Invest Northern Ireland is on the hunt for a new chair after the incumbent said she will step down from the position at the end of this month.
Rose Mary Stalker has said she won’t be seeking a further extension of her current term when it comes to an end on 31 st January. Her official three-year term as chair came to an end in July 2022 but had been extended by the then economy minister Gordon Lyons while an independent review of the organisation was carried out.
Released last week, the review pulled no punches in its assessment that the agency was having a limited impact on the province’s productivity and needs wholesale reform if it is to be fit for purpose. It singled out the board, and the chair in particular, for becoming “too operational”, but conceded that may approach may be due to “a perceived lack of transparency within the organisation.
The Department for the Economy, within which Invest NI sits, said it would appoint an interim chair once Ms Stalker leaves the post and launch a competition for the post in “due course”.
Ms Stalker, who has served on the board of Invest NI for 11 years, said she welcomed the independent review and was stepping aside to allow a new chair to continuing implementing its recommendations.
“It will take time to fully engage and refocus the whole organisation and it is important that the incoming Chair has the scope and tenure to take full ownership of the process, working together with the Department and stakeholders,” she said. “In light of this and having served for nearly 11 years as both a Board member and latterly as Chair, and with my extended term coming to a natural close at end of January, I have decided that it is time to pass on the baton.
“It has been my pleasure to serve on the Invest NI Board, and to lead it through the initial stages of a strategic transformation of Invest NI.
