Appointment of Chair and four Non-Executive members to the Business Services Organisation
Date published:
Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt has announced the appointment of a Non-Executive Chair and four Non-Executive (Lay) Members to the Business Services Organisation (BSO).
Mrs Sharon O’Connor has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chair. Her appointment commenced on 1 December 2025 and will end on a date not later than 30 November 2029.
Mr Alan Todd, Mrs Bernadette McCrory, Mr Peter Russell and Mr Joseph Stewart have been appointed as Non-Executive (Lay) Members. Mr Todd’s appointment commenced on 13November 2025 and will end on a date not later than 12 November 2029. Mrs McCrory and Mr Russell’s appointments commenced on 1 December 2025 and will end on a date not later than 30 November 2029. Mr Stewart’s appointment will commence on 1 January 2026 and will end on a date not later than 31 December 2029.
The Non-Executive Chair position attracts renumeration of £26,160 per annum with a time commitment of 2 days per week. The Non-Executive Member positions attract remuneration of £6,332 per annum with a time commitment of 3 days per month.
These appointments are made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland.
BSO is a Non-Departmental Public Body which came into existence on 1 April 2009. Its services are provided to 10 Arm’s Length Bodies of the Department of Health and to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, as well as to the six HSC Trusts. It also delivers services from a number of satellite offices located throughout Northern Ireland.
The Board of the BSO consists of 9 Non-Executive Members including the Chair and 4 Executive Members including the Chief Executive.
Notes to editors:
- Sharon O’Connor is a Fellow and Chartered Director of the Institute of Directors with over twenty-five years of senior leadership experience across public, private and community sectors. A Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel Development and professionally qualified in Marketing, she has served as Chair of the Education Authority and as Chief Executive of Derry City Council, leading major regeneration, economic-development and organisational change programmes. She has extensive national governance and audit expertise, gained through her roles as a Commissioner on the Accounts Commission for Scotland and as a member of the National Oversight and Audit Commission in Dublin. Her professional interests centre on strategy, sustainability, innovation, regeneration and public-sector reform, with a strong emphasis on delivering long-term public value through effective governance and future-focused leadership. Sharon has served on the board of the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland for the past 5 years. She is also currently a Non-Executive Director for Belfast Harbour Commission which attracts remuneration of £15,761 per annum and a time commitment of 24-26 days per annum.
- Alan Todd served as a police officer for 32 years and with the PSNI Service Executive Team for 10 years as an Assistant Chief Constable. Before joining policing, Alan was a Community Pharmacist having graduated from Queen’s University Belfast. He is a graduate from the Executive Programme at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, The Smurfit Business School at University College Dublin and a Fellow in The Chartered Management Institute. Alan was the UK policing lead for the Contact Management business area, responsible for drafting, negotiating and delivering national strategies and for representing policing across statutory and governmental partners. He was Vice-Chair of the Digital Public Contact Programme Board for the UK and of Chair of the Emergency Services Contact Management Committee. Alan holds accreditation as a company director from the Institute of Directors and served for 6 years on the Board of Directors for Police Digital Services based in London. Alan was awarded the King’s Police Medal in the 2023 UK New Year’s Honours List ‘For Services to Policing’.
- Joseph Stewart has held a number of Board level positions in the public and private sectors in Northern Ireland. He retired in 2016 as Director of Human Resources from PSNI, a post which he held from the inception of the service in 2001. A graduate of Law from Queen’s University, Belfast, Joseph was a Director of the Engineering Employers Federation until 1990 and a Director in Harland and Wolff between 1990 and 1995. He was Vice Chairman of the Police Authority from 1989 to 1994 and Chief Executive from 1995 to 2001. He received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 1994. Joseph is currently a Non-Executive Director for the Public Health Agency. This appointment ends on 31 December 2025. He is the Chair of the Livestock and Meat Commission Northern Ireland, which attracts remuneration of £18,000 per annum and a time commitment of one and a half days per week. Joseph also holds a Non-Executive Director position on the Agri Food and Bioscience Board which attracts remuneration of £436 per day and a time commitment of 20 days per annum.
- Peter Russell is currently Managing Director of PR Business Growth Services, having previously worked in various managing director roles for local and global ICT companies, including Sopra Steria, Microsoft, BT, Neueda, and Telefonica Tech. He has over 25 years’ experience working closely within the local Public Sector, including HSC NI. Peter is also a Non-Executive Advisor and Board Member of the NI Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Institute of Directors, as well as an advisor to the Bryson Charitable Group.
- Bernadette McCrory was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of CAWT in February 2006 and retired in 2021. This role involved responsibility for leading and developing cross border health and social care provision between Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland on behalf of the CAWT Partnership. She has worked in the National Health Service, mainly in Acute Services as a Hospital Manager for more than 20 years. Bernie lectured in Law and Business on a part-time basis with QUB for 10 years. She has two primary degrees in Public Administration/Law (BA Hons) and Social Sciences/Education (BA Open) and has an MBA and a Master of Laws (LLM) and has a postgraduate certificate in University Teaching. Bernie received her MBE for services to Health care in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Bernie currently serves as a Non-Executive Director for the Police Retraining and Rehabilitation Trust which attracts remuneration of £5,000 per annum and a time commitment of 1 day per month.
- Appointments to the BSO are made by the Minister of Health.
- All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees to be published. The appointees have all declared that they have not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
- Learn more about the Business Services Organisation (BSO) via Home - Business Services Organisation (BSO) Website
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