Sir Michael Lyons
Chair, Independent Review of Invest Northern Ireland
Sir Michael Lyons is Chairman of the English Cities Fund, which is currently reshaping large parts of Salford, and has other large scale regeneration developments in Plymouth, East London, Wakefield and Liverpool. He is currently Chairman of SQW Ltd and has held a number of other Board positions as well as various nonexecutive and advisory roles.
He is a former Chairman of the BBC (from May 2007 to end of April 2011). He led the national "Lyons Inquiry" into the functions and funding of local government (published March 2007) which argued for greater devolution and emphasised the local authority's role in Placeshaping. He led two other significant reviews concerning the relocation of government services (2004) and the management of public assets (2004).
He is a former Deputy Chairman of the Audit Commission (2003 to 2006) and Professor of Public Policy at Birmingham University (2001 to 2006).
Sir Michael recently chaired the Belfast Innovation and Inclusive Growth Commission that published its “reset for growth” report in July 2021.
Dame Rotha Johnston DBE
Dame Rotha Johnston DBE has a wealth of experience in business and commerce within the private and public sectors in Northern Ireland. Rotha is currently a Director of Wildflower Property, Chair of Northern Ireland Electricity Network, Director at QUBIS, and member of KPMG NI Advisory Board. Previously Dame Rotha was Chair of Northern Ireland Screen and a Belfast Harbour Commissioner. She was also Business Development Director at the Local Enterprise Development Unit, a BBC Trustee, Pro Chancellor and Chair of Senate at Queen’s University Belfast and Deputy Chair of Invest NI.
Maureen O’Reilly
Maureen O’Reilly is an independent economist with more than 25 years’ experience working with the public, private and third sectors across a range of economic research and policy areas. She was previously Senior Research Economist with the Economic Research Institute for Northern Ireland. Prior to this she led the Policy Evaluation Unit at the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre. She is currently a member of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council and Senior Research Associate with the Centre for Cross Border Studies. She also sits on the Barnardo’s UK Economics and Corporate Strategy Panel and is a Board member of Enterprise Northern Ireland.