The Board

Nichola Robinson - Chair

Sourcing Director, Bombardier Aerospace

With over 22 years experience in Aerospace Supply Chain Nichola is currently is a member of the leadership team at Bombardier Aerospace Belfast.

Nichola leads a team of sourcing professionals with responsibility for the planning and execution of sourcing strategies, managing the introduction of new programmes, work transfer processes and low cost country development.

Her leadership responsibilities also include Value Engineering within Bombardier Belfast, where she leads a team of engineering and sourcing professionals who develop and implement innovative concepts.

A graduate in Management Operations from University of Jordanstown, she also has a professional coaching qualification, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Anne Clydesdale - Vice Chair

Leadership Consultant

Anne Clydesdale has been a leading figure in the world of learning and development in Ireland for the past 31 years. She was Director of Training and Corporate Development for B.I.C. Systems for eighteen years. Following the sale of the company to BT in 2004, she went on to work in PwC before joining Queen’s University to establish the William J Clinton Leadership Institute. By 2018, when she retired from Queen’s, Anne had successfully developed the Institute to be N Ireland’s premier provider of high-end executive education.

Anne has run a number of businesses during her career and has sat on a number of boards and advisory committees in both the public, private and third sectors. She brings significant experience in Finance, Marketing, PR and corporate governance. She continues to work in the field of executive coaching and training consultancy.

Relevant Qualifications include:

BA Hons Modern Languages, Diploma in Strategic Marketing (London Business School). Prince II Accredited Practitioner; Diploma in Executive Coaching (AoEC); 360 Degree Assessor using Human Synergistics 360 Tool;

Angela Moore - Managing Director, Ravensdale Capital Investments LLC, Washington, DC

Angela Moore is the chairwoman of the board of the Virginia Distillery Company. In her role, she is active in marketing and championing the brand in markets across the U.S. and beyond.

She is also the Managing Partner of Ravensdale Capital, an investment platform created to provide angel and venture capital investments in start-up and early stage technology business in the US.

Also the Managing Director of Macha Capital Partners, a private investment fund focused on investing in small, growth-orientated business in Ireland, North and South, with a special focus on women-led initiatives, in a broad range of sectors including, manufacturing, technology and tradable services.

Angela serves on the boards of several organizations, including; the UCD Smurfit School Advisory Board, Ireland; the North American Northern Ireland Advisory Council; Advisory Board of Crescent Capital, Belfast; The American Ireland Fund; North American Friends of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast; Somos Amigos Medical Missions; and is a member of the Irish Global Economic Forum.

Andrea McIlroy Rose - Head of the Belfast Office, Pinsent Masons

Andrea leads the Belfast property team and in addition she is head of the firm's UK retail property team. Andrea specialises in investment and development work and has over 25 years experience of acting for clients in both Northern Ireland and England and is ranked as a “Leading Individual” and in the “Hall of Fame” for real estate in the current Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession and Legal 500 directories. She has been involved in a large number of the major developments in NI including the HQ buildings for Allstate Insurance and Concentrix, shopping centres such as Victoria Square, Junction One and Bloomfield along with acting for large supermarket retailers such as Sainsbury’s and Asda in relation to their developments in NI and England and Wales.

Andrea is an active advocate of diversity and inclusion with a particular emphasis on the advancement of women in business and aside from being on the board of Women in Business she also sits on the Board of NI Chamber of Commerce and Diversity Mark NI. She was previously the international chair of the Pinsent Masons internal female networking group, Female Futures whose membership spans all of their 26 offices for over 7 years and has recently been appointed as the gender representative on the Pinsent Masons Global Inclusion Board

Paula Leathem- Senior HR Business Partner, NIE Networks

With over 30 years experience in the Utility Sector Paula is a member of the senior leadership team in NIE Networks based in their HQ office in Belfast.

She leads a team of HR professionals who all operate as generalists with strong partnership relationships in place across the business. In addition to a number of responsibilities her main focus is on organisational training & development, talent management, change management and employee engagement.

A busy mum of four children Paula lives in Carrickfergus.

