Evelyn Collins
Mainstreaming equality in public policy-making

Evelyn Collins has been Chief Executive of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland since March 2000. She has been working on equal opportunities issues since she joined the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland in the 1980s. A law graduate, Evelyn’s experience includes research and advisory work with employers on gender issues and currently, as Chief Executive of the Equality Commission, a wider strategy remit for equality across a range of strands in Northern Ireland.

Robin Guthrie
Consulting with stakeholders: A key feature of best practice policy-making

Robin Guthrie is Managing Director of Cherton, a Belfast based public affairs and business consultancy. Previously he worked in Short Brothers as a manager where he had responsibility for a range of high profile projects throughout the company and then worked as Commercial Director for a UK PLC before joining Cherton. He has experience of working with high profile national brands and managing their involvement in a range of projects in Northern Ireland.

Victor Hewitt
The role of evidence in supporting policy-making

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.

Angela Hodkinson
Review and evaluation of policy

Angela Hodkinson is a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Public Sector Consulting practice in Northern Ireland. She has 13 years’ experience with the firm providing a range of services to support policy development and execution. Angela has undertaken numerous evaluations at project, programme and policy level across the public and third sectors, and has real working knowledge of the challenges involved in review and evaluation of policy.

Eilis Lawlor
Seven principles for measuring what matters: A guide to effective public policy-making

Eilis Lawlor heads the Valuing What Matters programme at nef (the new economic foundation), which develops ways to measure, quantify and value things that are not market-traded. The aim of this is to challenge the approach to public and private decision-making that is driven by financial considerations and ensure that the things that matters to people, communities and the environment get included appropriately.

James McEldowney
Overview of the policy development process: The Policy Toolkit

James McEldowney is a member of the Policy Innovation Unit in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM). He has experience of a number of policy fields including small business and industrial development; regional and rural development, energy as well as EU policy making.

Jacqueline O’Loughlin
Case study: Influencing policy and interacting with policy-makers

Jacqueline O’Loughlin is Chief Executive of PlayBoard, the lead agency for the development of children and young people’s play in Northern Ireland. She joined PlayBoard in 1999 as a Regional Training and Development Officer. Jacqueline held this post until 2002, when she left the agency to work for the Northern Ireland Childminding Association (NICMA). Jacqueline rejoined PlayBoard in 2003 as Regional PlayCare Manager and took up the post of PlayBoard’s Chief Executive in 2005. A mother of three children, Jacqueline has been working in the voluntary sector for many years and has extensive experience of working with the early year’s sector, within primary, secondary formal and informal education structures.

Peter O’Neill
Taking account of cross-cutting issues in policy-making

Peter O’Neill has been the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission since 2007 and has worked closely with a wide range of government departments, agencies and international networks. Before joining the commission in 2004 as Head of Communications and Education, he was the Director of the student movement in Northern Ireland. He holds a Masters degree in European Integration Studies, a LLM in Human Rights Law and has written extensively on issues associated with human rights and diversity

Paul Priestly
Taking a strategic approach to policy-making

Paul Priestly was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Department for Regional Development in December 2007. Prior to this he was Director of Strategy and head of the Economic Policy and Regeneration Directorate of OFMDFM where he was responsible for supporting the Northern Ireland Executive in preparing and delivering the Programme for Government 2008-11 and the Investment Strategy 2008-18. He joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service as a graduate entrant in 1985 and has spent most of his career in the Northern Ireland Office.

Ronnie Spence
The importance of good policy-making in the Northern Ireland context

Ronnie Spence chairs the Probation Board for Northern Ireland and is a Deputy Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund. He is a Member of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission and a Trustee of Camphill Communities Trust Ltd. He previously worked in several parts of the Northern Ireland Civil Service from 1963 to 2001, including as Permanent Secretary of the Department of the Environment from 1994 to 1999 and the Department for Regional Development from 1999 to 2001. He is chair of the Ulster Sports Museum. His other interests include chairing a consultancy company and membership of the Institute of Directors.