Meet Our Speakers | IPA Northern Ireland Roadshow 2026
Our Hosts
Louise Brittain, President 26/27, IPA; Head of Restructuring and Insolvency, Azets
IPA Goals and Priorities for 2026
Marcial Boo, Chief Executive Officer, IPA
Marcial Boo has been Chief Executive of the IPA since 2024. He was
previously the CEO of three other regulators and worked as a senior
civil servant in government. He also chairs the professional body for
regulators, the Institute of Regulation
IPA Regulation-An Inspector Calls
Alan Limb, Inspector, IPA
Alan’s insolvency career began more than 30 years ago. He joined the IPA as an Inspector in 2020 and combines his own experience as an IP, having taken appointments for 14 years, with the assessment skills he developed when studying for a PGCE and qualifying as a Business Studies Teacher in 2019.
Employment Law in Northern Ireland – Where Are We Now and What is on the Horizon?
Sarah Cochrane, Partner, Carson McDowell
Sarah Cochrane is a Partner in Carson McDowell’s Employment Team having qualified in 2009 and joining the firm in 2012. Sarah is dual qualified in English, Welsh and Northern Irish law. She advises employers from a wide variety of industries and sectors throughout the UK on all aspects of employment law including working time issues, TUPE and complex disciplinaries and grievances. She defends clients in the Industrial Tribunal and Fair Employment Tribunal and in the civil courts on discrimination issues. Sarah also works closely with Carson McDowell’s Corporate team by providing employment advice in relation to mergers and acquisitions.
Sarah is the current Secretary of the Employment Lawyers Group (NI) and a member of the Employment Lawyers Association. She is recognised as a standout name by clients in the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners industry guides and regularly speaks on employment law throughout Northern Ireland and the GB.
The Northern Ireland Insolvency Service
Jack Reid, Deputy Principal, Northern Ireland Insolvency Service
Jack Reid is a Deputy Principal in the Legislation Unit of the Northern Ireland Insolvency Service, which is a branch of the Department for the Economy.
He has 28 years’ experience making legislation dealing with insolvency and company director disqualification, including Assembly Acts and Orders in Council under direct rule. Prior to this he spent a number of years dealing directly with administration and investigation of bankruptcies and company liquidations.
He is an associate member of the Chartered Governance Institute and holds an economics degree from Queens University.
Assigning Claims: Northern Ireland’s New Insolvency Power
Gary Adair, Partner, Restructuring and Insolvency, Carson McDowell
Gary Adair is a Partner in Carson McDowell’s Insolvency & Restructuring team. He advises banks, financial institutions, insolvency practitioners, receivers and other secured creditors on complex insolvency, restructuring, banking litigation and recovery matters. Gary has particular expertise in acting for financial institutions on distressed lending situations, enforcement strategies, restructuring transactions, security realisation, guarantees, fraud-related claims and regulatory issues. He is recognised for delivering commercially focused advice on complex recoveries and restructuring exercises, often involving significant creditor exposures and multi-party stakeholder interests. Gary is a qualified Solicitor Advocate and a part-time judicial office holder.
Practical Tips for the Cross Border Practitioner
Darren Toombs, Partner and Head of the Restructuring and Insolvency, Carson McDowell
Darren Toombs is a Partner and Head of Carson McDowell’s Insolvency & Restructuring team. He advises insolvency practitioners, office-holders, company directors, lenders and public bodies on complex insolvency, restructuring and distressed business situations. Darren is particularly recognised for his expertise in contentious insolvency matters, including insolvency litigation, asset recovery, director disqualification proceedings, creditor disputes and the enforcement and realisation of assets. He is regularly instructed in high-value and complex cases involving corporate failure, fraud, antecedent transactions and stakeholder disputes, providing pragmatic and commercially focused advice to clients navigating challenging restructuring and insolvency scenarios. Darren is a former President of the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
Be Cyber Ready: Hackers Don’t Hack, they Log in!
Samuel Kinkaid, Detective Constable, Police Service of Northern Ireland
Sam is a Detective who has been attached to the PSNI Cyber Crime Team since its inception in 2014. For the past 9 years, Sam has been the Regional Cyber Protect officer for NI and earlier this year, won the NI Cyber ‘Outstanding Cyber Professional of the Year’ award.
As part of the Protect Network across UK Policing, Sam engages with NI organisations on areas such as current threats and preparing for the potential impact of an incident.
Digital Assets-The Insolvency Practitioner Perspective
Aidan Larkin, Co-Founder and CEO, Asset Reality
Aidan Larkin is the co‑founder and CEO of Asset Reality, the seized asset company building the first end‑to‑end platform for seizing, managing and disposing of physical and virtual assets. An Associate Fellow at RUSI, he lectures and consults for the UNODC and global organizations on asset recovery and crypto. A former UK criminal investigator with HMRC, he later managed seized asset portfolios for the UK government, including leading some of the world’s first public auctions of seized cryptocurrency.
When Vulnerability Meets Insolvency – How To Do Your Job
Michelle Butler, Partner, Compliance Alliance
Michelle is a partner of The Compliance Alliance, which for over 10 years has provided document packs, compliance reviews, technical support and webinars to insolvency practitioners. Michelle is also a member of R3’s General Technical Committee and was on its working group to develop the proposal for a statutory fee for CVLs.
Michelle has spent the last 35 years in the insolvency profession, the first 15 in insolvency practices and then 7 in the IPA, ending in 2012 as their Head of Regulatory Standards and Monitoring. She then became an independent consultant before becoming a founding member of The Compliance Alliance in 2015.
Thomas McKenna, Insolvency Practitioner, Keenan Corporate Finance
Thomas is Licensed Insolvency Practitioner with over 20 years in the sector and is a Director at Keenan Corporate Finance in Belfast. He was a former Deputy Official Receiver for Northern Ireland within the Insolvency Service. Thomas has worked on some of the most high-profile personal insolvency cases in the Province and provided strategic advice to creditors in pre and post enforcement scenarios to include major asset tracing assign.
Northern Ireland’s Economy: Navigating Growth, Change and Opportunity
Stuart Anderson, Director of Public Affairs and International Relations, Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Stuart leads NI Chamber’s direct interactions with politicians, helping to shape the legislative agenda and supporting elected representatives to create the right conditions for business and economic growth. He works directly with NI Chamber members in all sectors, identifying their challenges and bringing forward their ideas as part of a collaborative approach between industry and policy makers. A qualified lawyer, he is also the current Convenor of the Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group and serves as a Commissioner on the UK Trade and Business Commission.