Meet Our Speakers: IPA Roadshow | Northern Ireland 2024
Our Host
Adrian Hyde, President, IPA; Partner, Begbies Traynor
Adrian is an Insolvency Practitioner and a Solicitor. Prior to joining CVR (acquired by Begbies Traynor Group in 2021), he was a Partner in two well-known law firms, specialising in insolvency, proceeds of crime and fraud work.
Experienced in working on a wide range of insolvency matters, the majority of Adrian’s assignments involve crime or dishonesty and many involve overseas issues at offshore jurisdictions and business centres.
Adrian has split his time between London and Gibraltar while working on the liquidation of an international law firm. This has provided an opportunity to focus on the expansion of Begbies Traynor’s international business.
The Outlook for Northern Ireland: Where Now, Where Next?
Stuart Anderson, Head of Public Affairs, 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.
Back up the Hill – Changes to NI Insolvency Legislation following restoration of the Assembly
Richard Monds, Director of Insolvency, Northern Ireland Insolvency Service
Richard is a career civil servant, joining the NI Civil Service in 1987 after graduating from the New University of Ulster with a BSc in Social Anthropology. His early career was within the Department of Health working with consultative committees.
He then moved into auditing, where he was lead auditor for a number of large government departments before moving to a post within the NI Environment Service where he was chief finance officer responsible for state care monuments and country parks.
He was appointed head of corporate governance for further education then moving to head of finance and funding of the NI further education colleges.
He took up his current post as Director of Insolvency in 2014.
Redundancy Payment Service Update
Harriet Ferguson, Head of the Redundancy and Insolvency Payments Branch, Department for the Economy
Harriet Ferguson is currently the Head of the Redundancy and Insolvency Payments Branch in the Department for the Economy.
Harriet joined the Civil Service in 1983 as a meat inspector in the Department of Agriculture, following achievement of a BSc in Biology from QUB. She then transferred to DED (which later became DEL) as a careers advisor in North and West Belfast from 1985 until 1994, during this time she chaired numerous NIPSA Committees and was the Departmental Vice Chair for a year. She moved on promotion to Personnel in the NIO and then again to OFMDFM as Head of the Anti-Poverty Unit. Harriet moved back to DEL in 2004 as Belfast Regional Manager over 13 Jobs and Benefits offices. She then moved to FE Curriculum and Essential Skills Policy in DEL for 5 years and from October 2014 took up the post of Head of NEET Policy. Harriet has now partially retired and currently Heads up the Redundancy Payment Services.
Harriet has 4 children and 7 grand children.
Harriet has sat on the Board of Directors of Workforce Training for 15 years without remuneration as Workforce is a charity. Harriet is also active in her Parish life as she is a Eucharistic Minister and attends local Nursing homes in this capacity. Harriet is a assistant secretary of the Down and Connor Adoration Committee.
The Effects of Gambling and Protecting Consumers from Gambling Related Financial Harm
Ciarán Mee, Social Policy Unit, Local Government, Housing and Regulation Division, Department for Communities
Ciarán Mee is an official in the Department for Communities’ (DfC) Social Policy Unit. Ciarán has over three decades of experience working within NI government. Most of that period has been spent as a policy adviser to Ministers both devolved and Direct Rule. He has been involved directly in the development of new sports law in NI as well as related community safety and public order legislation. Ciarán was intimately involved in the process which culminated in 2022 in the first changes to NI gambling law in almost 35 years. He continues to devote much time to gambling policy and law within DfC as well as preparing, directing and assessing strategies and research on a range of other social law including entertainment licensing and aspects of both street and shop trading.
Kristina McDonald, Training and Development Lead, GamCare
Kristina has worked in the charity sector for twelve years, with experience in trauma, abuse and addiction. She is a trained teacher, and has enjoyed working with both young people and adults in a training and development capacity, with a passion for fostering an engaging and interactive learning environment. She has worked for GamCare since 2021, starting off in the youth team and currently as Training and Development Lead for the in-house Money Guidance Service. She is also a writer and a humanist wedding celebrant.
Harnessing Digital Data to Address Your Regulatory Requirements
Tony Walker, Co-Founder, Armalytix
Tony Walker is co-founder of Armalytix. He has worked in several sectors over the years, initially 10+ years as a military officer before moving to The City. He was part of the electronic revolution that brought efficiency and accuracy to the trading environment within investment banks including Lehman Brothers and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Built on this experience, Armalytix enables firms to understand the specific current and historical finances of their clients’ and know what’s really going on, in moments.
The NI Legal Landscape and Current Trends
Toby McMurray, Partner, Tughans
Toby is a partner at Tughans LLP and heads the Restructuring and Insolvency practice. He has extensive experience, regularly acting for the major local banks and accountancy firms in their most high-profile insolvency instructions within this jurisdiction, as well as acting on behalf of national lenders and insolvency practitioners.
Toby regularly litigates before the High Court of Northern Ireland and Court of Appeal in respect of complex insolvency litigation.
Tanya Surgeon, Director, Tughans
Tanya specialises in all aspects of corporate restructuring and insolvency across a range of sectors. She acts for IPs and lenders, with a particular focus on insolvency related litigation before the NI Courts. She also advises IPs in relation to creditor claims, antecedent transactions and asset realisation strategies.
Tanya is one of very few solicitors in the NI market to hold the IPA’s Certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency demonstrating her expertise in this specialist area.
Ruairi Maguire, Associate Solicitor, Tughans
Ruairi is an associate within the Restructuring and Insolvency department, specialising in contentious matters. He has acted for local authorities, creditors and insolvency practitioners on a variety of disputes including transfers at undervalue, preference claims and general advisory matters.
Ruairi is the Northern Ireland representative of the IPA’s Rising Professionals Network. He was presented with the Rising Star Award at the IPA Awards in 2023 for his contributions to the profession.
Overview of HMRC’s Structure, MVL Update and Providing Support to the Insolvency Profession With CVAs
Jacquie Hall, Senior Officer, Fraud Investigation Services, Economic Crime, HMRC
Jacquie has worked for HMRC for over 20 years and trained as a VAT compliance officer before becoming part of HMRCs Fraud Investigation Service working on complex fraud and avoidance-based insolvency investigations in a civil asset recovery team based in Belfast.
Her work involves liaising closely with colleagues across HMRC and pro-actively engaging with insolvency professionals to bring claims and recover losses in HMRC cases.
Regulatory Outlook 2024
Rowan Duffin-Jones, Senior Regulation Officer, IPA
Rowan is JIEB qualified and has over thirty years’ insolvency experience gained with leading firms in London, dealing with both personal and corporate insolvency.
Rowan is secretary to the IPA Standards Ethics and Regulatory Liaison Committee, also leading on the IPA Secretariat operational responsibility for the Registered Property Receivers’ scheme.