A graduate in Business Studies from Ulster University Paula then completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management. In addition to this she has a number of Management Qualifications and also has a professional coaching qualification. Paula is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

Joris Minne - PR Consultant, JPR

Joris is an award-winning PR consultant who trained at the National Geographic Society as a journalist in Washington DC.

After a successful 10-year career in business journalism in London and Madrid, he returned to Northern Ireland to join the PR industry in 1992.

As PR consultant, trustee of Belfast’s top arts centre, and strategic adviser, Joris has helped facilitate the creation of major new capital investment projects including the MAC, HMS Caroline and Kilkeel Regeneration. He is skilled in all aspects of public relations including crisis communications management, profile building, corporate communications, reputation protection and consumer PR.

Joris speaks French and Spanish, writes a weekly food column for the Belfast Telegraph and is a regular commentator and reviewer for the BBC.

Mairead Mackle - CEO of HCIL

The driving force behind the HCIL ethos and vision, Mairead is an award winning, female entrepreneur. HCIL is a leader in care, support and housing solutions with a 1,200 strong team across Ireland. In an era of emerging technologies, Mairead recently founded 'iCare Digital', a progressive solution focused on improving the delivery of social care for the future.

Alongside her many business interests, Mairead is a loving mother to seven children... after all, multi-tasking does tend to be a women's prerogative. Despite the demands of business, Mairead has made it her priority to fulfil her passion for philanthropy and giving back to her community, highlighted in the number of charities & mentoring initiatives she is involved with. As a founding member of iCare in 2010, the fantastic work of the charity is close to Mairead's heart.

Mairead is also the founder of EVOLVE, a women's network that inspires and supports strong female leadership across the community. She is also a founding partner of LIFT Ireland, which focuses on character and value-based leadership for future generations.

A finalist in Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award, Mairead has been recognised for her innovation in Business and recently received a National Special Recognition Award for her commitment to family business and impact on the local community. HCIL has also been recognised as an industry leader in both business and CSR winning several prestigious industry awards. It is also one of the first companies in NI to achieve the Gender Diversity Award.

Keith Lippert- Officer, Vice President, Deputy Information Security Officer at Allstate

With 30 years of experience in financial services, Keith Lippert is currently VP, Officer, and Deputy Information Security Officer for the Allstate corporation. As Allstate’s first Security Officer outside the United States, Keith is building global thought leadership for cyber security In Northern Ireland. Prior to Allstate, Keith has been a board member or Chairman of Banks in India, Russia, Mexico, Canada and in the US.

As the first non-USA based Security Officer in our near 100-year history, Keith is responsible for establishing and driving individualized information security strategy and programs for each of the major Allstate business lines. For the largest publicly held personal lines property and casualty insurer in America. Keith partners with business and technology executives to increase security awareness and strengthen security across the Allstate enterprise. From N. Ireland, he is establishing a global approach to Cyber Security as part of our Allstate Technology and Strategic Ventures organizational strategy.

Stephen McCully- Managing Director of Power NI

Stephen has been Managing Director of Power NI for the past 15 years. Power NI is Northern Ireland’s largest electricity supplier serving 475,000 homes and 35,000 businesses. He is also on the executive board of the Viridian Group.

He is a Past President and Board Member of the NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Stephen has worked within the energy industry since 1986, and joined initially as a chartered engineer and then transitioned into a variety of senior management roles prior to taking up his current role.

He holds an engineering degree, a masters in corporate leadership and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.

Stephen originally hails from Cookstown Co Tyrone and is married to Amanda, and they have two grown up children, Rachel and Jonathan.

David Sterling - Former Head of NI Civil Service

David Sterling is the former Head of NI Civil Service, whose civil service career spanned over four decades. David retired in August 2020 after leading the Northern Ireland Civil Service in the absence of Stormont ministers, following the collapse of the executive in 2017. Providing strategic counsel to the Women in Business Board, David says “I am delighted to be welcomed on to the Board and to join a group of impactful and influential business minds in making an important difference for women in the workplace in Northern Ireland...Diversity, Entrepreneurialism and Leadership are crucial to Northern Ireland’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and it is now more important than ever that we support women in business.”