Delivering for your Business

With a background in economic development, Tracy joined SRC in 2006, heading up the Business Support team since 2014. Tracy holds a BA (Hons) in English from Queens University, Belfast as well as a Post Graduate Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership.

Tracy has managed a range of skills development and innovation programmes and has significant experience in project management and development of strong external engagement with both employers and other economic development stakeholders. Tracy sits on many steering groups and committees which drive the skills agenda in the southern region and is both responsible for, and committed to, ensuring that SRC plays its part in supporting local economic development and growth. Tracy is heavily involved in the Labour Market Partnerships with Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. She was also recently appointed to the Board of Directors at Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade.

Brenda leads the Innovation and Knowledge Transfer pillar of the Business Support Centre. Brenda joined Business Support in SRC in 2013 as a Food Innovation Specialist and became Innovation & Technology Manager in 2022. Brenda has mentored hundreds of food and drink companies in all areas of research and development and new product development (NPD) through funded programmes. Brenda has over 18 years industry experience working as an NPD Manager in food manufacturing and has launched hundreds of new and improved products in both retail and food service within the chilled and frozen categories. In her current role, Brenda works with key stakeholders and businesses in ensuring they are matched with industry specialists across all sectors to support Innovation & Productivity.

Brenda holds a BA (Hons) in Consumer Studies/Food Innovation with a Diploma in Industrial Studies from Ulster University and a Master’s in Business for Agri-Food & Innovation Management awarded by Queens University Belfast in conjunction with CAFRE.

Sylvia leads the Upskilling and Workforce Development; Apprenticeship and Higher Level Apprenticeship Development; and Employer Support pillars of the Business Support Centre.

Sylvia has joined SRC in 2006, and Business Support in 2015. She has years of experience working in training at the College in a variety of support and management roles. Her experience spans several programmes including, Jobskills, Training for Success, Skill Up - Flexible Skills Programme and Apprenticeships & Higher Level Apprenticeships.  Sylvia has a wealth of employer engagement experience, and understands the needs of micro businesses, SMEs and large companies.  Sylvia is very passionate about engaging with employers to develop bespoke training solutions and to provide upskilling and workforce development opportunities which meet the needs of industry. Sylvia has extensive experience in working with individuals as part of their learning journey, always supporting, signposting, and ensuring they are achieving the most from their training experience.

Margaret started in SRC in 2006 and has worked across multiple departments and has an excellent understanding of the logistics of training and higher level apprenticeships. Margaret graduated from Napier University, Edinburgh with a BA (Hons) in Tourism Management, from Queen’s University, Belfast with a Diploma in Delivering Essential Skills and from Ulster University with a Post Graduate Diploma in Further and Higher Education.

Prior to joining SRC, Margaret worked in the hospitality and tourism industry in Northern Ireland and in various European countries including Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Malta.

Margaret has lectured in hospitality & tourism, communication, and modern languages. HLA employers and clients range from sole traders to multi-nationals.

NI’s Higher Level Apprenticeship (HLA)’s programmes are growing from strength to strength and Margaret leads the HLA team in employer recruitment and development of new HLA’s. She has excellent communication skills and can competently deal with company’s various requirements to quickly ascertain training needs and design bespoke training programmes to meet them.

Rachel graduated from Ulster University in 2022 with a first class honours degree in Marketing and prior to joining SRC spent 2 years in support roles in secondary education.

Rachel joined Business Support in 2023 where she works within the HLA Team to drive employer recruitment to the Higher Level Apprenticeship programmes. She supports the team in developing marketing and promotional campaigns and helps to review Employer Additional Information Forms and offer advice to applicants.

Kieran is an experienced trainer and business mentor with over 25 years’ experience in the hospitality and tourism industry. He joined Business Support in 2012, and no stranger to SRC (formerly Newry & Kilkeel Institute), he had a previous role as a lecturer in Travel & Tourism for 8 years (1995-2003).

Kieran’s experience includes working in a range of operational and management roles, delivering training and mentoring to SMEs, workshop facilitation, project evaluation, business plan development, tour guiding, travel and tourism lectures, operating and selling educational and sports tours, corporate hospitality promotion and management of a family public house.

Kieran is a conference and event facilitator and has worked across a wide range of digital and tourism projects including podcasting, 360 tours, interactive maps and AR and VR. He has also helped businesses to create online training solutions. He recently established his own podcast Tomorrow's Visitors.

Kieran is an accredited and certified WKI Trainer. The WKI model is a proven methodology for embedding design thinking.

Emma has over 15 years of experience within the food industry working as a New Product Development Manager, Technical Manager and Food Innovation Consultant. She has developed products for global brands, retailers’ private labels and own labels.

Emma is currently working towards a MSc in Business for Agri-Food and holds a BSc (Hons) Degree in Food Quality, Safety and Nutrition. Emma’s industry experience includes working for a family run orchard in Armagh and Nestle, as a Sensory Scientist. She has also worked as a New Product Development Manager in sectors such as food to go, bakery, healthy ready meals and added value meat and poultry.

