Dr Gerry Millar MBE

Chair and Elected Trustee

Dr Gerry Millar was appointed the first Macmillan GP facilitator in Cancer and Palliative Care in NI. Gerry is a former Northern Ireland GP of the Year and in 2013 was awarded an MBE for his efforts in community Palliative Care and early cancer diagnosis. Gerry currently works as Macmillan GP Advisor NI. Gerry sees his Hospice volunteer role as supporting all our wonderful staff in delivering expert, holistic and compassionate care to the highest standard to those with life limiting illnesses especially children and all their carers.

Ian Sheppard

Vice Chair & Elected Trustee

Ian is the former Northern Ireland Managing Director for Bank of Ireland. He is a Chartered Accountant and one of Northern Ireland’s most experienced Corporate Bankers having worked with many of Northern Ireland’s top companies. Ian is also a former Chair of the Institute of Directors in NI. Having personal experience of the difference the staff of the Hospice can make in the care of patients and their families, Ian hopes his skills and experience will add value to the Board and the Hospice.

Dr Russell Houston

Elected Trustee

Russell retired in 2016 from a career as consultant oncologist in Belvoir Park and then the Cancer Centre at City Hospital. Principal interests were Head and Neck and Gastrointestinal cancers. As clinical director 1993-2009, he saw tremendous growth in the scale and scope of the service, introduction of audit and clinical governance, the development of the new cancer centre and the start of palliative medicine as a hospital service. Now looking forward to assisting the next stages of Hospice development.

Janice Smyth

Invited Trustee

Janice is a registered nurse. In a career that has spanned the statutory and independent sectors, Janice spent several years as director of nursing in the independent sector, before moving to the Northern Health and Social Services Board as a Registration and Inspection Officer. She has worked at policy level as a Nursing Officer at the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and was the Director of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland from 2009 until April 2019.

Adele Martin

Invited Trustee

Adele Martin is currently a Senior Learning Consultant for a consultancy Solvd Together. She is responsible for the design and execution of leadership and behavioural change programmes. Before joining Solvd Together, she worked for Sky Media, where she was responsible for leadership development for the Customer Service Group. She also ran her own consultancy business for over 15 years, specialising in executive coaching, leader development and behavioural change. Adele is passionate about helping organisations create a working culture that encourages both high performance and employee engagement.

Joanne Ramsay

Elected Trustee

Joanne is a member of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management. She has over 26 years’ experience working at a senior level in the Public Sector across both Health & Education in the area of Estate Management. She is currently the Head of Facilities and Assets for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service where she is responsible for the development and implementation of the overall Estate Strategy for the service.

Martin Murphy

Elected Trustee

Martin graduated from University of Ulster with a degree in Business, Finance and Investment in 2003 and immediately went on to pursue a career in banking with Ulster Bank. Having worked predominantly in the retail branch area with various management posts he moved to an operations and strategy role in 2016. He currently leads an experience team in the wider Strategy and transformation area for NatWest, Ulster Banks Parent group.

Paddy O'Hagan

Invited Trustee

Paddy is an IT industry veteran with 25+ years experience in senior roles in several local and global IT organisations including Kainos, NYSE and Neueda. Paddy was previously CEO and board member with Neueda Ltd delivering digital transformation to many of the worlds leading financial institutions as well as public sector bodies. He is a member of IoD and former Director of the Year. Paddy hopes to bring both professional and personal drive and insight to the board of NI Hospice being a previous user of the Children’s Hospice services and has been an active supporter and ambassador for several years.

Steven Cockcroft

Invited Trustee

Stephen joined NI Hospice as an Invited Trustee in 2023. His legal career began at John Elliot Solicitors, where he started as a trainee in 1986. After qualifying as a solicitor, Stephen took a sabbatical in 1993-94 to attend University College Dublin, earning a Master’s Degree in European Law. Steven’s main practice areas are commercial property law, with a particular emphasis on landlord and tenant issues and matters of corporate governance. He has acted in site acquisitions for a national retailer and for a number of years has advised on property matters for successive owners of a large city centre shopping complex. Steven acts for a number of major publicly funded enterprises, both in relation to site acquisitions and regulatory and compliance issues.

Paul Terrington

Paul was a Partner at PwC for over 20 years. He has a background in Consulting and led the firm's UK and EMEA Consulting business for 4 years. Paul was also Head of UK regions for 3 years and across these roles was a member of PwC’s UK Management Board for 7 years. He was PwC NI chairman for 9 years leading growth of the firm from 500 to 3500 people in Northern Ireland. He has extensive experience in business model reinvention, organisational restructuring, growth and digital disruption. Paul is a past Chairman of the IOD in NI and was a member of the national IOD Council. He chaired the NI Hospice Development Board assisting in raising £12 million to build the new NI Hospice facility and has been a Hospice ambassador since 2016. Paul has been Chairman of Ulster Rugby Management Committee since 2017 and a member of NI Development Board of the Prince’s Trust since 2024. Paul was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Year's Honours list for services to NI economy.