Austin Boyle is a Senior Manager in the Health & Public Service Operating Group of Accenture’s Dublin and Belfast offices. Austin, originally from Enniskillen, holds an MEng degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Queens University. Austin has 12 years experience working on large scale IT systems projects, primarily in the public sector. Austin has been responsible for the delivery of a number of major public sector programmes mainly within the area of border management & public safety. He has extensive experience of leading large transformational projects within the public sector that have focused on delivering efficiencies and cost savings for the organisations concerned.

Eddie Bradley is Assistant Auditor General with the Northern Ireland Audit Office. He has worked in the public sector for the past 25 years, originally as an economist in the Department of Finance and Personnel. He has spent the past ten years working in the value for money division of the Northern Ireland Audit Office. During this period, he has worked on a wide range of reports across most government departments. He has also worked as a National Expert in the European Commission and as a consultant, on secondment, with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

David Carson is a Chartered Accountant and Divisional Director for Policy and Support at the Central Procurement Directorate. His responsibilities include leadership of the Centre of Excellence for Programme and Project Management which provides support for the successful delivery of the portfolio of programmes and projects throughout central government. This includes provision of the Gateway Review process. David’s career has been spent mainly in the public sector; his previous roles include spells as Director for Public Transport Performance at the Department for Regional Development, and as Director of Finance at both NI Water Service and Causeway Health and Social Services Trust.

Marian Corcoran is the Head of Management Consulting practice in Accenture in Ireland and is global lead for Finance and Performance Management in Accenture’s Government practice. She is responsible for helping clients develop, execute and operationalise their business strategies through using Accenture’s management consulting services. Marian has twenty one years experience of designing and delivering large scale change programmes across a range of industries in Ireland, UK and across Europe.

Stephen Peover took up the post of Permanent Secretary for the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) in August 2009. He oversees the Department’s responsibilities for public expenditure, public sector procurement, economic analysis and its relationships with HM Treasury and the European Commission.

Michael Smyth is Head of the School of Economics at the University of Ulster. He is also a member of the European Economic and Social Committee. He is one of Northern Ireland’s foremost economic commentators and specializes in economic development and European-related issues.

Nigel Smyth has been Director of CBI Northern Ireland since 1991 with responsibility for preparing papers on a wide range of public policy issues. He has helped develop the CBI into an effective business representative body in Northern Ireland. Nigel is a member of the Economic Development Forum and the IBEC/CBI Joint Business Council.

Robert Watt is Assistant Secretary, Sectoral Policy Division in the Department of Finance in Dublin. During 2009 the McCarthy report, produced by a group advising the Irish Government known as ‘An Bord Snip Nua’ identified savings of up to €5.3 billion across the public sector along with a cut of 17,300 in staff numbers.