Minister welcomes appointment of Alison Currie as Chief Development Officer at Invest NI

1. Biographical details:

• Alison Currie is currently the Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at InterTradeIreland, providing leadership and direction in the delivery of key strategic priorities to support collaborative innovation, clustering, investor readiness, and entrepreneurship. In this role Alison has worked closely with The Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in Ireland. She has over 20 years’ experience in economic development and innovation ecosystems in Northern Ireland, Ireland, and Scotland.  Alison has held several senior roles including responsibility for programme delivery to SMEs, stakeholder engagement, business development, sector initiatives and leadership of EU funded initiatives and national business support programmes.
• Kathryn Hill joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 2008 and has worked in a variety of roles including financial and management accounting, budgeting, governance, and risk management. She spent 10 years delivering strategic resource management and corporate governance portfolios in the Department of Finance and Department of Health before becoming the Director of Asset Management and Governance in the Department for Communities, where her remit included contract and debt management. In 2018 she became the Director of Active Communities in DfC, leading on strategy formulation and policy delivery, delivery of sports infrastructure projects, and effective sponsorship of arm’s length bodies. She led the co-design of the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy for Northern Ireland and provided strategic leadership to the sector in the operational delivery of the new strategy to address the NI Executive commitment to increase participation in sport and physical activity, including through support for major events. Kathryn joined Invest NI as Chief Operating Officer (COO) on May 19th, 2025.
• Anne Beggs has over 25 years’ experience in economic development in Northern Ireland. From assisting local start-ups, attracting & supporting blue-chip multi-nationals, pioneering strategic sector growth initiatives, to driving collaboration with a range of local and international partners across the public & private sector, Anne draws on this breadth of experience in her current role as Executive Director of International Business and Skills, Invest NI. She provides strategic direction and leadership to our Trade, Investment & Skills teams at home. She also leads our international network in the Americas, Europe, APAC and IMEA to deliver results in attracting inward investment to Northern Ireland, assisting NI businesses to accelerate their growth through exporting and skills development, and mobilising a supportive diaspora network.

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