Appointment panel
Duncan McCausland
Chair of the Appointment Panel
Duncan McCausland brings senior management level skills with experience in developing, implementing and monitoring corporate business strategies and in corporate governance and change.
Mr McCausland is currently a Non-Executive Director of the Maze Longkesh Board. Mr McCausland’s other appointments include Independent Board Member of the Department for Communities.
Mr McCausland is Deputy Lieutenant for County Down and has not been involved in political activity in the last five years.
Marie-Thérèse McGivern
Non-Executive Director
Marie-Therese McGivern was born and educated in Belfast and began her career as a lecturer in further education working in the areas of youth unemployment and enterprise development. In 1994 she moved to Making Belfast Work becoming Head of Policy, Planning and Research for the urban regeneration initiative.
In 1999 she joined Belfast City Council as the first Director of Development with responsibility for economic development, tourism, culture and urban regeneration. In 2007 her responsibilities were enlarged to include the Waterfront and Ulster Halls and neighbourhood work.
In 2009 she became Principal and Chief Executive of Belfast Metropolitan College were she led a successful transformation programme creating an award winning college which became the designated lead college for ICT and Tourism development.
She sits as a non-executive director on the Strategic Investment Board for Northern Ireland, Invest NI and Northern Ireland Water. She is the Chair of Maritime Belfast and of the Employment and Skills Sub-Committee of the Belfast Region City Deal. She also co-chairs the Belfast Film Festival.
She has received a number of awards including the IOD UK Public Sector Director of the Year and has been made a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and the City and Guilds of London Institute. In 2021 she received a Doctorate in Social Science from Queens University Belfast.
Danny McSorley
Non-Executive Director
Danny McSorley was appointed to the Strategic Investment Board in November 2015. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer and brings to the board over twenty years strategic leadership experience in regeneration and development in Central and Local Government.
He is a former Chief Executive of Strabane and Omagh District Councils and played a leading role in supporting Local Government Reform and developing a Local Government led approach to securing improvement and efficiency through collaborative working. He was awarded the OBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours for services to Local Government.
Mr. McSorley is currently a Board member of the International Centre for Local and Regional Development.
He has no other public appointments.
Kathryn Thomson
Non-Executive Director
Kathryn Thomson has been Chief Executive of National Museums NI since March 2016.
Prior to that she was Chief Operating Officer at Tourism NI for 11 years.
Before that Kathryn worked in the senior finance team within NHS Greater Glasgow, primarily involved in business and financial planning.
Kathryn holds a BCom (Hons) degree in Business Studies from the University of Edinburgh, completed her accountancy training at PricewaterhouseCoopers and has a professional qualification as a Chartered Accountant with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). She also sits on the Boards of both Tourism Ireland and Visit Belfast, as well as being a Director and Trustee on the Board of three charities – the Grand Opera House, Culture Perth & Kinross and Open House Festival.
Patrick Magee
Independent Panel Member
Patrick Magee is an expert in investment banking and corporate finance. He was previously Chief Commercial Officer at the British Business Bank plc (the UK Government’s Economic Development Bank). During his tenure, the Bank helped deliver economic growth by supporting over £85billion of investment in UK businesses. Prior to this, Patrick was a Managing Director at JP Morgan Cazenove.