Extern Northern Ireland Trustees 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 Ian McAvoy Extern Northern Ireland Chair 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. 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. 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. Mr Paul Doran Extern Northern Ireland Director From 2018-2022 Paul held the post of Director of Rehabilitation and Reducing Reoffending with the NI Prison Service / DoJ with prior appointments including Director of Rehabilitation, Deputy Chief Probation Officer / Deputy Director [PBNI] and Assistant Chief Probation Officer [PBNI] from 1999 – 2018. From 1982 – 1999 Paul held various posts within the Probation Service in NI and London. Paul has obtained academic qualifications including: Advance Diploma in Management Practice, Masters in Social Work, Diploma in Social Studies and Bachelor of Social Science. Paul has published several publications in professional periodicals and journals related to his extensive experience within the Probation Service in NI, UK and Gibraltar. Dr Lynne McMordie Extern Northern Ireland Director Lynne is a Research Associate at the Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Her research focuses on housing, homelessness and poverty with a special interest in temporary accommodation. Prior to taking up an academic position, Lynne held senior managerial roles in the homelessness sector in NI, managing a range of services including hostel accommodation, drop-in-centre and street outreach services. Lynne completed her BA(Hons) and MA in English at QUB before obtaining a PhD at Heriot-Watt University in 2021. Lynne is actively leading several research projects and has published articles in several professional journals and publications. She is currently Book Review Editor of the International Journal of Housing Policy and recently won the Valerie Karn Research Prize. Noreen Wright Extern Northern Ireland Director Ms. Wright, a barrister, joined Northern Ireland Electricity’s (NIE) in-house legal team in September 1976 and remained with NIE/Viridian until 2001. She held a number of senior management posts in the company, including that of Company Secretary and Head of Legal Services. Ms. Wright holds a number of public appointments in Northern Ireland including Member of the Industrial and Fair Employment Tribunals, Lay Magistrate and Member of the Northern Ireland Valuation Tribunal. She is also a Director of Springvale Training Ltd and Co-operation Ireland Ltd and is a Trustee of Garfield Weston Trust, University of Ulster. She has previously served as Commissioner for the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, as a Council Member of the University of Ulster, and as a Trustee of the Bytes project. Manage Cookie Preferences <148.105.251.16>