The former head of Allstate in Northern Ireland has been appointed to chair the board of Invest NI.
John Healy OBE will begin a three-year term on March 1, and succeeds Colm McKenna, who had been in the role on an interim basis since last February.
A highly experienced senior executive with 30 years of experience in the technology sector, Mr Healy will be paid £46,087 a year for a time commitment of around four days a month.
He stood down from his role as vice-president of the US-headquartered Allstate NI at the end of 2022 after more than six years in charge.
The 53-year-old father of four said at the time that he wanted to “to pursue new opportunities”, and there had even been speculation that he may have sought the chief executive’s role at the agency.
A past-president of the NI Chamber of Commerce, he is currently chair of the Software Alliance, the industry-led representative voice of the £1.7 billion software industry in the north.
Before Allstate he was service centre head for Citi’s near shore technology and operations centre in Belfast.
He serves on several boards, including being chair of the Fellowship Advisory Board at the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building, he is a member of the Council of Ulster University and is on the board of Business in the Community.
Mr Healy has extensive experience in leading global teams, developing strategy and delivering solutions to address business and technology issues.
His appointment as chair comes as Invest NI’s new chief executive Kieran Donoghue, previously a member of the executive leadership team of IDA Ireland, takes up his new role.
In October, the Department for the Economy published an action plan in response to an independent review of Invest NI which took place last year which raised serious concerns about “damaged” relationships at the senior leadership level of the organisation, particular in the dynamic between the board and executives.
The review had also challenged Invest NI to “completely reshape how economic policies are developed and implemented going forward”.
