Extern Northern Ireland Board of Trustees is responsible for our governance and strategic direction. The Board is accountable for everything we do, including setting our strategic direction, scrutinising our performance and supporting & empowering our Executive Team of Directors.

Board members do not receive any remuneration in respect of their services to the charity. Receipted expenses are reimbursed when incurred. The Directors, who are non-executive, represent a diverse range of relevant experience including:

• finance
• legal
• criminal justice
• housing
• health
• children’s services
• business research and
• mental health

Read more about our trustees' below

Aideen D’Arcy MBE

Extern Northern Ireland Chair

Aideen lives in Belfast and was educated at Queen’s and the Ulster Universities. After graduating in Geography from QUB, Aideen taught in the post-primary sector before embarking on a rewarding career in social housing for over 30 years, specialising in the provision of supported accommodation for vulnerable people, including frail elderly, homeless, mentally ill and learning disabled people and street drinkers, as well as ethnic minorities. She initiated many innovative and statutory organisations on an all-Ireland basis.

Aideen served on the NI Regional Council of the Society of St Vincent de Paul for over 15 years and undertook several initiatives to improve standards of accommodation and service provision of the organisation's homeless facilities throughout Ireland, recognising that everyone should have a safe place to call home and a stake in their community in order to have the opportunity to fulfil their full potential in life.

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Ian McAvoy

Extern Northern Ireland Director, Vice Chair and Company Secretary

Ian lives in Belfast and was educated at MCB and London University. After graduating in economics Ian studied accountancy. After a spell in practice, he became the Finance Director of a leading Irish brand and was promoted to Chief Executive, holding that position for 16 years. He has much expertise in strategic planning, transformation, finance and marketing.

Ian was Chair of PlayBoard, Vice Chair of Sport NI, Director of Sport NI, and is presently Vice Chair of Ark Housing.

He has a keen interest in rugby and football, initially as a player and now as an administrator, and holds the position of Chairman of Rugby at Queen's University, Belfast.

He is married to Lynne with three grown-up children.

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Allen McCartney

Extern Northern Ireland Director 

Mr McCartney is by profession a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, with degree qualifications in both electrical engineering and corporate leadership.

He had a distinguished career at Director level in Northern Ireland Electricity and Viridian Group and brings a wealth of experience from previous public sector board appointments in the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority, the Department for Regional Development, and the Legal Services Agency Northern Ireland.

He is a Lay Magistrate and an Assessor for the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency.

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Stephen Leach

Extern Northern Ireland Director 

Stephen lives in North Down and was educated at Cambridge University. He joined the Civil Service in 1975 and worked in the Northern Ireland Office and other Departments. In 1990/91 he spent a year in the USA as a Humphrey Fulbright Fellow.

Subsequently he was involved in the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement; and from 2000 to 2009 he was the Chair of the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Board. During this period he helped to implement a number of reforms including the establishment of the Youth Justice Agency, the Public Prosecution Service and the Criminal Justice Inspectorate, as well as the introduction of statutory restorative conferencing for young offenders, risk-based sentencing, and modernized sexual offences legislation.

After retiring from the Civil Service in 2009, he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Health and Social Care Board and served in this role for 11 years. He has also served as a Parole Commissioner and as the Northern Ireland Commissioner on the Criminal Cases Review Commission, based in Birmingham.

He is married with three grown-up children.

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Shane McLaughlin

Extern Northern Ireland Director

Shane is an Education Adviser for the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. He graduated from Queen's University Belfast and achieved his Masters in Education from the University of Nottingham.

Shane previously worked in Kabul, where he had oversight of a girls education programme, working with the Afghanistan government to increase girls access and improve learning outcomes for 70,000 girls. Shane has also worked for the UK’s Stabilisation Unit and the British Council working on multilateral policy and managing international education programs with UK and EU funding.

Before joining the civil service, Shane was a secondary school teacher in England and Northern Ireland between 2013-2016. Prior to teaching, he worked for the Spirit of Enniskillen Trust overseeing the Future Voices programme, which promoted volunteering and participation to develop leadership skills for young adults, supporting their active participation in a diverse and pluralist society.

Shane volunteered with the Trust between 2006 and 2012, leading international exchanges and supporting shared education in post-primary schools across Northern Ireland. More recently, he was the vice-chair on the board of governors for a Federation of Special Schools in London, where he volunteered between 2017-2020.

Shane is currently supporting education reform and promoting girls' education to increase access to quality education in the Democratic Republic of Congo.