Chief Executive Officer

Craig McGuicken

Craig McGuicken has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Northern Ireland Environment Link. Craig has worked extensively within the heritage and cultural sectors in Northern Ireland. Most recently he was Operations Director at SS Nomadic in Belfast where he oversaw the opening to the public of Nomadic and Hamilton Dock. He was Curator and Acting Head of Derry City Council Heritage Service, where he led on the development of a new regional Maritime Museum and City Archive. Previously he was Strategic Planning Officer with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and Curator of the Somme Association. Recently, he has been a Board Member of the Northern Ireland Museums Council, and of the Walled Towns Network of Ireland.

Development Manager

Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly is Parliamentary & Development Officer at Northern Ireland Environment Link and regularly liaises with elected representatives at the Northern Ireland Assembly, Westminster Parliament, the European Institutions and other key decision–makers to help promote member and organisational goals. His role entails assisting NIEL members to influence policy at the local, UK and EU levels as well as participation in European funding opportunities. He also provides the secretariat for the Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group and the NI Assembly All Party Group on European Environmental Directives. Prior to this role he led a number of work streams within NIEL including Climate Change, Freshwater, Biodiversity, Marine and Agriculture and represents NIEL on a number of external local and European fora. Sean has a background in agriculture and European project funding and development.

Senior Policy Officer

Malachy Campbell

Open Government Network Coordinator

Jill Eagleson

Finance Manager

Ruari Fairtlough

Networks, Events and Membership Coordinator

Iona Meyer

Iona joined the NIEL staff team in January 2006 as an Administration Support Officer. Iona’s background has been in the Civil Service and the University of Ulster. Iona is now the Network and Events Co–ordinator. Her duties in NIEL include: Education for Sustainable Development Forum, Northern Ireland Archaeology Forum, NIEL members and external agencies. Iona also assists with a number of projects, including the NGO Challenge Fund.

Policy & IT Officer

Connor McLean

Connor graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 2012 with a BSc in Environmental Planning and joined NIEL team in June 2012 as a volunteer, assisting on a range of projects. In January 2013, Connor began working part–time as a Website Assistant, developing NIEL’s social media and online presence. In August 2013, he secured the position of Communications Assistant. Connor also manages events, provides IT support and works on a number of projects including Climate Northern Ireland, the HLF Catalyst Umbrella Programme and the Northern Ireland Open Government Network.

NI Urban Spaces Programme Manager

Lizzy Pinkerton

Historic Environment Policy and Projects Officer

Leah O'Neill

Nourish NI Coordinator

Kerry Melville

Kerry Melville is the co–ordinator of the Belfast Food Network. She is a sustainability consultant, trained at UCL in 1999. She has a keen understanding and working knowledge of environmental sustainability, underpinned by a solid knowledge base and an undergraduate degree in International Development.

Kerry has gathered over 17 years’ experience of co–ordinating and managing all aspects of urban regeneration projects in post–conflict Belfast. She specialises in participatory practices, building exceptional stakeholder relationships, negotiation, conflict resolution, stakeholder analysis, fundraising and delivering award winning, challenging projects.

When she’s not at work, you’ll find her pottering in her herb garden or cooking up sumptuous banquets made with fresh, local and seasonal produce.

Acting Climate NI Manager & Climate Resilience Researcher

Jade Berman

Jade has over ten years’ experience working in Northern Ireland previously working at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and Ulster Wildlife, as an honorary lecturer in Marine Policy at Queen’s University and sitting as a Committee Member for CNCC and JNCC advising Government Departments. Previously Jade has worked all over the world from New Zealand and Antarctica to Panama and Hawaii above and below the sea as a marine biologist. She joined Climate NI in March 2020 working on the Talx project as a researcher and continues in this role as well as from February 2021, becoming Acting Climate NI Manager.

Climate NI Manager

Jane McCullough

Climate NI Project Officer

Stephen Jones

Stephen has more than 7 years’ experience co–ordinating climate adaptation in Northern Ireland. He has delivered bespoke climate resources and communication tools with a range of public, private and academic partners across a diverse range of sectors, from Health to Agriculture.

Recently he guided Derry City and Strabane District Council through development of the first climate change adaptation plan in the region. This led to the creation of the ‘Local Government Climate Action Network’ (LGCAN) which aims to develop adaptation plans in every local authority in NI.

Climate NI Project Assistant

Amy Bell

UK Climate Resilience Programme Embedded Researcher

Alan Kennedy–Asser

Climate NI Mitigation Officer

Perla Mansour

Rural Resilience Coordinator

Jill Montgomery

Jill oversees a new project to build a Rural Resilience Network in Northern Ireland to support farming communities with information on climate risks, practical adaptation and new farming opportunities and provide additional evidence for the next UK Climate Risk Assessment in relation to Agriculture. Jill has over 20 years experience of project management in Northern Ireland including landscape projects with the National Trust, succession planning for the family farm, business development and funding. Previously she worked in London and overseas in international development for a disability NGO. Jill sits on the Regional Advisory Group for the National Trust and was formerly a Director on the Board of Outdoor Recreation NI. She is passionate about nature and the mutual health benefits of connecting people to the outdoors and is an advocate of outdoor learning for children and local food. Her interests include cycling, running and foreign affairs.