New Appointments to the Board of Sport NI

Following an open competition, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has appointed three new Members to the Board of Sport NI with effect from 1 August 2021 until 31 July 2025:

• Mr Gavin Boyd
• Miss Denise Burns
• Mrs Wendy Elliott

Sport NI is an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) sponsored by the Department for Communities. It was established by the Recreation and Youth Service (NI) Order 1986 as the Sports Council for Northern Ireland with its main objective being the furtherance of sport and physical recreation.

Notes to editors: 

1. Board Member positions are unpaid and receive expenses only. The time commitment is 12 days per annum.

2. These appointments have been made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland (CPANI) Code of Practice.

3. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, CPANI requires political activity of appointees to be published.

Biographical details:

Mr Gavin Boyd

Mr Boyd is a qualified Chartered Accountant with experience of managing budgets within the private and public sectors. As the first Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of the Education Authority he designed and implemented the management and corporate governance structures for the new organisation accounting for a budget of £1.9bn and 43,000 staff. He is a former Director of the Cawoods Group, the largest fuel distributor in Northern Ireland. Mr Boyd has not undertaken any political activity in the last five years and holds no other public appointments.

Miss Denise Burns

Miss Burns has a range of experience of advising Chief Executive’s and Boards on governance and risk management including Age NI, Helm Housing and Radius Housing. She is currently the Corporate Governance Manager in Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and is responsible for governance and risk oversight, internal audit, grants, insurance, fraud, whistleblowing and the Mayor’s Office. She also has experience of being a Trustee and Board Member working previously with the Irish FA Foundation, and currently sits on the Boards of both Ark Housing, and St Mary’s Football Club. Miss Burns has not undertaken any political activity in the last five years and holds no other public appointments.

Mrs Wendy Elliott

Mrs Elliott is a former branch manager of a building society. As a Fundraising Manager at the National Trust, she was involved in a range of successful projects including work relating to the Giants Causeway. She has a range of project management skills and experience, as well as involvement in the strategic direction of the South Tyrone Area Partnership Board. She was also involved in the establishment of the South Tyrone Partnership and its strategic direction. Mrs Elliott is a former non-executive Board Member of Will to Give, an organisation set up to encourage people to leave charitable gifts in their will.  Mrs Elliott has not undertaken any political activity in the last five years and holds no other public appointments.

4. Media enquiries to DfC Press Office on email: 

5. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The Duty Press Officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

6. Follow the Department on Twitter @CommunitiesNI

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