Information on the speakers presenting at CIPFA Public Finance Live Northern Ireland 2025.
Patrick Barr, Director, Northern Ireland Audit Office
Patrick is a CIMA Fellow (FCMA) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). He is a member of CIMA’s Professional Standards Committee and previously chaired the Association’s (AICPA) Thought Leadership and Business Ethics Committee. Patrick joined the NI Audit Office as a Director in February 2020. Patrick has a portfolio of both financial and performance audits and leads on performance audit development. Previous public sector roles include Head of Financial Management and Head of Financial Performance. Prior to this Patrick worked with Deloitte’s Financial and Performance Management Team in Belfast and in locations across Europe. His work focused mainly on performance management, programme evaluations and shared services.
Florence Bastos, CIPFA Public Finance Advisor
Florence is a financial advisor in CIPFA’s Policy and Technical team. She joined CIPFA in 2023, bringing a wealth of experience from her private sector, NHS, and local authority background. Florence’s expertise lies in strategic financial management, which she leverages to improve organisational performance. She also provides financial and commercial insights that facilitate sound investment and contracting decisions in the public sector. Florence qualified as a Chartered Accountant while working in the tax practice at PwC.
Lucy Batley, Owner, Traction Industries
Lucy Batley’s tech experience spans 30 years designing for the digital world, her talent recognised at the outset of her career by winning EMAP’s Best Young Designer. Lucy built a strong foundation at the dawn of the digital era to bring products to the then-burgeoning online marketplace, working with renowned brands and artists including Audi, MaxMara, Samsonite, Vespa, Fila Sport and The Manic Street Preachers. She also designed the digital interface to launch the Euro into the UK to Barclays Bank SME division. She has since founded and scaled digital design agencies and established Traction Industries, providing solutions incorporating Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies to drive innovation. A thought leader and visionary designer, Lucy is passionate about how AI can work with humans and is a sought-after speaker, AI expert and a broker.
William Crawley, Journalist and Conference Chair
William is an award-winning journalist and BBC presenter. He hosts Talkback, the daily current affairs discussion programme on BBC Radio Ulster, and Sunday on BBC Radio 4, and has written and presented scores of radio and television documentaries on subjects ranging from history and science to religion and literature. He is a recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship, an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast for services to broadcasting, and, in 2019, was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Marie Doyle, Partner, Deloitte
Marie is a Partner with Deloitte in Northern Ireland and has over 20 years’ experience working across a wide variety of public and private sector clients. Marie is the Belfast Senior Office Partner for Deloitte, leading our amazing 1,300 strong workforce in the city. She also leads our work in the Northern Ireland market and our island of Ireland collaboration. Her underpinning skillset is in technology enabled transformation and she leads the Deloitte Technology and Transformation (formerly Consulting) practice in Northern Ireland also. Marie is the current President of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce and the first to hail from Northern Ireland. She holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Cambridge and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Queen’s University Belfast.
Stephen Farry, Professor of Strategic Policy in Practice, Ulster University
Stephen Farry is a Professor of Strategic Policy in Practice at Ulster University. He was educated at the Queen’s University of Belfast and holds a PhD in International Relations. He was a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, 2005-06. Professor Farry has served as an elected representative in various levels between 1993 and 2024, including holding office as local government councillor, Mayor, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and a Member of Parliament. Between 2011 and 2016, he was the Minister for Employment and Learning on the Northern Ireland power-sharing Executive. He participated in the negotiations that resulted in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (1998) and has been involved in many subsequent negotiations in relation to the Northern Ireland peace and political process. He has also been a consultant for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
Emma Foy, Local Government Lead, TechnologyOne
Emma has recently joined TechnologyOne from West Lindsey District Council where she was Director of Corporate Services and Section 151 Officer to support the TechnologyOne team with her industry knowledge and experience.
Having worked in Local Government and Public Sector Finance for the past 20 years including eight years with big four firms in external audit, Emma brings knowledge and experience of what our software needs to provide to prepare financial statements and statutory reports accurately and efficiently.
Louise Long, CIPFA Northern Ireland President
Louise Long was elected President of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance in Northern Ireland (CIPFA) in 2025, recognising her commitment to public finance and good governance.
She is Head of the Office of Science and Technology in The Executive Office, supporting the Chief Scientific and Technical Adviser and driving innovation across government. With over 20 years’ experience, she leads key initiatives including the Office of AI and NISTAN, and champions evidence-based policy and emergency planning.
Louise said she is “committed to working with CIPFA members to highlight the vital role of public finance professionals in delivering value and accountability.”
She also promotes cross-sector collaboration and inclusive policy through networks like Women in STEAM and the Government AI Network. Since taking office, she has engaged with key stakeholders, including the NI Public Chairs’ Forum and the NI Assembly Finance Committee.
