Women in Business Leadership Conference: Tackling Success

Suzanne Wylie, our 2016 Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year,   took up the post of Chief Executive of Belfast City Council from 1 July 2014.  Belfast City Council is the largest Council in Northern Ireland with 2,400 staff and with a responsibility for providing services to the 333,000 people who live in the city. 

Since taking up the post Suzanne has been leading the Council’s new City Plan, the Belfast Agenda 2030, which is focused on economic growth and connecting neighbourhoods and people to the opportunities it creates. 

Suzanne is hugely optimistic about the potential of the city in terms of the economy, jobs, skills, tourism, and culture. 

Suzanne has worked for Belfast City Council for 28 years and previously held the position of Director of Health and Environmental Services from 2010, and she is focused on positioning the City Council as a key driver in the continued growth of Belfast.

Libby leads the Alternative Legal Services business, launched in June 2015, which brings together all the key parts of HSF’s alternative legal services offering to create a global team of approximately 400 lawyers, legal assistants and technologists. This business unites their client technology teams (Information Logistics, Australia, and Disputes Data Management, London) and their Belfast office.

Libby was Director of the pioneering Belfast office when it opened in 2011 – the first UK-based near-shore legal operation to be set up by an international law firm. The office began life with 19 fee earners initially to focus on large-scale document intensive aspects of litigation and regulatory investigations. In 2015 the team comprises approximately 200 legal staff. The Belfast office is now led by Belfast office Director Lisa McLaughlin, who set up the office with Libby in 2011.

The key products and services provided by the Alternative Legal Services team include document review, regulatory claims assessment, due diligence, verification, commercial contracts, funds repapering/specialist work, client technology services (including advisory and document review software) and asset management for real estate clients. The team also has experience delivering bespoke projects for clients, including placing resource in-house or providing insourced legal teams.

Alasdair has worked in development roles with Ulster Rugby as well as having been Head Coach of Ulster Juniors and coaching within the Ulster Clubs under 16s and under 17s squads. He is IRFU Level 2 accredited and also an IRFU Tutor and Observer. Alasdair is the Head Coach of Grosvenor RFC and has previously been Head Coach of both Enniskillen RFC and Academy RFC. He set up Offload Rugby in May 2015. 

A British and Irish Lion in 2009, 35 Ireland caps , 106 Ulster caps, the big man needs no introduction. A member of the 2009 Ireland Grand Slam winning team, Stevie has made a global impact on our beloved game. If it moved he hit it. These days he is a level 1 IRFU coach and is a tremendous motivational speaker. We are proud to have him on the Offload team and his role will be both classroom and pitch based as well as product endorsement for our clients.

Sene has been playing rugby since the age of 13, having played with North Otago and Hawkes Bay in her native New Zealand before continuing the game in Ireland.

She is part of a strong sporting family, with her husband George playing for Connacht, having previously played Sevens for New Zealand and her sister playing with Otago back in New Zealand.  Sene has several caps for the Irish Women’s team and is a qualified health and fitness coach.

Louise has excelled across a range of sports, having captained UL Huskies to multiple titles in basketball, she also captained Ireland at underage level.

Louise has also played GAA football for her home county of Kerry, winning the Munster Championship and National League as well as representing Munster at interprovincial level. Louise is a qualified physiotherapist.

Caughey has been involved with the Irish national side since 2012. She is a member of the Irish Sevens programme as well as playing club rugby with Railway Union, having previously played with her local club Belfast Harlequins.

Nikki is comfortable at both out-half and centre and is also known for her physicality in defence

Stephen Watson of the BBC is renowned for his passion for all things sporting which has made him one of Northern Ireland’s leading TV sports presenters. A politics graduate of Queen’s University, he took up a post in UTV in 1993 before moving to his present post in BBC NI six years later.

As a British Transplant Games gold medal winner in his own right, Stephen’s infectious enthusiasm for sport has been reflected in his in-depth coverage of many of the world’s most prestigious events, including Football and Rugby World Cup Finals, Golf’s four majors, The Olympics, World Championship Boxing, Commonwealth Games and the Six Nations Championship.

As one of the main presenters on BBC NI’s Newsline, Stephen presented the station’s coverage of the Olympics from Rio and Ryder Cup in Minnesota in 2016, and was also was part of the BBC network football team at Euro 2016.