Ambassadors – 2021
Contact Name: Anurag Deb
Position Title: Paralegal at KRW LAW LLP and PhD researcher, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast
Company Website: krw-law.ie , qub.ac.uk
Twitter: @governmentalite
LinkedIn: anurag-deb
Anurag is a paralegal at KRW LAW, a leading public law and Legacy litigation firm. After being called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2019, Anurag started a PhD in constitutional law at Queen’s University Belfast in 2020.
Contact Name: Conal Harvey
Position Title: Director of Harcourt Developments and Deputy Chairman of Titanic Belfast
Conal V Harvey is Chairman of the Board of Titanic Belfast, a world leading visitor attraction which commemorates the story of the magnificent RMS Titanic and the Belfast maritime and industrial heritage. He led the team which designed and constituted the project which opened in 2012 and he established the operating company which runs the Titanic Belfast complex. He is also a Director of EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum, the Dublin based exhibition which relates the story of Irish immigration throughout the world.
He is a Director of Harcourt Developments and chaired the Board of Titanic Quarter from 2005 to 2017. He was also Executive Chairman of Citywest Luas Ltd, the company which brought the commuter rail line to south west Dublin.
He did his primary degree in University College Dublin and post-graduate studies in Trinity College Dublin and INSEAD France.
Contact Name: Conor Fegan
Position Title: Planning and Environmental Law Barrister (England and Wales) at Francis Taylor Building Chambers (London)
Company Website: ftbchamber.co.uk
Twitter: ConorFegan
LinkedIn: conorfegan
Conor was called to the Bar of England and Wales in July 2018. He is a member of Francis Taylor Building chambers, a leading planning and environmental law set based in London. He specialises in public law, and in particular in planning and environmental law. Conor acts for a range of clients including central and local government, charities and pressure groups, residents associations, and developers. He regularly appears before the High Court (England and Wales), the Planning Inspectorate, and the Planning Appeals Commission. He is involved in a number of ongoing cases which raise climate change related issues.
Contact Name: Debbie Caldwell
Position Title: Climate Commissioner
Company Website: BelfastCity
Debbie Caldwell is the Climate Commissioner for Belfast City Council. An experienced climate change specialist with over 20 years’ experience working in international development, she co-chairs the Belfast Resilience and Sustainability Board and the Climate Commission.
Contact Name: Eleanor ‘Nell’ Watson CITP FBCS FICS FIAP FIKE FRSA FRSS FCMI FLS SMIEEE
Position Title: AI Ethics Engineer, IEEE Standards Association.
Company Website: IEEE Standards Association
Twitter: NellWatson
LinkedIn: nellwatson
Eleanor ‘Nell’ Watson is an interdisciplinary researcher in emerging technologies such as machine vision and A.I. ethics. Her work primarily focuses on protecting human rights and putting ethics, safety, and the values of the human spirit into technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. Nell serves as Chair & Vice-Chair respectively of the IEEE’s ECPAIS Transparency Experts Focus Group, and P7001 Transparency of Autonomous Systems committee on A.I. Ethics & Safety, engineering credit score-like mechanisms into A.I. to help safeguard algorithmic trust.
Nell serves as an Executive Consultant on philosophical matters for Apple, as well as serving as Senior Scientific Advisor to The Future Society, and Senior Fellow to The Atlantic Council. She also holds Fellowships with the British Computing Society and Royal Statistical Society, among others. Her public speaking has inspired audiences to work towards a brighter future at venues such as The World Bank, The United Nations General Assembly, and The Royal Society.
Contact Name: Hugh Haughian
Position Title: Senior Customer Growth director
Company Website: mrpfd.com
Twitter: @MRP_Prelytix
LinkedIn: hughhaughian
Hugh Haughian joined MRP in January 2011, fresh from completing his Masters at Queens University Belfast he accepted an entry level Sales Development role at MRP. Over a decade later and after a series of promotions Hugh has risen through the ranks, where he currently holds the title of a Senior Customer Growth Director where he manages MRP’s client relationships. Hugh is responsible for working with the world’s leading technology companies, right here in Belfast he is working directly with FTSE 100 Tech companies such as SAP and Cisco, to name but a few.
Contact Name: Keith Farley
Position Title: Managing Director and Vice President, Aflac Northern Ireland
Company Website: aflacni.com
LinkedIn: keithfarley / aflacni
Keith Farley, MD of Aflac Northern Ireland moved here with his family (and dog-he now has 2) in June 2019 ahead of the launch of Aflac NI in October of the same year. Keith fell in love with the people and the place. Having never lived anywhere other than the US, this wasn’t just a small change for the Farley family. From driving on the ‘other’ side of the road, to the variety of accents he has encountered Keith tells the story of ‘Why Belfast’ like a local. From ship building to rope making, from linen to world class film studios and cyber security, Belfast has continually adapted to the ever-changing needs of the world. Keith is often heard quoting “If you think you know Belfast today, just wait to see what we can do tomorrow.”
