Members of the Council
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CCEA’s Council consists of a Chairperson and 11 other members appointed by the Department of Education (DE).
Chairperson
Mrs Deborah O’Hare
Mrs Deborah O’Hare was Principal of The Wallace High School, Lisburn, 2009–2025. Previously she was Principal of Portadown College and has held a range of leadership positions in Antrim Grammar School, Methodist College Belfast and Banbridge Academy. She has a BA honours degree in French, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, a Master’s degree in educational management and a professional qualification in headship.
Deborah is a former President of the Association of School and College Leaders, Northern Ireland, and a former co-opted member of CCEA’s Education Committee. She has been a regular contributor to consultations on a range of educational, pastoral care, financial and sustainability policy issues across primary, post-primary, FE and HE sectors for over two decades. She is also a former member of the NI Skills Council, where she was Chair of the Education and Skills Sub-Committee; SERC Governing Body, where she was Chair of the Education Committee; and CAFRE’s College Advisory Group.
Deborah was appointed as Chairperson of CCEA on 1 February 2025.
Council Members
Professor John Anderson
Professor John Anderson is a non-Executive Director of the Controlled Schools Support Council. He is a Consultant and Programme Board member of the Education Authority EdIS Programme, Independent Chairperson of the Education Network (Northern Ireland) Innovation Forum and visiting Professor at Ulster University. He is a former Director of the Microelectronics Education Programme, Education Technology Strategy Coordinator and senior member of the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI). He does not hold any other public appointments.
Miss Sarah-Lucy Hynds
Miss Sarah-Lucy Hynds is Principal of Saintfield High School. She is an Associate of the Association of Education Advisers (AoEA) and acts as an Assessor for recruitment purposes for the Education Authority. She is also a member of the Saintfield Community Association, collaborating with the Community Centre and developing strong links with the Trustees to deliver wider initiatives for the benefit of the school and the wider community. She does not hold any other public appointments.
Mr Ivor Johnston
Mr Ivor Johnston is a member of the Alpha Housing Association’s Audit and Governance Committee and a member of the Assembly Commission Audit and Risk Committee. He is a former Director of Finance in the Education Authority, Interim Director of Finance and Corporate Affairs in the Agri Foods and Bio-Sciences Institute Northern Ireland, Principal Project Accountant in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Head of Business Capability, Serious and Organised Crime Agency Finance Directorate and was Head of Finance in the National Crime Agency. He does not hold any other public appointments.
Dr Jennifer Roberts
Dr Jennifer Roberts is a Senior Lecturer in Queen’s University Belfast and is employed within the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work. She is a Programme Director of the PGCE English programme and works across the PGCE programme. She is also the Director of Internationalisation within the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work and works within the faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. She does not hold any other public appointments.
Ms Jackie Bartley
Ms Jackie Bartley is Principal of St Genevieve's High School and was previously Principal of St Pius X College. She has been a school leader for the past 14 years. Currently she is seconded as President of the National Association of Head Teachers in Northern Ireland (NAHT NI). She sits on the National Executive of the NAHT and is the Secondary Sector Chairperson for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. She has been a member of many Department of Education Steering Groups and has participated in the Practitioners’ Group for the restart of schools following lockdown, Independent Review of Education, Fair Start Consultative Group and ETI Framework Consultative Group. Ms Bartley has a thorough knowledge of the curriculum and qualifications and was formerly co-opted on the CCEA Council.
Ms Máire Thompson
Ms Máire Thompson is currently Principal of Hazelwood Integrated College, Newtownabbey, and formerly Principal of Malone College, Belfast. She is an Associate Assessor with the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) and an Associate of the Association of Education Advisers (AoEA). She is a member of various educational stakeholder groups, including the CCEA Curriculum and Assessment Principals’ Group, the Excluded Lives Advisory Group and the A Fair Start Stakeholders’ Reference Group. Máire is also CCEA’s Education Committee Chair. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for services to Education by Ulster University in 2022, the same year that Hazelwood College won TES UK School of the Year. She was awarded the Pearson UK Principal of the Year in 2017.
Dr Michael Johnston MBE
Dr Michael Johnston MBE is a former Chief Executive of the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland. He is a former visiting Professor to the Ulster University Business School and Chairman of CAFRE’s College Advisory Group, a former Board member of the European Milk Forum and former Chairman of the International Dairy Federation’s Standing Committee on Marketing. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Dr Johnston is a former Board member of Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health. He is a member of FSA's NI Food Advisory Committee.
Ms Sheila McClelland
Ms Sheila McClelland is currently Chief Executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, CCEA’s Finance Committee Chair, a Board member of Co-operation Ireland and a member of the Governing Body of Maynooth University. She was previously Director of Corporate Services at CCEA and was Chairperson of the Board of the Consumer Council (CCNI), a Board member of NI Co-operation Overseas (NICO) and an NI committee member on the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Professor Susan Morison
Professor Susan Morison is Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professor of Healthcare Education at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). Formerly she was Director of Postgraduate Taught (PGT) Education, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Deputy Director of the QUB Dental School and Director of the DEL-funded Centre for Excellence in Interprofessional Education (IPE). As Honorary Professor she undertakes unremunerated activities for QUB including PhD supervision and research projects. She is a peer reviewer for several medical and dental education journals. She has served as an Education Associate of the General Dental Council, chairing numerous inspection panels.
Mrs Paula Leitch
Mrs Paula Leitch is a former Assistant Principal of the Belfast Model School for Girls and former member of the Belfast Education and Library Board. She is currently a member of Stranmillis College Board and a Director of the Controlled School Council. She brings to the Council experience of governance as a school governor and leadership as a previous Board member. She does not serve on any other public Boards and has not undertaken any political activity in the last five years.
Mrs Donna Marie O'Connor
Mrs Donna Marie O’Connor is currently the Interim Director of HR with the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service responsible for building organisational capability, organisational design and development, and driving business performance. She brings to the Council experience in governance, including staffing and financial, and risk management, strategic decision-making and making an impact with others. She holds a number of academic, coaching and leadership qualifications and is a Chartered Member of CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development. Mrs O’Connor currently holds one other non-remunerated public appointment as a school governor of St Patrick’s Grammar School, Downpatrick. She has declared that she has not undertaken any political activity during the past five years.