The Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt has announced the appointment of a Non-Executive Chair and four Non-Executive Lay Members to the Business Services Organisation (BSO) in November 2025.
Mrs Sharon O’Connor has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chair. Her appointment will commence on 1st December 2025 and will end on a date not later than 30th November 2029.
Mr Alan Todd, Mrs Bernadette McCrory, Mr Peter Russell and Mr Joseph Stewart have been appointed as Non-Executive (Lay) Members. Mr Todd’s appointment commenced on 13th November 2025 and will end on a date not later than 12th November 2029. Mrs McCrory and Mr Russell’s appointments will commence on 1st December 2025 and will end on a date not later than 30th November 2029. Mr Stewart’s appointment will commence on 1st January 2026 and will end on a date not later than 31st December 2029.
These appointments were made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland.
BSO Chair
Sharon O’Connor
Sharon O’Connor was appointed Non-Executive Chair of the BSO Board on the 1st December 2025.
Sharon is a Fellow and Chartered Director of the Institute of Directors with over twenty-five years of senior leadership experience across public, private and community sectors. A Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel Development and professionally qualified in Marketing, she has served as Chair of the Education Authority and as Chief Executive of Derry City Council, leading major regeneration, economic-development and organisational change programmes. She has extensive national governance and audit expertise, gained through her roles as a Commissioner on the Accounts Commission for Scotland and as a member of the National Oversight and Audit Commission in Dublin. Her professional interests centre on strategy, sustainability, innovation, regeneration and public-sector reform, with a strong emphasis on delivering long-term public value through effective governance and future-focused leadership. Sharon has served on the board of the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland for the past 5 years. She is also currently a Non-Executive Director for Belfast Harbour Commission.
BSO Chief Executive
Karen Bailey
Karen Bailey was appointed in June 2022 as Chief Executive for the Business Services Organisation (BSO) which provides a wide range of professional and transactional business services to Health & Social Care & Public Safety (HSC) organisations. In this capacity she is also SRO for the regional programme for finance, HR and Procurement systems (Equip) and SRO for the Digital Workplace technical enablement project (TEP)
Prior to this, she served as Director of Customer Care & Performance in BSO from 2010 delivering strategic planning, performance management and customer relations for the BSO.
In this role she also held operational responsibility for the regional Information technology service (ITS) responsible for digital support programmes such as Theatre Management system, Health & Care Number (HCN), NI Electronic Care Record (NIECR) and NI Picture Archiving (NIPACS) Her portfolio also included the regional Office of Research & Ethics (OREC) and the delivery of an Equality & Human Rights service for the BSO, HSCB, PHA and HSC smaller bodies.
In 2012 she led the creation of the regional Honest Broker Service to assist researchers in gaining controlled access to the quantum of health data held by BSO and was instrumental in the development of initiatives such as the highly successful Disability Employment scheme working in tandem with the Third sector.
She has circa thirty years HSC experience beginning her career in Finance and IT in Down Lisburn Trust followed by roles in South Eastern Trust, the Service Delivery Unit (SDU) and the Health and Care Board (HSCB).
Karen holds an MBA from UU, an MSC in Computing Science and BA from QUB along with professional qualifications from IOD and in Programme and Service Management.
Executive Directors
Simon McGrattan
Director BSO Directorate of Finance
Simon McGrattan is the Director of Finance at Business Services Organisation, prior to that Simon was our Assistant Director of Finance. Simon has worked for BSO since 2009.
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Karen Hunter
Director of BSO Directorate of Strategic Planning and Customer Engagement (SP&CE)
Karen Hunter was appointed in February 2023 as Director of Strategic Planning and Customer Engagement at Business Services Organisation
Prior to this, Karen worked in the Leadership Centre from February 2018. She held the portfolio for transformation and change, and led the Digital Consultancy.
Karen is an experienced leadership development consultant, having worked in both the public and private sectors for the past 30 years. She was Head of the Management Development School for the Metropolitan Police Service, Director of Studies in the Leadership Academy of the National Policing Improvement Agency, and ran her own Management Consultancy, Muika Leadership. She was Managing Partner with The Living Leader LLP, and worked with PwC as a Senior Leadership and Change consultant immediately before joining the HSC Leadership Centre.
