Mr Les Drew (Chairman of Council 2024)  

Over the past 45 years Les has had a varied career, the vast majority of which has been spent in financial, commercial and governance roles within the Northern Ireland energy sector, specifically electricity. Les has also considerable experience in Non-Executive roles within the Northern Ireland Public Health Sector.  Les was the last Chairman of the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Board leading on its amalgamation in 2022 into the Department of Health. Prior to this appointment he was for 5 years a Non-Executive Director in the Public Health Agency (PHA) (2015- 2020) and prior to that appointment a NED for 9 years in the Belfast Health Social Care Trust (2006 – 2015).

Ms Kelly McBride (Honorary Secretary and Member of the Audit and Governance Committee)

Kelly is a very experienced Human Resource professional having held a number of senior HR positions across several industries including Higher Education and Manufacturing. Currently, Kelly is employed as Head of Resources in CCEA, (Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment in N. Ireland) with responsibility for HR, Estates and Health and Safety Council for the Curriculum.

Kelly is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She is passionate about the benefit of diversity, inclusion and well-being at work and during her career has led multiple teams resulting in the awarding of a number of business accolades.

Mr Lowry Grant (Treasurer and Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee)

Lowry is widely recognised as one of the foremost Accountants in N. Ireland with an in-depth knowledge of the local Not For Profit (NFP) sector. Retired in March 2024, Lowry previously ran a highly successful accountancy practice which he established in 1985 before merging it with PKF FPM which subsequently merged with AAB.

Lowry has exceptional knowledge and experience as both a Statutory Auditor to a number of leading NFP organisations as well as serving on numerous NFP Boards. He also held a full-time lecturing position at the University of Ulster for some 27 years, specialising in advance accounting and computer-based information systems and as a visiting lecturer to Universities in Sri Lanka and Florida.

Professor Stuart McIntosh (Chair of the Professional Services Committee)

A fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Stuart is a Consultant Breast Surgeon in the Breast Unit at Belfast City Hospital. His entire practice is in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of breast conditions. Stuart has extensive experience in all aspects of breast cancer surgery, and has a particular interest in reconstruction of the breast following the surgical treatment of breast cancer.

In October 2015 he was appointed an Honorary Consultant Breast Surgeon and a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Surgical Oncology at Queen’s University, Belfast. An active clinical researcher, Stuart is currently the local lead for multiple national and global studies as well as Clinical Director of the Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Network responsible for the strategic development and delivery of clinical cancer research across the region. Stuart is also currently the Royal College of Surgeons Surgical Lead for breast cancer. This national leadership role carries the responsibility for developing a broad portfolio of clinical research studies in breast surgery and working with breast surgeons across the UK to increase engagement with recruitment to clinical trials.

Mrs Valerie Heron  (Chair of the Group Forum and Member of the Professional Services Committee)

Valerie is the daughter of Sadie Strain, the Moneyreagh Group’s longest serving founding member. Valerie worked in the family business, “Strains of Comber”, for most of her life and is married to Dee Heron, a sheep farmer from Raffery who is also a member of the Moneyreagh Group. Both share a passion for local football. Valerie is treasurer for Killyleagh Football Club and Chairperson of Northern Ireland Womens Football Association.

Mrs Marion Rybnikar 

Marion has over twenty-five years’ experience across Telecoms, E-commerce, Banking and High-Performance Technology. The last ten years she has focused on implementing rapid technology transformation, accelerating cultural change and building external local partnerships to deliver advanced analytics, business intelligence, automation and improved data quality.

Ms Amy Weir

Amy is one of our youngest Group Members and yet she has been actively involved in our Moneyreagh Action Cancer Group for the past 10 years, and is the granddaughter of Lily and Sammy Weir. Lily is one of the founding members of our Moneyreagh Group. Amy has held a number of positions within the Group in addition to having responsibility for running their Social Media and the planning and running of several fundraising events. Employed by Energia, Amy is also an officer in her local GB Company and a member of the Young Farmers.

Dr Claire McEvoy

Claire is a dietitian and epidemiologist and currently a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at QUB. She has responsibility for the co-ordination of research programmes, leading and contributing to external grant applications, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, mentoring and supervising PhD students and research staff, International PhD champion and Associate Director for Postgraduate Research in the Centre for Public Health; Mentoring lead in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences. As a dietitian and epidemiologist, her research spans two main areas: (1) Examination of dietary and other modifiable factors in relation to disease risk in cohort studies (2) Development and evaluation of interventions to promote lifestyle behaviour change and improve health and well-being.

Mr Sean Lavery

Sean has been a member of the Banbridge Action Cancer group for over 9 years. Along with his wife Anne they have been the driving force behind the planning and delivery of the group’s very successful annual Paint the Town Pink fundraiser. Sean worked as an engineer in Northern Ireland Electricity from which he retired in early 2016 after 42 years. He was a volunteer for 20 years in the local archery club and has just recently stepped down as a facilitator in the Banbridge U3A walking group.

Dr Matthew Costley

Matthew is a Consultant Dermatologist and Mohs Micrographic Surgeon based in the NHSC Trust. He graduated in medicine from Queens University, Belfast in 2012 and completed his dermatology training in Belfast, where he developed his passion for the treatment and management of skin cancer.  After completing dermatology training he furthered his knowledge in skin cancer management by completing a fellowship in Mohs Micrographic Surgery at Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle Upon Tyne, one of the UK’s busiest and leading centres for this surgical technique.