The Council has a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and thirteen members appointed following ministerial approval.
Mr Richard Hill, Chairperson
Richard was appointed Chairperson of the Consumer Council from 1 January 2009. He currently serves as Chair of Northern Ireland Screen Commission, Chair of Consumer Focus Post, Northern Ireland and an ex-officio member of the Consumer Focus Board. Richard is a former Minister of Garnerville Presbyterian Church, Belfast. He is a former member of the BBC Audience Council for Northern Ireland and BBC Broadcasting Council for Northern Ireland.
Mrs Siubhan Grant, Deputy Chairperson
Siubhan lives in Holywood and is a qualified barrister. She has been a member of the Law Reform Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland, a Director of Translink and Chair of the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust. Siubhan is Convenor of the Council's Transport Group and Deputy Chairperson since January 2007.
Mr Colm Bradley
Colm is Director of Community Technical Aid (CTA). He served on the Local Government Taskforce Community Planning Working Group and DRD's External Stakeholder Group on the Assessment of Regional Development Strategy. He is a former Chairperson of the North Belfast Partnership Board and member of the Board of the Laganside Corporation.
Mr Michael Donnelly
Michael is a partner in consultancy firm, Second Nature. His main interests lie in sustainable development and he has been working towards this for the past nine years. Until July 2005, he was Director at Sustainable Northern Ireland, a not-for-profit organisation supporting this work. He is currently developing new projects on sustainable development themes and runs a farmers market in his home town of Castlewellan.
He has a degree in European Business and a Masters in Environment and Development. His early experience was as a marketing specialist in the Technology Sector. Michael is the Convenor of the Consumer Council's Food and Consumer Affairs Group.
Mr John Gillvray
John is Convenor of the Consumer Council's Energy Group. John retired in December 2004 as Managing Director of Farrans (Construction) Limited following a long career in a range of senior management posts with the company and its subsidiaries.
He is a Fellow of the Institution of Highways and Transportation, past Chair of Q.U.B.'s Civil Engineering Advisory Committee, past President of the NI Construction Employers Federation, a member of the Integrated Transport Stakeholders Group and an independent member on the Advisory Council for Infrastructure Investment.
He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Past Chairman of the Northern Ireland Region of that Institution and is currently a member of the Institution’s Editorial Panel for the publication “Civil Engineering.
He is a Board Member of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), past Chair of Buildsafe-NI, Co-Chair of the Joint HSENI-HSA Construction Safety Working Group. He is Chair of the Board of Governors, Bangor Grammar School and President of North Down Rotary Club.
John was awarded the OBE in 2003 for his services to the Construction Industry.
Ms Celia Gourley, OBE
Celia lives in Lisburn and retired as Head of the Industrial Development Board's Export Service, after a career with the Civil Service. She was a Board member of the Northern Ireland Memorial Fund, where she served on the Publicity and the Pain Relief and Respite Care Sub-Committees. She is a founder member of the Prosthetics User Forum, Northern Ireland and a member of the Regional Prosthetics Forum. Celia is a Governor of Wallace High School and a Board member of ADAPT (NI), an arts accessibility charity. Celia is Convenor of the Consumer Council’s Consumer Education Group.
Mrs Sarah Havlin LLB
Sarah is a Solicitor by profession having practiced law in private practice for 12 years, until taking a career break from practice in 2007 to concentrate on other interests. She is now a self-employed free lance legal consultant. Her current interests and consultancy work include a number of Ministerial Appointments and advisory work and third level teaching. She is a Legal Member of the Independent Appeals Panel for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chair of the Agricultural Wages Board of Northern Ireland, a Legal Chair of the Exceptional Circumstances Tribunal for the Department of Education, representative of the South Eastern Education and Library Board on the Board of Governors for St Columbanus' College, Bangor, part time tutor at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's University and an Associate Lecturer in Law with the Open University. She was also appointed as Assistant Local Government Boundaries Commissioner for Northern Ireland by the Minister of the Environment in 2008-2009 and was assigned responsibility for the district of Belfast City under the process of the review of Local Government Boundaries in Northern Ireland.
Mr Bob McCann
Bob is a Chartered Certified Accountant who has held a number of senior management posts in both the private and public sectors. He has worked for several companies within Viridian Group PLC, including a time as General Manager (Finance) in NIE. Subsequently he established the information technology company Sx3 and was appointed as a Director. He is also a Non Executive Director in United Northern HSC Trust and Chair of the Audit Committee. In addition he is a Director of Victim Support Northern Ireland, Chair of the Audit Committee of Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People and Chair of the Consumer Council's Audit Committee.
Mr Kit Chivers
Kit was the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland from the formation of the office in August 2003 to August 2008. Prior to that he worked as Chief Inspector of the Courts in England and Wales and the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service for five years and from 1968-1998 he held a range of posts in HM Treasury. He is currently a Commissioner in the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
Mrs Anne Diamond
Anne will retire shortly as co-Director Capital Planning for the Belfast Health and Social Services Trust having previously served as Capital Utilisation and Investment Project Manager and Strategic Development Manager (Family and Child Care Programme) in the North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust. Anne is a qualified social worker and worked for many years in fostering and adoption.
Deirdre Fitzpatrick
Deirdre runs a business consultancy practice which she established in 1990. She carries out work for the private, public, community and voluntary sectors. She also set up a property management company in 2001 and sold her share in 2004. Prior to that, she set up Northern Ireland’s first business incubation centre. She is currently a voluntary member of a youth club management committee and a school governor.
Mr Scott Kennerley
Mr Kennerley was a Financial Adviser at Halifax Financial Services from1999-2001 and at Abbey National from 2001-2002 providing advice to clients on mortgages, pensions, investments and life assurance. From 2002-2005 he worked for Tameside MBC delivering money advice to clients with mental health difficulties. Currently, he is the Money Advice Project Manager for Citizens Advice (regional office) delivering the contract output measures of the DETI money advice contract.
Mr Lee Wilson
Mr Wilson commenced employment in the Finance Department of Lurgan Hospital in 1988 rising to Assistant Financial Accountant from 2002 until 2008. He has gained a BA Hons Business Studies and MA in Admin and Law through part-time study and is currently preparing a PHD research application on Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. Mr Wilson is also a Lay Member of the NI Social Care Council Conduct Committee.
Jill Gillespie
Mrs Gillespie worked as a corporate lawyer for the Northern Bank from 1993-2002 managing the legal risk of the Bank through the provision of legal advice to line management and staff. From 2002-2008 she was a solicitor in the firm of Patterson Donnelly, Solicitors, specializing in bulk remortgaging for High Street lenders. Currently, she is a board member of Reconnect involved in corporate governances and strategic planning. Mrs Gillespie is also a member of the NI Social Care Council Conduct Committee.
Dr Margaret Ward
Dr Ward was a Research Fellow in history at Bath Spa University from 1993-1999 and Assistant Director responsible for fundraising and policy development at Democratic Dialogue between 2000 and 2005. Currently, she is Director of the Women’s Resource and Development Agency, responsible for strategic planning, advocacy, financial management and staff management. Dr Ward was an executive member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition from 2004 until it’s dissolution in May 2006.