Within the Leadership Centre Karen was responsible for the regional leadership programme Proteus, aimed at Assistant Directors, and co-designed Acumen, aimed at Directors. She was involved in a number of large transformation projects, including the design of a regional framework for Domiciliary Care, as well as team development for executive leadership teams within HSC and other public sector authorities.
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Paula Smyth
Director of BSO Directorate of People and Place
Paula Smyth has a degree in Political Science and Sociology and started her career as a manager in retail before moving into Human Resources and qualifying as a HR Professional (currently is a Chartered Fellow in her Professional Institute). Paula spent a number of years in retail, manufacturing and the voluntary sector before moving to Health in 2004.
Paula was employed by EHSSB was transferred into BSO during RPA in 2009.
Paula took up the Interim Director of HR &Corporate Services Post in September 2019 ( Now Directorate of People and Place) and was appointed on a permanent basis in February 2020.
This Directorate provides key Human Resources and Corporate Services functions as well as strategic and practical planning throughout the year for the wider BSO and a number of Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB’s).
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Lesley Young
Director of BSO Directorate of Operations
Lesley joined BSO in April 2023 as Director of Operations. She bring 30 years experience of health service management in HSC and NHS and a graduate of the NHS Management Training Scheme. She began her career across a number of roles in the Western Health & Social Care Trust area. She has spent the last 15 years working in the NHS in London and Director roles in National and International Charities. She joins BSO from Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where she held senior roles in Digital Operations and Women’s Services.
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Ben Doran
Director of BSO Directorate of Digital
Ben Doran was appointed in June 2023 as Director of Digital at the Business Services Organisation.
Ben has led several regional projects and programmes within HSC, such as the Digital Workplace Technical Enablement Project and the procurement of the public sector Data Centres. Ben is an expert in ICT procurement and led or partaken in several major procurements for HSCNI, including the Microsoft Licence Solution Provider (£200m), Client Device Refresh (£72m), Technology Framework Agreement (400m), Regional Infrastructure Framework (£24m) and NI Digital Identity Service.
Ben has worked within the health service for eighteen years. Ben holds a BENG in Computer Science and has completed professional qualifications in Project, Programme and Portfolio Management, as well as being a certified ITIL Expert, and Business Continuity Disaster Recovery Specialist.
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Non-Executive Directors
Mark Lowry
Mark Lowry commenced appointment to the BSO Board on the 15th January 2024 for a four-year term of office.
Mark Lowry studied civil engineering at QUB and, after graduating in 1982, spent 4 years working in South Africa before returning to start what was to become a 32-year career with the CRH group (the world’s largest building materials group, headquartered in Dublin). During his time with CRH, he rose through the ranks to become MD of Farrans Construction, then CEO of Northstone, both based in Belfast, before taking up the reins as Country MD for CRH Poland, living in Warsaw for 4 years. In 2016, he became the CRH group Sustainability Director, based in Amsterdam and Dublin for 3 years. In 2019 he returned to Northern Ireland as CEO of The McAvoy Group, excited by MMC (Modern Methods of Construction) and its opportunities. He semi-retired in 2022 and is now a Non-Executive Director with McAvoy and Thomas Telford, and an Independent Non-Executive Board Committee Member with the NIHE, as well as proudly being a STEM ambassador with the ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers). In his career, Mr Lowry was also a Past-President of the CEF (Construction Employers Federation), a Past-Chair of the ICE (NI) and a Board Committee Member of the CBI (NI). He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
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Maynard Mawhinney
Maynard Mawhinney commenced appointment to the BSO Board on the 15th January 2024 for a four-year term of office.
Maynard Mawhinney is an experienced Board member having served on the South-Eastern HSC Trust Board where he Chaired the Finance & Performance Committee; the Health & Safety Executive Board; and in the private sector as a Non-Executive Director with Around Noon Ltd a company with operations in Northern Ireland, Ireland and England. Prior to that he was Director of Food & Commercial Tourism with Invest NI. He currently serves as Independent Chair of the Review of Roles and Responsibilities of NI Councillors with the Department for Communities. Mr Mawhinney has two other public appointments with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA); the first as Chair of the College Advisory Group to CAFRE. The second appointment is as a Board member with the NI Fishery Harbours Authority (NIFHA) which commenced on 18 December 2023.
