The team

Anne-Marie Blaney

Chair

is an experienced justice practitioner combining a legal career, dispute resolution experience and governance insights. She contributes through a lens of extensive real life legal and ADR experience, alongside rule of law, academic, legal aid and justice insights. Anne-Marie is Advisory Board member with the International Bar Association Access to Justice and Legal Aid Committee. She served on the Legal Aid Board Ireland and chaired the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Ireland. Anne-Marie holds an LLM in European Law, MA (Ethics) together with Law Society of Ireland certifications in Executive Leadership and in Professional Education. She is accredited as a Civil, Commercial and Family Mediator, and member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Mediators Institute of Ireland, College of Mediators U.K., Northern Ireland Law Society and Law Society of Ireland.

Gillian Hamilton

Vice Chair

is a community sector leader whose roles have spanned mental health, youth work and employability. She currently manages a community education programme working to reduce educational underachievement and raise aspirations. Gillian has also worked in statutory health and social care, and on how it joins up with community and voluntary organisations across Northern Ireland, and has engaged internationally on peace and reconciliation.

Tony Clarke

Treasurer

is a certified public accountant and a fellow of his institute, with detailed knowledge of the charitable sector and of working alongside funders and grant-making bodies. He understands the pressures charities are under, particularly around funding cuts and the competition for what remains. Tony works closely with chief executives and boards on organisational budgets, management accounts and payroll. He sits on the SORP committee, was CO3’s Trustee of the Year in 2023, and is a trustee of the Association of Charity Independent Examiners, Families Beyond Conflict and Start360.

Julian McGrath

has worked in education for over 27 years, primarily as Head of Politics and Head of Year in a leading grammar school. He has served as an Alliance Party councillor on Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council since 2018, with a particular commitment to anti-poverty work. He has chaired the Operations Committee and served as Vice-Chair of the Community Development Committee. Since 2019, he has also served on the Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP), contributing to local initiatives that build trust, improve safety, and support community engagement. He brings to Mediation NI a practical background in education, local government, and community work, with a focus on collaboration, fairness, and getting things done.

Nicola Johnston

is a civil servant with twenty years experience in both the public and voluntary sectors. She completed the boardroom apprentice scheme in 2024 and will bring her learning from this to the board. She has held a variety of roles within the civil service over the last fifteen years and prior to this she held positions in education and the voluntary sector. She has extensive project management and information management experience.

Dr Emily Stanton

has spent more than two decades working in third sector non-profits, with a background in conflict transformation. She holds a doctorate in International Conflict and Peacebuilding from INCORE at Ulster University, and her research was published by Routledge in 2021 as Theorising Civil Society Peacebuilding: The Practical Wisdom of Peacebuilding Practitioners in Northern Ireland 1965–2015. Alongside the academic work she practises in mediation, trauma and resiliency, and community relations, specialising in school-based interventions. Emily is Director of Programmes at the peacebuilding and education charity Community Relations in Schools, and has served on a number of voluntary boards over the past ten years.

Nikita Brijpaul

Nikita has over 20 years of experience in business development across a diverse range of industries, including FMCG, pharmaceutical, and construction. However h has spent the majority of his career in the telecommunications sector, having held positions with Telefonica UK and Liberty Global. Nikita currently volunteers as a mentor for Men’s Alliance NI, an organization that provides support for male victims of domestic abuse. Additionally, he holds positions as a Trustee Member of Mutual Energy Nikita currently works as the Commercial Partner for the Lisburn Castlereagh City Council. Nikita holds an MBA from the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow and is a Fellow at the Chartered Management Institute.

Gordie Walker

has worked in peace and reconciliation for forty years, across both the voluntary and statutory sectors. He has been a Community Development Worker with Belfast City Council, a Development Officer on the PEACE Programme funded by SEUPB and on the Peace Walls Programme funded by the International Fund for Ireland, and a Policy Development Officer with the Community Relations Council. His work has shaped interventions at interfaces in Belfast, Portadown and Derry/Londonderry, and he has briefed senior government officials, MLAs, MPs and members of the European Parliament, as well as planning conferences and sessions with victims and survivors. Gordie now leads the delivery of good relations programmes across North Belfast and beyond, covering community safety, policing and shared space. He is Vice Chair of Duncairn Community Partnership and an independent member of the Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership.

Gordon Douglas

Biography to follow.