About Us

Mr Sid McDowell, appointed Chairman of the PSC early 2006 was Deputy General Secretary of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance from 1976 to 1994 and Chairman of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive from 1995 to 2004.  Sid was also Chairman of the Local Government Staff Commission for Northern Ireland, stepping down in November 2005.  He has served as Board Member of Habinteg Housing Association and as a Non-Executive Director of the NI Prison Service  Sid was appointed as a Northern Ireland Civil Service Commissioner in 1999.  He is President of the Northern Ireland Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, Vice-President of the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (NI) and Vice-Chairman of the Lyric Theatre.  Sid was appointed Chairman of the Northern Ireland region of the National House Building Council in 2008, Chairman of NIACRO in 2011 and Chairman of the NI Co-Ownership Housing Association in 2012

Bernard Cullen is Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast. Educated at Queen’s, the Sorbonne in Paris, and the University of Michigan, he is a graduate of the Cabinet Office Top Management Programme. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Psychoanalysis. A former Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Queen’s, he has also been Vice-President of the Belfast & District Trades Union Council, President of the Irish Philosophical Society, President of the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations, and the inaugural Chair of the Ethics Committee of the British Confederation of Psychotherapists. Bernard is currently Chair of the Staff Commission for Education & Library Boards, Vice-Chair of the Council for Education in World Citizenship, and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Parkanaur College.

Mervyn lives near Portglenone and joined Local Government in 1968 as an Environmental Health professional and was actively involved in Community Development, in particular, partnerships in Peace and Reconciliation and good relations.  He held the position of Chief Executive in Cookstown District Council and then in Ballymena Borough Council for a span of 18 years until his retirement in 2007.   

In December 2010, Mervyn was appointed by the Minister of the Environment to the position of Chairman of the Local Government Staff Commission for Northern Ireland.

Mervyn is a non-executive Director of the Northern Health and Social Care Trust and is a member of the Trust’s Remuneration and Terms of Service Committee; the Governance Committee and he chairs the Trust’s Communications Group.

Mervyn is also a Director of the Ballymena Business Centre, which is a social enterprise company.

Jim has over 40 years’ experience of industrial relations.  Most of his working life has been spent with NIPSA (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance), where he held the position of General Secretary from 1977 until his retirement in 2003.  In addition to being appointed as Chairman of the Labour Relations Agency in 2009, Jim holds a number of other appointments including membership of the European Economic and Social Committee, Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, Economic Development Forum and Concordia.

Brian holds appointments as an Independent Member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board and is an advisory board member of both NAMA (National Assets Management Agency) and the International Centre for Local and Regional Development. Prior to that he was Vice-President of Cecodhas – the European Social Housing Forum - and has held public appointments in the Criminal Justice, Health and Further Education sectors, as well as chairing corporate governance forums both in Northern Ireland and on a cross-border basis. Mr Rowntree is a non-executive board member of Co-Operation Ireland, a UK council member of the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes, Secretary to the Chair’s Forum Northern Ireland and a management board member of the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development. He is also Chair of the Sustainable Smart Home Working Group.

Mr Mitchell is currently a part-time Consultant and Advisor on Public Sector Policy. This involves work with the Strategic Planning Framework for Northern Ireland Negotiating Council – LGSC, Policy Asset Management policy and technical guidelines for local authority, Community consultation and policy development advice seminars and training, assisting preparation of EU and DFID project and programme bids in Eastern Europe and Local Government Management Programmes. Dessie is recently retired from the position of Clerk and Chief Executive of Armagh City and District Council, a post he held from 1988 - 2000. Previous to this he was the Clerk and Chief Executive of Omagh District Council from 1973 – 1988. He has also undertaken many International Consultancy Assignments including a Scoping visit for Regional Development in Romania and assisting a Regional Local Government Governance programme in Russia.

Mr Mitchell has also held numerous other positions.These currently  include Trustee of Navan at Armagh Management Ltd, Director of Armagh Business Centre Ltd, Governor of Armagh Royal School and Advisor to Institute of Governance, Queens University, Belfast.

Dr.Patton worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist for 27 years and in addition held the posts of Lecturer at Queen’s University, Medical Director at St.Brendan's Hospital, Bermuda and Chief Executive of the Down Lisburn Trust. In this latter role he was required to merge two separate units and introduce a general management structure into the resulting single organisation. This Trust was later acknowledged to have sound finances year on year, excellent quality systems and a record of continuous innovation.

Since retiring from full time practice in 2001 Dr Patton has variously worked in management consultancy, the provision of medico-legal opinion and on the Board of a private sector company.