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Fred Smyth
Fred Smyth commenced appointment to the BSO Board on the 15th January 2024 for a four-year term of office.
Fred Smyth is a Chartered Accountant and experienced finance consultant with significant non-executive experience in the public, voluntary and private sectors. He held a range of senior roles in his Corporate and Business Banking career, leading teams through significant change and was responsible for overall business performance and risk management. He is a board member of the charity Include Youth, who work with disadvantaged young people and was previously a Board member of NIGALA, who represent the interests of children and young people through the family courts and a former Vice–Chair of the Simon Community. Mr Smyth coaches a wide range of businesses, is an independent board observer for Kernel Capital and is an accredited mediator developing collaborative relationships for people, organisations, and communities. Mr Smyth hold one other public appointment as a Member of the North-West Regional College Governing Body. Mr Smyth was recently appointed Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee.
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Linus McLaughlin
Linus McLaughlin commenced appointment to the BSO Board in March 2025 for a four-year term of office.
Linus has enjoyed an extensive career within Health and Social Care with over 30 years experience working in the public sector, having previously worked in the private finance sector. He joined the Western Health and Social Services Board in 1991 as a Certified Accountant in Internal Audit and worked, at Board and Trust level, in Finance, Business Management, Commissioning and the Service Delivery Unit, before joining the Health and Social Care Board Performance Management and Service Improvement Directorate when it was established in 2009. He retired in 2022. Over his career Linus has chaired a number of major reviews including chairing the panel of experts who advised on the review of Emergency Response and Transfer Arrangements in Fermanagh and West Tyrone and, as Chair of the Regional Audiology Forum, the development of Quality Standards for Paediatric Audiology Services for Northern Ireland.
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Alan Todd
Alan Todd commenced appointment to the BSO Board on the 13th November 2025 for a four-year term of office.
Alan served as a police officer for 32 years and with the PSNI Service Executive Team for 10 years as an Assistant Chief Constable. Before joining policing, Alan was a Community Pharmacist having graduated from Queen’s University Belfast. He is a graduate from the Executive Programme at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, The Smurfit Business School at University College Dublin and a Fellow in The Chartered Management Institute. Alan was the UK policing lead for the Contact Management business area, responsible for drafting, negotiating and delivering national strategies and for representing policing across statutory and governmental partners. He was Vice-Chair of the Digital Public Contact Programme Board for the UK and of Chair of the Emergency Services Contact Management Committee. Alan holds accreditation as a company director from the Institute of Directors and served for 6 years on the Board of Directors for Police Digital Services based in London. Alan was awarded the King’s Police Medal in the 2023 UK New Year’s Honours List ‘For Services to Policing’.
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Bernadette McCrory
Bernadette McCrory commenced appointment to the BSO Board on the 1st December 2025 for a four-year term of office.
Bernadette was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of CAWT in February 2006 and retired in 2021. This role involved responsibility for leading and developing cross border health and social care provision between Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland on behalf of the CAWT Partnership. She has worked in the National Health Service, mainly in Acute Services as a Hospital Manager for more than 20 years. Bernie lectured in Law and Business on a part-time basis with QUB for 10 years. She has two primary degrees in Public Administration/Law (BA Hons) and Social Sciences/Education (BA Open) and has an MBA and a Master of Laws (LLM) and has a postgraduate certificate in University Teaching. Bernie received her MBE for services to Health care in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Bernie currently serves as a Non-Executive Director for the Police Retraining and Rehabilitation Trust.
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Peter Russell
Peter Russell commenced appointment to the BSO Board on the 1st December 2025 for a four-year term of office.
Peter Russell is currently Managing Director of PR Business Growth Services, having previously worked in various managing director roles for local and global ICT companies, including Sopra Steria, Microsoft, BT, Neueda, and Telefonica Tech. He has over 25 years’ experience working closely within the local Public Sector, including HSC NI. Peter is also a Non-Executive Advisor and Board Member of the NI Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Institute of Directors, as well as an advisor to the Bryson Charitable Group.
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Joseph Stewart
Joseph Stewart will commence his appointment to the BSO Board in January 2026.