Pat Colgan is Chief Executive of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). He joined SEUPB in September 2004 from the Austrian Institute for Spatial Planning and Regional Development where he was Head of the INTERACT Secretariat - an EU funded Programme which provided assistance to cross border, interregional and transnational co-operation programmes. Pat has been involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of EU funded programmes and other public policy programmes in all of the member states. Pat has worked with the Irish Management Institute, KPMG and the former Irish Goods Council (now part of Enterprise Ireland).

Diane Dodds MEP was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the DUP in 2009. She is a member of the European Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and is part of the delegation for relations with Israel. She is a substitute member of the Fisheries Committee and of the delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand. She was an MLA for West Belfast from 2003-2007 and also sits on Belfast City Council.

Bairbre de Brún MEP has been a Sinn Féin Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2004. She is a Member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on Petitions. She is a Substitute Member of the Regional Development Committee. Bairbre was an MLA for West Belfast from 1998 to 2004 and was Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in the Northern Ireland Executive from 1999 to 2002.

Danny Kennedy is Chairman of the Committee of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, which earlier this year published a report, entitled ‘Consideration of European Issues’ which contained recommendations for the Northern Ireland Executive, the Assembly Commission and the Speaker together with actions for the Assembly’s statutory committees for improving links with Europe. Danny is also a member of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee and is the Ulster Unionist Party’s Deputy Leader. He has been MLA for Newry & Armagh since 1998.

Maurice Maxwell was appointed Head of the European Commission Representation in Northern Ireland effective 1 September 2008. Prior to this he opened a new European Commission Delegation in New Zealand, where he represented the Commission as Head of Delegation until September 2007. Maurice joined the European Commission in 1983 and has worked in the fields of research and development, enterprise policy, small business policy and the internal market. He subsequently worked closely with Commissioner Neil Kinnock's team charged with the reform of the internal management of the Commission.

Jon McLeod is Chairman, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs with Weber Shandwick. Jon went into public affairs in 1994, having spent six years in financial and legal journalism. His specialisms include: parliamentary and lobbying campaigns, coalition building, national media relations, litigation and legal communications, and strategic counsel. He has worked in a variety of industry sectors, including transport and infrastructure, financial services, food and agriculture, property and planning, legal and professional services, healthcare, the voluntary sector and information and communications technology.

Jane Morrice is former Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, former Head of the European Commission Office in Northern Ireland, and former BBC Correspondent. Jane is currently Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission. She is also one of Northern Ireland’s two members of the Brussels-based European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and is a member of the EESC Transport and Energy Section and the Social Affairs Section.

Jim Nicholson MEP has been the Ulster Unionist Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1989. Jim sits with the Conservative delegation in Parliament which, with 25 MEPs, constitutes the largest national grouping in the European Conservative and Reformists group (ECR). He sits on two committees: Agriculture and Rural Development and Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. At the beginning of the new legislature Jim was appointed as co-ordinator for the ECR group for the policy area of agriculture. In 2004 Jim was elected by his fellow MEPs as a Quaestor and served for five years as a member of the bureau, the internal decisionmaking body of the European Parliament.

Dr. David Phinnemore is Senior Lecturer in European Integration and Jean Monnet Chair at the School of Politics and International Studies, Queen's University Belfast and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. His research and publications are primarily in the areas of EU enlargement, EU external relations and EU treaty reform.

Tina Sommer is the Chairman of International Affairs of the Federation of Small Businesses in the UK and President of the European Small Business Alliance which represents the interest of small business organisations on a pan-European level. She has served in the FSB as an activist for 12 years holding portfolios such as Trade and Industry and Vice Chairman of Welsh Policy. Her background is that of small businesses with the entire family running small businesses in various industries and countries.