Roseann Kelly MBE is CEO of Women in Business NI (WIBNI). Roseann joined Women in Business soon after the organisation was formed in 2002 as a voluntary Director; she held the roles of Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Company Secretary during that time. She has been Chief Executive of WIBNI since 2009 overseeing a period of rapid growth and a successful sustainability strategy. Roseann was recognised on Her Majesty the Queen’s Honours list in 2019 for her contribution to the NI Economy. She sits on the Department of the Economies Ministerial Strategic Advisory Forum. She also sits on the Expert Panel for the Review of Apprenticeships and on the Youth Training Review Panel. She is CEO and a Director of Diversity Mark NI Ltd formed in 2017. She is Vice Chair of Women’s Tec NI and past Committee member of both WINET and the Women’s Fund for NI. In 2016 she won the Chief Executive of the 3rd Sector (CO3) Award for Entrepreneurial Leader of the Year. In 2014 she was invited onto the Advisory Board of the SME Development Institute at the Ulster University Business School. In 2013 she won the Services to Enterprise Award with Young Enterprise, was announced in the Belfast Business TOP 50 in 2011 and was a participant on the Irish institute Boston College Women in the Workplace Programme in 2010.
Lorraine, whose 20 years’ management experience spans UK and Australia, joined the WIB team in February 2022 to drive forward the network and to support on wider strategic objectives. As the former Innovate UK Manager, Lorraine gained a deep-rooted understanding of the Northern Ireland business community, working closely with government, industry, and the academic industries to establish cross-sectoral engagement with one of the UK’s leading innovation agencies. Lorraine believes that now is a time to celebrate female pioneers who through their innovation have radically advanced their business and wider fields, laying the foundations upon which others can build.
Roisin is a Business Mentor and Trainer with over 20 years experience in supporting entrepreneurship. She has a degree in Business Studies, an MBA, and an Advanced Diploma in Digital Marketing and was one of the primary founders of Women in Business. Roisin has re-joined the Women in Business team to lead the Yes You Can programme on a part time basis, supporting female entrepreneurship. Prior to being self-employed for 14 years as Seed Mentoring, she has worked in the enterprise agency network for North Down Development and East Belfast Enterprise. Roisin is also the Treasurer of Specialisterne NI, a social enterprise supporting neuro-diversity and employability and coaches a local girls football team.
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Christine is responsible for corporate & group membership and business development at Women in Business. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to build and develop relationships with forward thinking organisations who are focussed on improving the lives of working women. Christine has spent over 20 years within the retail banking and motor trade sectors, and more recently she served for four years as Head of Diversity Mark. Through her wide-reaching experience Christine understands the difficulties that women face when developing their careers, and the challenges that organisations face in retaining and attracting talented women. Christine is the mother of two young sons, and she works a 3-day week which she hopes can serve as an example to others that they can retain talented women whilst allowing them to also enjoy a balanced family life.
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Denise Black has over 32 years’ experience in the private sector, all of which was in the Financial Services Industry. In latter years she led a number of strategic change management programs within AIB. After moving from the Private sector to the Public Sector in 2018 Denise joined the Strategic investment Board and led on driving Transformational change as People Lead within the Department of Infrastructure. She was then appointed April 2020 as Executive Director, Human Resources for Invest NI. Her motivation to join WIB in 2023 is two-fold in providing a clear opportunity to carry out her lifelong interest in optimising peoples’ career motivations and abilities, as well as being able to ‘give back’ the training and investment given to her throughout her career. Her ‘People & Culture’ interest is reflected in her professional qualifications as Chartered member of CIPD, Level 7 ILM Executive Coach and Mentor, CIPD qualified Trainer and a MSc in Strategic Personnel and Development. As much as she values her professional accreditations, Denise believes her best learning has been from her ‘try it, learn from it, build on it’ mind set.
Having spent more than 20 years in customer facing roles Gill has a wealth of experience in looking after stakeholder relationships. She has spent a significant part of her career in senior client management roles within the contact centre industry. Gill has spent the last few years managing a Holiday Park in Northern Ireland. During this time, she was delighted to achieve several recognitions for Excellence, voted for by visitors and industry peers. Gill is passionate about delivering excellent customer service with her ability to gain customer trust, ensuring customer satisfaction and long-term relationships – which is why she is the first point of contact within Women in Business for all things Membership.
With over 15 years’ experience in the hospitality and tourism industry, Maria has a wealth of experience in customer service, management and client relationships. Maria has spent the last few years within the logistics industry managing performance through data. During her career, Maria has received many awards and recognitions for her exceptional service, voted for by customers and industry peers. Maria is passionate about delivering excellent customer service and helping everyone to develop and achieve their full potential – with that in mind Maria will be your direct point of contact for the Centre of Learning at Women in Business.
Marguarita is a graduate from Queen's University, Belfast with a MSc Marketing. With experience in marketing for non-profit organisations in Northern Ireland, Marguarita has a keen interest in raising online brand awareness for SME's within NI based on her university research. From Marguarita's undergraduate studies, she has earned the St. Mary's University College, Entrepreneurial Cup for her work related learning studies throughout her BA Liberal Arts. With a consumer centric focus, Marguarita will be the main contact for marketing activity for Women in Business.
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As the Head of Programmes and Development, Nicky is responsible for the development and end to end delivery of training programmes to support individuals to climb the ladder of success and thrive both personally and professionally. She is passionate about making a positive impact for women at all stages of their business and career journey and empowering them to be leaders within the economy. Through her experience in media, property and B2B, Nicky has a wealth of experience in project management, sales, marketing and partnerships and cannot wait to connect with everyone. If you are interested in investing in yourself, finding the right programme for you, or offer training to support others, Nicky will be your point of contact.
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Nicola graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2021 with a First Class Honours in Business Management. With a passion for social media marketing, Nicola enjoys thinking of creative ideas to increase engagement with our members. What started as work experience with Women in Business, has now turned into a full-time Marketing Executive role for Nicola, as she is on hand to grow the profiling opportunities of our members across the network.
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