Professor Richard Barnett
Reviewing Northern Ireland’s economic development policy

Professor Richard Barnett was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Ulster in April 2006. He was appointed in late 2008 by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment to chair a review into the government’s economic development policy. Professor Barnett is currently a member of the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council (NIHEC); a member of the British Council (Northern Ireland Committee); a director of ILEX; a non-executive director of Bombardier Shorts Aerospace (Belfast) and Chairman of Universities Ireland.

Hugh Crossey
Developing a vibrant, private sector-led economy

Hugh Crossey is Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) in Northern Ireland. An experienced and highly-respected management consultant, Hugh has spent over 25 years as an advisor to public and private sector organisations in the UK, Ireland, Europe and the USA, where he planned, evaluated and executed a wide variety of major public policy studies and organisational reviews. Before becoming Managing Partner in July 2007, he was leader of PwC’s advisory practice in Northern Ireland.

Dr David Dobbin
The role of North-South co-operation in supporting economic recovery

Dr David Dobbin, CBE is Chairman of InterTradeIreland and is also Group Chief Executive of United Dairy Farmers.  He is actively involved in promoting regional economic development and is Chairman of the Prince's Trust in Northern Ireland and serves on a number of public and private bodies including the Strategic Investment Board and the BT Ireland Advisory board.  David has extensive international business experience in the food and drink and packaging sectors and received a CBE in 2005 for his service to the agrifood and packaging industries.

Mark Durkan MP MLA
The role of the DETI Committee in the local economy

Mark Durkan MP MLA is Chairman of the Assembly Enterprise, Trade & Investment Committee. He has been the SDLP leader since 2001 and represents the Foyle constituency as both an MP and MLA. He was Minister of Finance & Personnel from 1999 to 2001 and deputy First Minister from 2001 to 2002. He sat on Derry City Council from 1993 to 2000 and was a member of the Northern Ireland Forum from 1996 to 1998.

Neil Gibson
The Northern Ireland Economic outlook: The regional mid-term forecast

Neil Gibson is Director of Regional Services for Oxford Economics. He was previously Managing Director and joint founder of Regional Forecasts which merged with Oxford Economics in Spring 2007. Running a specialist forecasting and consultancy service covering all the UK regions and Ireland the team is based in Belfast, London and Oxford. A regular commentator on the NI and national economy Neil leads production of Oxford’s regional and sub-regional models throughout the UK. In addition to the regular production of forecasts Neil has led Oxford’s research into aspects of economic policy such as urban development, skills forecasting, transport planning and land demand forecasting.

Alastair Hamilton
Growing the economy: Supporting local businesses and targeting inward investment

Alastair Hamilton was appointed Chief Executive of Invest Northern Ireland with effect from April 2009. Alastair has responsibility for delivering the economic development policies of the Northern Ireland Executive through Invest NI supporting the growth plans of local companies and attracting new inward investment. Prior to joining Invest NI Alastair was employed by BT, most recently as Director of BT Health and formerly as Managing Director for BT Major Business in Ireland. In May 2007 Alastair was seconded for one year to work as Economic and Business Advisor to the First Minister, as the new devolved government was being established.

Victor Hewitt
Examining the options for mitigating the recession

Victor Hewitt is the Director of the Economic Research Institute of Northern Ireland (ERINI) where he is responsible for managing a broad research agenda including work on the role of innovation and technical change in promoting economic development. He is the former Chief Economist at the Northern Ireland Civil Service and worked in the Department of Finance & Personnel with responsibility for European programmes and later public expenditure and liaison with HM Treasury. He has also worked in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment where he was responsible for the department’s research strategy.

Professor Tim Jackson
Prosperity without growth? The pursuit of economic growth as a cause of the financial crisis

Professor Tim Jackson is Economics Commissioner at the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). He is also Professor of Sustainable Development in the Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES) at the University of Surrey. His current research interests include consumer behaviour, sustainable energy systems, ecological economics and environmental philosophy. In the last 12 years he has pioneered the development of an ‘adjusted’ measure of economic growth – a ‘green GDP’ – for the UK. He is the author of the recent SDC report ‘Prosperity without growth’ which argues that the pursuit of economic growth is one of the root causes of the current financial crisis.

Gary McDonald
Discussion Panel: Media perspectives on the economic crisis

Gary McDonald has been business editor of the Irish News since January 2000, having previously spent nearly four years as editor of Ulster Business magazine. He began his career in journalism as a trainee reporter with his hometown newspaper, the Banbridge Chronicle, in 1979, before moving to the Ulster Star in Lisburn in 1986. He then served as editor of the Mid- Ulster Mail in Cookstown between 1989 and 1996. Gary was named as CIPR Northern Ireland Business Journalist of the Year on two occasions, 2000 and 2006, and in 2008 he won the Northern Ireland category in the UCD Smurfit School Irish Business Journalist Awards in Dublin.

Professor David Miles
The view of the MPC on the economic outlook

Professor David Miles joined the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England in June 2009. He is also a Visiting Professor at Imperial College. Miles was formerly a professor of financial economics and head of the Finance Department at Imperial. As an economist he has focused on the interaction between financial markets and the wider economy. He was Chief UK Economist at Morgan Stanley from October 2004 to May 2009.

Alison Wolf
Does education matter? Myths about education and economic growth

Alison Wolf is the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King's College London. She specialises in the relationship between education and the labour market and has a particular interest in training and skills policy, universities, and the medical workforce. She has been an adviser to, among others, the OECD, the Royal College of Surgeons, the Ministries of Education of New Zealand, France and South Africa, the European Commission and the Bar Council. She is the author of Does Education Matter? Myths About Education And Economic Growth.