Kirsty McManus Dip IoD, MBA

As the UK’s longest-running organisation for professional leaders, IoD are dedicated to supporting our members, encouraging entrepreneurial activity and promoting responsible business practice for the benefit of the business community and society as a whole. We have been supporting leaders in their professional development for many years and our highly regarded programmes provide creative and flexible training opportunities, including our exclusive and industry-recognised qualification, Chartered Director.

IRFU (Ulster Branch)

The Fellowship gave 22 leaders the opportunity to engage with leading policymakers, business leaders, and public figures, and sought to develop their understanding of how to tackle pressing social, political, and economic issues here. The programme’s Advisory Board, which includes prominent Northern Irish business leaders, curated sessions seeking to re-imagine leadership in Northern Ireland, with Fellows also attending sessions at the internationally renowned Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin.

NI Chamber’s membership continues to grow through the active involvement of members and the benefits offered to them. The organisation has 1,200 members ranging from sole traders to major corporates. As a member of the senior management team, I lead business development activity at the NI Chamber including the overall management of all Strategic Sales and Customer Relationship activities. Focused on the acquisition and retention of members and partners.

Centre for SME development Centre

The CBI is the UK's premier business lobbying organisation, providing a voice for employers at a national and international level. We speak for more than 240,000 companies of every size, including many in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 350, mid-caps, SMEs, micro businesses, private and family owned businesses, start ups, and trade associations, and in every sector, including agriculture, automotive, aerospace and defence, construction, creative and communications, financial services, IT and e-business, management consultancy, manufacturing, professional services, retail, transport, tourism and utilities. As Assistant Regional Director at CBI Northern Ireland I am actively involved in in the development of a wide range of policy work with particular interests in education, energy, and employment.

Responsible for the development and operational management of the Local Employment Access Partnership project, financed by the European Social Fund worth £1.4 million.

Vistage International, California, USA, Director of Marketing Operations & Events, CEO membership organisation with a global reach.

Developed by Professor Michael Porter and the staff and affiliates of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, the MOC course on competitiveness and economic development addresses the subject from a bottom-up, microeconomic perspective. While sound macroeconomic factors affect the potential for competitiveness, wealth is actually created at the microeconomic level. The MOC course focuses on the sources of national or regional productivity, which are rooted in the strategies and operating practices of locally based firms, the vitality of clusters, and the quality of the business environment in which competition takes place.