Anne McMurray, BSSc. MSW. MSc. MBE.

Anne McMurray is an independent organisational development consultant, specialising in leadership and team development, strategy formulation and change implementation. She draws on career experience which has included youth and community work, family therapy, health and social service senior management and organisational development consultancy through Ireland, GB, Europe and Canada since 1989. Anne is an associate trainer with the Centre for Creative Leadership in Brussels and is a practitioner with Cognitive Edge, a knowledge network specialising in working with complex organisational systems.

Anne’s client base is north and south of Ireland as well as England, particularly in the areas of health and social services, NGOs, housing, education and local government, as well as with private sector clients. In a voluntary capacity Anne is chair of the East Belfast Partnership. In 2008 Anne was awarded the MBE in recognition of her work in women’s enterprise and leadership in N.Ireland.

Baroness May Blood, MBE

Baroness May Blood MBE was born in Belfast and has lived for the last thirty years in the Springmartin area of West Belfast.

For 39 years she worked in a local mill as a cutter, during which time she was an active trade unionist. As a member of the Amalgamated Transport & General Workers’ Union, she worked as senior union stewart becoming a director on the Labour Relations Agency, and a panel member of the Industrial Tribunal Panels. She now uses her position in the House of Lords to speak up for working-class people.

In 1995 Baroness Blood was given the Global Citizens Circle Award. In 1996, she was awarded an MBE for her work in labour relations. She holds honorary doctorates for the University of Ulster, Open University, and the Queens’ University Belfast.

Baroness May Blood is chairperson of Impact Training, an organisation that guides the education of young people at risk, and chair of the Campaign Executive of the Integrated Education Fund.

From 1990-2000 she has been a full-time community worker, working from 1993 –1997 for the Greater Shankill Partnership, a community-led regeneration initiative, working to support the social and economic integration of parents with young children, particularly women.

She is currently the Chair of Shankill Sure Start/The Early Years Project and sits on the Management Board of Barnardos. She is also a Board Member of N & West Belfast HSS Trust.

In 1999 she became the first woman in Northern Ireland to be given life peerage.

Throughout her entire working life she has been a passionate advocate for those living with the effects of poverty, particularly in relation to housing, unemployment and early years education. Since 1999 she has been an active campaigner for integrated education, and is Chair of the Integrated Education Fund.

Baroness Blood is a founder member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition; she was a member of the Coalition’s Talks Team during the multi-party talks, which culminated with the Good Friday Agreement.

Jane Wilde

Jane Wilde is Chief Executive of the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) which promotes cooperation for public health between Northern Ireland and Ireland in research and information, public health capacity and policy advice. Its work includes the Ireland/Northern Ireland Population Health Observatory, public health leadership, health impact assessment and evaluation of interventions such as fuel and food poverty. Jane is a public health doctor, founding director of the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland, and holds honorary professorships in QUB and UU. Her experience has focused on public health policy, particularly the social determinants of health and health inequalities. She has been Chair of a Health Action Zone, the National Advisory Forum on Cardiovascular Disease in Ireland and member of government committees ranging from agriculture, food safety, consumer affairs, housing and poverty where she has advocated for healthy public policy. In 2007 she was awarded the CBE for services to public health.

Dr G O'Neill

Dr O'Neill qualified in 1971 and is a General Practitioner in Northern Ireland. He has been in practice in North & West Belfast for 32 years and is in partnership with four colleagues working with an extended multidisciplinary primary care team delivering patient-centred care on a split site . His medical interests include improving Mental Health Services, addressing health inequalities and social need, and developing a wellness service. He is Chair of the Belfast Local Commissioning Group and of Northern Ireland Community Addiction Services ( NICAS ) a registered charity working at community level providing a service for people who are abusing alcohol and drugs and dealing with people who are concerned about alcohol and drugs. In addition he is a Lead GP Appraiser.

He is a member of the Irish College of General Practitioners a Fellow of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine ( RCSI) and has postgraduate qualifications in both Medical Ethics and Medical Education.

Mary Hinds

Mary Hinds is the Public Health Agency’s Director of Nursing and Allied Professions. She was previously Director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Northern Ireland. Prior to joining the RCN, she was Director of Nursing at the Mater Hospital in Belfast.