Prof. Maurice Mulvenna

Chair

Maurice is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Ulster, a senior member of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery, and a chartered fellow of the British Computer Society. He served for three years on Ofcom’s Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People and serves on the editorial boards for several academic journals including the Journal of Assistive Technology. 

Maurice joined the Executive Committee in December 2011 and was appointed to the post of Chair in 2016. He has an interest in research on assistive technologies encompassing needs-driven and user-participative design and has held research grants from UK and EU research sources on research supporting people with dementia to live at home, supporting people with acquired brain injury using brain computer interfaces and other areas supporting people’s independence to remain at home.

Maura Lavery

Honorary Treasurer

Maura, prior to her retirement has had an extensive career in further and higher education in Northern Ireland.  Formerly, Director of Curriculum Services at Belfast Metropolitan College, she had responsibility for a range of functions including Workforce and Economic Development, Curriculum Quality Improvement, Information Learning Technology and Projects through the Development Office.  Previous posts included Deputy Director Learner Services for the Belfast Institute for Further Education where she had responsibility for strategic leadership of a range of support services, including Student Services, Market, Staff Development, Management Information Systems and Information Learning Technology.  Maura currently serves on the Finance and General Purposes and Audit Committees.  She assumed responsibility as the organisation’s Honorary Treasurer in June 2016.  

Dr Lesley Calderwood

Lesley has been a member of the Executive Committee for a number of years, recently serving as Vice Chair until June 2015.   Trained as a Consultant Psychiatrist, Lesley presently Chairs the Cedar Living Options Advisory Panel and as such has been actively involved in the development of SMART housing and community based living options for people with disabilities.  Lesley has a wealth of experience in housing management and having previously served on the Housing Management Committee of Habinteg Housing Association.

Dr Nan Hill OBE

Nan’s professional background is as a Consultant Paediatrician, having served in a variety of roles in the Northern Ireland Health Service over a number of years.   Previously Chair of the organisation’s Children and Young People’s Advisory Panel, Nan now Chairs the Community Services Panel. The Panel oversees a range of Community Service Developments including Children and Young People’s Services, Floating Support, Social and Community Networking Programmes and the development of the organisation’s User Forum.

Nan has a broad range of experience in supporting other voluntary organisations and has had a particular interest in promoting Research and Development in support of services for children with disabilities throughout Northern Ireland, including joint founding the Northern Ireland Cerebral Palsy Register. 

Peter Gay

Peter is a Management Consultant, with a broad range of experience in advising organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors and has a particular expertise in evaluating programmes that have been supported through various European Funding initiatives.

Peter formerly served on the Training & Employment Advisory Panel, advising the organisation on service developments in this arena, and currently serves on the Finance & General Purposes Committee alongside the other honorary members.

Martin Howell MBE

Martin is currently Chair of the organisation’s Inclusion Works Advisory Panel.  As Chair, he oversees the development of employment and learning services across the organisation.  Martin has a wealth of experience from the private, not-for-profit and social enterprise sectors. He brings a range of expertise to the Executive Committee through his professional background in Public Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility. He is currently Chairman of Cedar’s partner organisation the Orchardville Society and has made a major contribution in the development of employer engagement approaches in both organisations. Orchardville is a key partner in a number of initiatives including the Supported Employment Services Consortium.

Myrna Evans

Myrna has a professional background as a System Analyst. Originally joining the organisation as a parent representative, Myrna has served in a variety of roles within the organisation, including as a Member of Cedar’s Parent Action Team which supports and informs the development of a range of Children and Young People’s Services.  Myrna participated in the Children and Young People’s Advisory Panel and recently transferred across to the organisation’s Community Services Panel as a part of a wider organisational restructuring.  She continues to serve on the Board of the Executive, in addition she provides an annual input into the organisation’s Audit Committee.

David Duly OBE

David is Chief Executive of Habinteg Housing Association (Ulster) Ltd, a post that he has held since 1983. The Association is the principal partner with which the Foundation has developed and delivered a range of housing solutions for people with disabilities.

David is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Institute for Leadership and Management. David has a strong commitment to the IiP approach, is a Board member of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations and he is past President of Holywood Chamber of Commerce. David currently serves on the Living Options Panel of The Cedar Foundation.

Dr John McCann

John is Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine and Lead Clinician for Neurorehabilitation Services within Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. His main areas of work are in rehabilitation of persons with acquired brain injury and long term management of adults with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. 

John is a past President of the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Sheila Kennedy-Andrews

Sheila is a Senior Educational Psychologist whose core professional duty over many years has been the assessment of the special educational needs of children and young people who present with various categories of difficulty/disability.

Sheila managers and supports a team of physiologists engaged in this work. She also has a training remit with special educational needs co-coordinators of schools and with other teaching support services. Sheila engages in therapeutic work with individual vulnerable pupils. Central to her role is liaison with other professionals and supportive engagement with parents. The promotion of positive relationships with professionals and families underpin her work.

Sheila is a Chartered Psychologist, a member of the Association of Educational Psychologists and a member of the British Psychological Society.

The mother of a teenage girl with mild learning difficulties and medical difficulties, Sheila has experienced the positive benefits for her daughter of The Cedar Foundation’s Transition Support Services in the last 4 years.