Following a year of strong performance and growth, the Centre for Competitiveness (CforC) continues to support organisations across the Island of Ireland to improve competitiveness, productivity, and long-term sustainability. Over the past year, CforC has expanded both its reach and range of services, responding to the evolving needs of industry through enhanced business improvement support, innovation and sustainability programmes, and collaborative networks. 

Against this backdrop, and following our Annual General Meeting, CforC is pleased to announce the appointment of six new Board members, who join the organisation at an important point in our development. 
Our new Board brings a wealth of experience across industry, innovation, leadership, and economic development. Their insight and expertise will play a key role in guiding CforC as we continue to strengthen our impact in areas such as business competitiveness, productivity, innovation, sustainability, and collaboration. 

Their guidance has helped shape the organisation, strengthen our services, and expand our reach and impact across the business community. Our CforC Board members that continue in post are as follows: 

– Brian McAreavey (new Chairman) 
– Dr Paul Madden (new Secretary) 
– Debbie Caldwell 
– Ian Campbell 
– John Irwin 
– Ronan McKeown 
– Prof Sandra Moffett 
– Brian O’Hare 
 
Newly appointed CforC Board members: 

– Andrew Kirke 
– Trevor Lockhart 
– Niall Martindale 
– Roslyn McMillan 
– David Quinn 
– Dr Andrea Reid 

The newly appointed Board brings together a diverse and highly experienced skillset spanning advanced manufacturing, aerospace, agri-food, construction, energy, infrastructure, digital innovation, professional services, education, and the public sector. With senior leadership experience across industry transformation, sustainability and climate policy, operations, analytics, legal governance, research and innovation, the Board is strongly positioned to support our work with organisations across multiple sectors and scales. This breadth of expertise further strengthens CforC’s ability to deliver practical, relevant, and forward-looking support to industry across Ireland. 
 
As we look ahead to 2026 and beyond, CforC remains focused on: 

Driving competitiveness and productivity improvement / Supporting innovation, sustainability, and decarbonisation /
Expanding collaborative networks and cluster activity / Delivering practical, high-impact support to organisations of all sizes 
 
Our gratitude again to our long-serving Board members that have stepped down: 

– Dr Stephen Kingon (outgoing Chairman) 
– Dr Bob Barbour (outgoing secretary) 
– Joe O’Mahony 
– Joe O’Neill 
– Andrew Robinson 
– David Watson 
– Mark McEwan 
 
We thank all Board members—past and present—for their continued support of our mission and look forward to the next chapter in CforC’s journey.