The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has made new non-executive appointments to the departmental board and to the boards of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and Forest Service.
Dr Michael Johnston has been appointed as a non-executive board member to the departmental board.
Johnston previous served as chief executive of the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland and chaired the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), College Advisory Group.
Veronica Morris has been appointed as a non-executive board member of the NIEA board.
She has over 25 years’ experience in the voluntary, community, and agricultural sectors, is former chief executive of Rural Support, and founder of Danellen Consulting.
Shireen Chambers and Maynard Mawhinney have both been appointed to the Forest Service board.
Chambers is currently chief executive of Future Woodlands Scotland and was a previous executive director of the Institute of Chartered Foresters.
Mawhinney is a former director of food and commercial tourism with InvestNI and currently serves as a non-executive director with the Business Services Organisation (BSO).
DAERA
Each Northern Ireland department is required to have an effective departmental board which provides leadership for the department’s business, helping it to operate effectively.
The board supports senior officials in directing the business of the department in an as effective and efficient way as possible.
The department said that non-executive board members bring external perspectives and experiences and provide invaluable support and constructive challenge to executive members in their role of ensuring that the board’s business is discharged effectively.
These appointments are being made for a three-year period, beginning on April 1, 2025.
The fees payable in relation to non-executive board members is £554 per day (or pro-rata), plus expenses.
The time commitment for a non-executive board member of the DAERA departmental board is approximately 30 days a year.
The time commitment for non-executive board members of the boards of the agencies is less, approximately 20 days per year.