It’s been a successful transition from Atlanta for Keith, starting Aflac Northern Ireland with a vision and a whiteboard to now over 130 technologists and cyber security professionals. Aflac, as a leading provider of supplemental insurance, helps to protect more than 50 million people in the United States and Japan. The new office helps power the company’s international business, delivering world-class technical expertise and emerging solutions to increase information security and support customers in their time of need.
Keith is front and centre of that, but like a proper local he has plenty of time for a wee cup of tea and some craic!
Contact Name: Lori Gatsi-Barnett
Position Title: Entrepreneur , Motivational Speaker, Business Consultant, Founder JoinHer Network
Company Website: joinher.co.uk
Facebook: lori.gatsibarnett
Twitter:@GatsiLori
LinkedIn: lorigatsibarnett
I am entrepreneur , Motivational Speaker, Founder of JoinHer Network & Director at Terra Nova.
I was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and lived and studied in the Pennsylvania US . Experienced Director with demonstrated history of working in corporate and voluntary administration industry. Skilled in advertising, marketing strategies, business & motivational speaker and event host. I am grateful for the opportunities and my experiences arising from my work as youth Ambassador with World Vision and American Red Cross, participation in numerous panel discussion, including one held in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, my involvement in humanitarian community building projects.
Former Chair of HAPANI ( Horn Of Africa People’s Aid ), Former Director of communications for ACCCNI (African and Caribbean Chamber of Commerce Northern Ireland) .
Having lived and worked across different cultures and countries , the richness of variety within diversity demands change from us collectively to become the examples of a community transformed and strengthened by us sharing a vision of a brighter tomorrow.
Contact Name: Ruairi Kelly
Position Title:Chair of Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm Committee
Twitter: @RuairiKelly
LinkedIn: ruairikelly
Chair of Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm Committee, previously Contracts & Property Committee. Leading on the city’s Community Wealth Building agenda and part of the Economic Leadership Team.
Contact Name: Sue Gray
Position Title: Second Permanent Secretary to Cabinet Office
Twitter: SueGrayCO
Facebook: SueGrayDOF
In May 2021 Sue returned to the Cabinet Office to take up the role of Second Permanent Secretary with responsibility for the Union and Constitution Directorate. Prior to that from 2018 to 2021 Sue served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Finance, NI Executive on secondment from the Cabinet Office. Sue first joined the Cabinet Office in the late 1990s.
Contact Name: Shona McCarthy
Position Title:Chief Executive, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society
Company Website: edfringe.com
Twitter: edfringe
Facebook: edfringe
LinkedIn: shonamccarthy
Shona McCarthy joined the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society as Chief Executive in 6 years ago. Shona has championed the Edinburgh Fringe as the world’s leading open access, performing arts festival and founded on the principle of freedom of expression. From 2011-2014 she was Chief Executive of the Culture Company, leading on Derry – Londonderry’s transformational year as UK City of Culture. Prior to that she was Director of the British Council Northern Ireland. She headed up Imagine Belfast to deliver Belfast’s bid to be European Capital of Culture in 2001. She also spent many years as Chief Executive of Cinemagic Film Festival for young people, Belfast; and the Foyle Film Festival, Derry; and was Head of Exhibition at the Northern Ireland Film Council. Shona has 32 years experience working in senior leadership positions and was awarded a prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship for Innovation in 2014, making her part of a global network of leaders and influencers, and a NESTA cultural leadership award which took her to work with the Seagull Foundation for the Arts in Calcutta India in 2007.
Contact Name: Terry Stevens
Position Title: Founder and MD, Stevens & Associates
Company Website: tourism-futures.com
Terry is a longstanding friend of Belfast stretching back since the early 1970’s. when he visited as a student. In 1982 he was the Allied Irish Bank’s Visiting Professor in Rural Planning at Queens University. He is the founder and MD of the multi-award winning international tourism consultancy, Stevens & Associates. He has now worked on all kinds of tourism projects in 55 countries including a considerable amount of work in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Belfast. His worked has bridged communities and facilitated collaborations across Belfast. He has regularly organised thought-provoking tourism debates as part of Feile and is a loyal and strong advocate for the city. Over the past 12 months, Terry Stevens has received a number of international awards in recognition of his work supporting the recovery and re-imagining of the tourism industry. In 2020 he became the LUXLife Tourism Destination Management Development Expert of the Year, he was awarded a medal by the Lord Mayor of Swansea for his work in tourism in Wales, and received the highest award for his contribution to tourism promotion of Slovenia from the Slovenian Tourist Board. Now, in 2021 he has just been awarded the LUXLife Tourism Expert of the Year Award and the A-i publishing’s 6th Annual Hospitality Award for Leading International Tourism Consultant of the Year. His two books, Wish You Were Here: the stories behind 50 of the world’s great destinations and Wish You Were Here Europe both feature Belfast.