He spent more than two decades in finance in London and New York and finished off that period of his career as CEO of Credit Suisse in the UK and the bank’s Chief Client Officer in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Originally from Belfast, Garrett attended St Malachy's College. He holds an MA in Law from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University where he is a Fellow Commoner. Garrett and his wife Natalia, both directly and through the Curran Family Foundation, support a number of charities spanning education (with a focus on social mobility) and medical research (with a focus on cancer and paediatrics). Natalia is a patron of the CRIS Cancer Foundation in Madrid. Garrett has walked the last degree to both the North and South Poles to raise money for the charities HopeHIV and CRIS Cancer Foundation.

Garrett was awarded an Honorary Degree by Queen’s University Belfast in December 2023, in recognition of his services to business, commerce and education.

Most recently, she was on the Board and Leadership Team of YSC, a global, leadership consultancy, advising Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 CEOs and C-suite leaders on their leadership strategy, talent development, and CEO succession. Before that she led the talent agendas for a global facilities management organisation, and an airport management business.

Tessa served on the Board of a Liberal Arts University in the USA for seven years and now serves as a Non-Executive Director of The Mount Charles Group and as a Board Member of the City of Derry International Choir Festival.

Since then, she has served as Honorary Secretary on the Interfaith Working Group, which is part of the Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue (2011-2021), and on the Executive for Irish Council of Churches (2020-present). Georgina obtained a Graduate Diploma in Theology from Union Theological College 2016-2017.  In 2018, she and her husband set up the Olive Tree Fund to administer a wide range of philanthropic activities, most notably funding a three-year training programme with Concern Worldwide for refugee women’s business initiatives in the Middle East. The couple have also set up the Copty scholarship at Queen’s University to benefit a Palestinian postgraduate student. She lives in Belfast with her husband, Chris, and four children.

Back in Belfast he worked in economic development for 20 years including 5 years as Chief Executive of IDB. In this role he worked very closely with a wide range of US investors in Northern Ireland. He held permanent secretary positions in several civil service departments including the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) and was head of the NI Civil Service. He worked closely with Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness for 4 years. While in these roles he led a very major programme of civil service reform. He was knighted in 2011.

Since retiring Bruce has been appointed by the Irish Government as chair of one of its major civil service reform projects. 

Among his charitable interests Bruce is Chairman of the Lyric Theatre, and a trustee of the Irish American Partnership.

Gareth’s career has spanned from engineering roles to venture capital investment. Before joining IQT, Gareth worked at Promus Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. Before his time at Qualcomm Ventures, Gareth spent two years in the corporate development teams at National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments, focusing on strategic investments, corporate M&A, and corporate strategy. Previously, he worked at PMC-Sierra and several other technology firms in engineering and engineering management roles across Europe and North America's hardware and software domains.
 
Gareth holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He also possesses a PhD in Electronic Engineering from Queen’s University Belfast and a BE in Electronic Engineering from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Additionally, Gareth is a Kauffman Fellow and a member of Class 15.

Prior to joining OHA, he was Managing Director and Global Head of Alternative Fund Distribution at UBS Investment Bank having previously held similar roles at Deutsche Bank and HSBC.

Declan graduated with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Physics and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Queen’s, and has served as a Member of Senate (2010-2017), as well as sitting on the University’s Planning and Finance, and Honorary Degrees Committees during this time.

He was a founding member and Chair of the Queen’s University City Leadership Group, a network formed with the goal of raising philanthropic funds for the University, as well as mentoring students targeting employment in financial services and law. Following its formation in 2011, the group provided over 200 pro-bono legal and financial services placements for Queen’s students with firms in Ireland, the UK and the US, and was the winner of CASE Europe Volunteer of the Year Award in 2014.

Declan serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ireland Funds Great Britain and sits on the Governing Body of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where he chairs the Finance and Pension Trustee Committees, and is a Board Member of the Alternative Credit Council.

Sir Ian has extensive experience of university innovation driving regional economic growth. This includes cross-sector developments both in Northern Ireland and England, and specifically the Belfast Region City Deal Innovation Pillar, driving innovation in key sectors for the local economy, such as health innovation, data science & analytics, and advanced manufacturing. He is passionate about the importance of social responsibility and inclusion to the University’s mission, particularly widening participation, diversity & inclusion and civic engagement. 

He is a past President of Universities Ireland, promoting collaboration across the island, a member of the British Council’s Education Advisory Group, Founder of both the Health Innovation Research Alliance, Northern Ireland (HIRANI) and the Northern Health Science Alliance, and non-executive Director of Dubai Academic Health Corporation. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast.

He is a medical graduate of the University of Glasgow, with his research and clinical career in obstetrics & gynaecology. He was made a Knight Bachelor in the King’s Birthday Honours 2023 for services to education and the economy.

Prior to this appointment as Vice-President, he was Director of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility at Queen’s and before that Director of Strategic Communication and Engagement at the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He was previously Head of Public Engagement at Queen’s University and was a Visiting Professor at Ulster University in Governance and Public Policy. Dr Feeney also served as an independent member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board from 2011-2018, where he was the lead member for Human Rights and Professional Standards. 

He has organised and curated six major international conferences, including the 20th and 25th Anniversary events at Queen’s marking the anniversaries of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Dr Feeney is a graduate of St Mary's University College and postgraduate in Law from Queen’s. He has a Doctorate in Governance, specialising in political science and public policy from the Institute of Public Administration, National University of Ireland. 

A Chartered Accountant with a PLC background, Paddy was previously Group Chief Financial Officer at Translink and has an extensive range of experience at Board level in both the private and public sectors. Paddy is a Board member of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is a member of the Bank of England’s Decision Maker Panel. He is also a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and the Institute of Directors.