BIOGRAPHIES
MORNING SPEAKERS
Mark Huddleston
Mark is a graduate from Ulster University with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering. He has held a variety of posts both in engineering disciplines and management and leadership roles in the Aerospace, Defence and Space sectors. He is currently the Managing Director of jheSOLUTIONS and King & Fowler UK, alongside this he is a member of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills serving as the Northern Ireland Commissioner since May 2015.
Ian McIlveen
Ian has worked for NACCO Materials Handling Ltd for 20 years. He started his early work years as an apprentice Joiner, before gaining Employment with NMHG as a CNC machinist. He has since gained several promotions - Training Instructor, Project Engineer and now currently works within HR covering Training Development and everything else under the sun. Among his main achievements are saving the company £300,000 on a heating project and help support the company in gaining 3 National TrainingAwards. He completedhis MSc in 2015
Nicola Aylward
Nicola is Head of Learning for Young People at NIACE, with a specialism in enabling young people from disadvantaged groups to participate in learning and work. Nicola leads NIACE's work around the national traineeship programme, which involves supporting practice and working with government to develop policy. Nicola's experience includes management of the Young Adult Learners Partnership (with The National Youth Agency); oversight of What Employers Want (an innovative experiential learning programme for young people); and the development of an extensive programme of work with young adult carers, including facilitation of the National Policy Forum on behalf of government.
Gerard Campbell
Gerry took up post as Chief Executive of Colleges NI in July 2011.Previously Gerry was Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children & Young People for three year. Prior to that, Gerry was the Director of Corporate Services with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, overseeing corporate governance, financial management and human resources for over 6 years. Between 1999 and 2002, Gerry was the Regional Commercial Training Manager for the British Red Cross, responsible for all commercial training activities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Gerry is also currently the Chair of two small charitable organisations in Antrim and was previously a Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chair of the Health & Safety Executive for Northern Ireland. Gerry is also the independent Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee with the Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland.
John D'Arcy
John is Director of The Open University in Irelandand Acting Director of Scotland. He has responsibility for the university in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He took up this post in October 2010. Prior to joining The Open University, John was Chief Executive of Colleges Northern Ireland, the membership organisation for Northern Ireland's further education colleges between January 2003 and September 2010. John was a Director of BDO Stoy Hayward Management Consultants from September 1997 to December 2002, leading its organisational development and human resource consulting division.
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP FACILITATORS
Paul Donaghy - Health & Wellbeing
Paul is a Town Planner by trade and is currently employed in the Health & Social Care Leadership Centre. He was previously N.I. manager of NHSU (National Health Service University) and then became the head of the former Beeches HSC Widening Participation Unit. Paul has also been the UNISON Regional Education Officer and during his tenure there, he was seconded by the Department of Employment & Learning to lead and champion the establishment of Health & Education Workplace Learning Partnerships for public service support staff. He has also been a Commissioner with the Fair Employment Commission, the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights and the N.I Equality Commission and as such he brings a unique perspective on how tackling inequality and supporting the learning poor are intertwined.
Martin Moorcroft - Family Learning
Martin is a professional Youth Worker and has worked for NIACRO, YMCA, Education & Library Board and Life Education Centres (UK). He currently works for Newtownabbey Family Connections (Barnardo’s) as a parenting co-ordinator. He provides community education courses for local parents, including Essential Skills, DIY for women, Parents as Co-Educators (PACE) and sewing. He delivers evidence-based parenting programmes and is a Strengthening Families Programme trainer.
Ciara Graham- Family Learning
Ciara is a qualified Primary School Teacher who has been working for Barnardo’s for over 5 years. Ciara has a history of using the arts and drama as well as alternative methods and tools to engage and motivate individuals to become lifelong learners. Ciara works to develop and promote ‘A Family Learning Model’ within the project Newtownabbey Family Connections. This involves working with children and parents in schools in disadvantaged areas giving them the opportunity to achieve their potential.
Judith Searle- Family Learning
Judith has worked for Barnardo's for 7 years. In her current role she is team leader of East Belfast Family Connections and is also responsible for the Family Learning in the project. She is passionate about parents and children learning together and loves it when parents feel confident in being able to help their children at school. She is a trained primary school teacher and enjoys using these skills to help equip parents.
Libby Keys - Rurality & Isolation
Libby has been involved in peace building/community relations work for many years. She was a District Council Community Relations Officer, and worked with the Future Ways programme, based with the Understanding Conflict Trust. In a voluntary capacity, she has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Rural Community Network, and represented the agri-rural sector on the Peace 2 Monitoring Committee. In 2001, she was a member of the Acute Hospitals Review Group, chaired by Dr. Maurice Hayes. In 2002 she was awarded the OBE for services to rural community development. She also is currently a Board member of the NI Community Relations Council
Maura Johnston - Rurality & Isolation
Maura was a teacher for twenty seven years and worked for twelve years for SELB as Assistant Advisory Officer for Literacy. She currently works as a facilitator for reminiscence groups; teaches creative writing ; and is a volunteer in the Reading Rooms project. She is a published writer and poet.
Paul McGill - 50+
Paul is a public health development officer for The Institute of Public Health in Ireland, following a change in September 2015 in which the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland (CARDI) was mainstreamed into IPH. Previously he was a journalist, mostly specialising in education for the Irish Times and Belfast Telegraph and freelance for The Guardian and Times Educational Supplement. He has also worked for the National Curriculum Council in England, and was a self-employed social policy consultant and editor of the voluntary sector magazine, SCOPE
Karin Eyben - Social Cohesion
Karin has been Programme Development Worker at Corrymeela since November 2014. Prior to this she worked within the wider community relations & community development over the last 15 years, for organisations such as the Future Ways Programme, Rural Community Network, NICIE and the Community Foundation for NI.
Lyn Moffett - Social Cohesion
Lyn has worked in the fields of conflict resolution and ethnicity for almost 25 years. She is currently coordinator of Ballymoney Community Resource Centre, a grassroots community development and capacity building organisation based in the Causeway Coast and Glens area. She had previously worked at INCORE and Kilcranny House.