary 'rags to riches' success story. He masterminded the highly successful UK-wide chain of Red Panda Chinese restaurants and developed Belfast's first major Japanese award winning restaurant, Zen. His latest project – a chain of fusion indoor barbecue restaurants – “The Fat Buddha” has opened in Northern Ireland and England.

Roy Adair

Roy Adair was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Belfast Harbour Commissioners in October 2005. Previously, Roy was the Port of Belfast's Operations Director. In 2007 Roy was awarded the accolade of becoming HRH Prince of Wales' Ambassador for Corporate Social Responsibility. In addition, Mr Adair is a board Member of the UK Major Ports Group Ltd and a Board Member of Business in the Community.

Dr. Gerard O’Hare

Dr. Gerard O’Hare is one of Northern Ireland’s most successful property and business entrepreneurs with a portfolio of developments across UK and Ireland. After graduating as a surveyor he joined the growing family construction and development business. Under his guidance, the Carnbane House Group and O’Hare & McGovern Ltd became one of Ireland’s leading property, investment and construction companies - recently highly ranked among Northern Ireland’s Top 100 companies. Gerard is immediate Past President of Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade and is a Director of the Newry City Centre Management Partnership. Gerard received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from the University of Ulster in recognition of his continued involvement in and dedication to the championing of public/private partnerships and urban regeneration.

Sir Nigel Hamilton KCB - Chairman

Sir Nigel was formerly Head of the NI Civil Service prior to his retirement in June 2008. He joined the Civil Service in 1970 and worked in the former Department of the Environment (DOE), on roads, transport, water, housing and local authority policies. In 1987 he transferred to Central Secretariat where he became the first Director of "Making Belfast Work" and was also involved in the development of community relations policies. He became Permanent Secretary in the Department of Education on 6 July 1998 and in July 2001 moved to become Permanent Secretary at the Department for Regional Development. He was appointed Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1 October 2002. In this role he led 29,000 civil servants and was the most senior adviser to the First and the Deputy First Ministers.

Liz Gilmartin, Council Member

Liz Gilmartin is a Marketing & Business Development consultant with a diverse range of experience in both the private and public sectors having worked with both Deloittes and PricewaterhouseCoopers as well as running her own consultancy business. A member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Institute of Directors, Liz has been actively involved in the Trust's Northern Ireland fundraising committee. She sits on the boards of the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers and the Centre for Competitiveness. She is a panel member on the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Agency and a facilitator on the North South Roundtable Group.

Niall Birthistle, Council Member

Niall Birthistle was born in the Republic of Ireland but has spent most of his life in Northern Ireland. For much of his career Niall worked for Adria Ltd, a major hosiery manufacturing company. In 2002-2003 he was President of the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce. Since retirement Niall spearheads a number of Cross Border initiatives and is also a Member of the Council of the University of Ulster and Director of the Playhouse Theatre in Derry.

Dr Trefor Campbell CBE, Council Member

Dr Campbell joined Moy Park in 1960 moving through the ranks to become managing director in 1983. His passion for the development of a world class Northern Ireland food industry extends far beyond Moy Park and he has personally engaged in various executive roles across several organisations all aimed at developing marketing, training and quality improvements in industry. In 1998, he gained an Honorary Doctorate from Queen's University, Belfast and was awarded the CBE for services to the food industry in 2000. In 2004, he was presented with an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in further recognition of services to the food industry from the University of Ulster.

Nicky Dunn, Council Member

Nicky Dunn began her career in venue management at the London Arena in 1988. She held various positions during her 12 years at the venue. She moved from London to Belfast in 2000 to oversee the fit-out, pre-opening phase and the opening of the Odyssey Arena. She has remained in Belfast as the Arena Chief Executive since opening.

The Odyssey Arena is now the 4th busiest Arena in Europe in terms of ticket sales. Highlights have included concerts by most major touring artists including Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay and Kylie, as well as international sporting events. Nicky has been a huge supporter of the Trust since 2007 and regularly donates various auction prizes for events.