Marie Mallon OBE, Independent Consultant
Marie is a Chair of the Northern Ireland Audit Office Advisory Board and an Associate of the HSC Leadership Centre. She also undertakes private consultancy work. Marie has held the positions of Chair of the Labour Relations Agency and Chair of the Public Sector Chairs Forum. She has served on a number of Boards including Departmental Advisory Boards and the Board of Translink. Prior to this she was Director of HR and Deputy CEO of the Belfast HSC Trust, having previously held the position of Director of HR with the Royal Hospitals. Marie is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and an MSc in HR leadership and holds a qualification in Boardroom leadership from the ILM. She was awarded an OBE for her services to Industrial and employment relations in Northern Ireland.
Mark McBride, Council Member, CIPFA
Mark is the Independent Chair of the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) and Chair of the AAT Retirement Benefits Scheme. He was previously Head of Finance and Performance at Belfast City Council where he worked for 23 years and prior to that he was a Financial Accountant with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive where he qualified as a CIPFA accountant in 1993. Mark has been an active member of the CIPFA Northern Ireland Committee for over 20 years and served as Chair of the NI Region from 2006 to 2008. He was also a CIPFA-nominated member on the AAT Council for ten years, where he was Chair of the Resources, Nominations and Remuneration Committees. He served as President of AAT in 2016/17.
Iain Murray, Director of Public Financial Management, CIPFA
Iain is CIPFA’s Director of Public Financial Management and has over 20 years’ experience of working with the public sector. Having joined District Audit as a graduate trainee in 2002 Iain moved his way up to manager at the Audit Commission before joining Grant Thornton in 2012 where he progressed to director and became a key audit partner.
Working with the public sector has always been a deliberate choice, during his career Iain has worked with local government, NHS and police bodies of varying size and complexity in both an audit and advisory capacity. He is well versed in the issues public finance and public services. At CIPFA Iain leads the teams in the key areas of policy, technical and standard setting.
Scott Robinson, Office of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY)
Scott currently works for the Office NICCY, primarily leading the Human Resources remit. During Scott’s time within the Public Sector, he has led transformational programmes of work to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the workplace. Scott is also a Business and HR Consultant, where he advises and assists Third-Sector organisations in navigating change processes, adapting to lean models of working, and ultimately improving organisational culture. In a voluntary capacity, Scott has led transformational projects in the areas of governance, culture and digital membership for one of Northern Ireland’s leading youth charities. Scott is a Chartered Manager through the Chartered Institute of Management and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).
Dr Eleanor Roy, Health and Social Care Policy Manager, CIPFA
Eleanor started her career in academia, completing a PhD and postdoctoral research in immunology and microbiology. In 2007, seeking a new challenge, she joined the Welsh Parliament, applying her scientific rigour to the scrutiny of public finance and the evidence-base behind all aspects of government finance policy. She joined CIPFA on secondment as research consultant in 2014, focusing on public finance policy across the devolved nations, in the run up to the Scottish independence referendum. On returning to the Welsh Parliament she focused on constitutional change, primarily related to the devolution of finance and taxation powers.
Given her biomedical background, Eleanor has maintained an interest in health and care, and in 2018, she returned to CIFPA to combine this with her experience of public finance policy, taking on the role of Health and Social Care Policy Manager. She leads on CIPFA's policy work in this area, with particular interest in investment in prevention, social care funding reform and integration of health and care.
Louise Smyth, Chief Commercial Officer, Co-Owner of MCS Group
Louise Smyth is Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Owner of MCS Group, Northern Ireland’s leading specialist recruitment firm. With over 30 years in the talent industry, she brings exceptional experience across both public and public sectors. A trusted advisor to executive teams, Louise has led major public sector recruitment contracts, providing strategic input on executive hiring, recruitment process design, and compliance. She specialises in candidate attraction, recruitment marketing, diverse hiring, and talent pipelining, particularly within today’s highly competitive skills market, helping organisations build sustainable talent strategies that deliver long-term results. Her private sector portfolio spans multinationals, SMEs, and start-ups, with additional expertise in executive coaching and psychometric assessment. A Fellow of the REC and Chartered CIPD member, Louise is recognised as a leading authority in specialist talent acquisition across Northern Ireland.
Amit Verma, Sustainability Policy Manager, CIPFA
Amit is a Chemical Process Engineer with over fifteen years of experience in technical and policy management. He has worked across diverse industry sectors including Oil and Gas, Food and Drinks, Construction and Renewables in technical leadership positions delivering complex projects worldwide. Currently, Amit is leading Sustainability function of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) as Sustainability Policy Manager within the Policy and Technical team. His role involves developing a comprehensive carbon emissions reduction strategy for CIPFA to meet its Net Zero ambitions, working with diverse stakeholders for sustainability standards developments and implementation, responding to technical consultations, developing CIPFA thought leadership activities and projects both within the UK and internationally.
Terry Waugh, Chief Executive Officer, Action Renewables
Terry is responsible for the company's overall strategic direction, including the implementation of activities mission and v1s1on. Terry has worked for Action Renewables for 20 years and prior to that, Terry gained over 20 years' energy industry experience at Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), where he acted as Customer Relations Manager for NIE's Transmission and Distribution business. In his studies, Terry gained a Bachelor's Degree in Business and Finance, a Masters of Business Administration and an Open University accreditation in Energy for a Sustainable Future.