Since joining SRC in 2016, Emma has been able to use her vast knowledge and experience to help companies launch commercially viable, consumer lead products that will keep their business ahead of the competition. Emma has mentored over 100 SME's since joining the team.

Rachel joined SRC in 2021 with several years of experience within food manufacturing covering areas such as new product development, new process development and operations.

Rachel graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Food Technology from the College of Agriculture, Food & Rural Enterprise (CAFRE). Before joining the Business Support Team, Rachel worked in Moy Park, having gained experience in the primary and convenience factories. Rachel has 4 years’ experience as an Operations Manager, managing 8 busy retail packing lines, meeting orders and manging depot times within a busy environment. She also has 6 years experience as a New Product Development Manager with Moy Park Ltd and 2 years experience as a Process Development Manager, responsible for factory processes and understanding how to improve factory processes via method reductions, improving efficiencies and understanding new equipment.

Since joining Southern Regional College, Rachel has mentored food and drink businesses in all areas of lean manufacture, new product development and nutritional shelf life.

Lydia graduated with BSc (Hons) in Food Quality, Safety & Nutrition with Professional Studies from Queen’s University Belfast and is currently working towards an MSc in Business for Agrifood and Rural Enterprise with Innovation Management in conjunction with Queens University and CAFRE.

Lydia’s experience in the food industry has involved working in both new product development and quality/technical roles. Before joining Southern Regional College in May 2023, Lydia spent 3 years working as a New Product Development Technologist in mBio, a research and development business of Monaghan Mushrooms and led the development of mushroom based, vegan meat-free products from concept to commercial scale launch. She has also worked on a variety of innovation projects including the development of a pipeline of mushroom based meat alternative concepts, for retail own label and private label including Marks & Spencer and business to business bulk and wholesale products, including development of hybrid, reduced meat products.

Since joining SRC, Lydia has used her knowledge and experience to help businesses in all aspects of the new product development process, including recipe formulation, product stability, nutritional profiling, shelf-life, process flow and HACCP development. She also specialises in factory process development, new equipment commissioning and process method development to improve efficiencies and understand new equipment capabilities to ensure repeatable scaled production.

James has considerable experience of all aspects of engineering from design through to manufacture. James graduated from Ulster University with a MEng Honours Degree in Manufacturing Systems Management with a Diploma in Industrial studies. He has worked in various industries from sheet metal forming, concrete (design) to quarry and recycling and joined SRC in 2017.

James is a confident user of both AutoCad and Solidworks software and has significant experience of project management, product design, design development and prototypes within the commercial sector. He has worked on various design projects over the years ranging from bespoke one-off design solutions to standard products for manufacture.

Ryan is a Design Engineer with a broad range of experience across may sectors including the food, pharmaceutical and material handling industries. Ryan graduated with a MEng Hons in Mechanical Engineering from Queen's University Belfast. He is a confident SolidWorks and AutoCAD user and has experience in project management, taking initial concept ideas through design development, design for manufacture and assembly, prototyping and production.

Ryan joined Business Support in 2023. He has experience in bespoke tooling and jig design for one off manufacturing as well as new product introduction in large scale production. Ryan also has extensive experience and expertise within the manufacture and design of musical instruments and related products.

Mark comes from a computing background and has extensive experience in IT, from hardware and software management to networking and mobile computing. Mark holds a BSc (Hons) in Computing Science and a Diploma in Professional Practice from Ulster University. Mark joined SRC in 2016 and moved to Business Support in 2021. 

He has completed IT Infrastructure Library v3 focussing on quality-driven service management and is JISC Cyber Essentials trained. Mark has worked across numerous sectors including education, hospitality and agriculture and his skills have benefitted a range of businesses by streamlining processes and maximising effort through the use of technology.

Sara has 16 years experience working in the hospitality industry, including running her own business. Since joining SRC in 2020, Sara has gained experience in various support roles at the College.

Sara has been with the Business Support team since 2020 and in 2023 moved into her current role as Projects Officer where her responsibilities include managing the financial and administrative aspects of project delivery.

Andrea has worked at the college since 2006, taking on various support and management roles across multiple departments. She has worked extensively with students, employers, community groups, and businesses, providing expert advice and guidance to ensure they receive the maximum support available to achieve their goals.

Since 2019, Andrea has been part of the Business Support team, collaborating with businesses to identify their training needs, helping them upskill and retain their workforce, and sourcing the best solutions to meet their specific requirements. Her efforts have significantly enhanced the growth and development of numerous organisations.

Andrea's focus is on Higher Level Apprenticeships. Her goal is to actively engage with employers to help them successfully recruit higher-level apprentices by providing an efficient, effective, and user-friendly recruitment service. With a strong customer focus and a continuous drive for improvement, Andrea aims to ensure that SRC provides industry-relevant qualifications and training geared toward future-proofing the skill set of the workforce, helping businesses attract new talent and retain employees.

Gayle joined SRC in 2004 and spent 16 years experience in a role within the Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment team. Prior to this Gayle worked for Coca-Cola in London and Ernst & Young in Bermuda, Australia and London.  She has proven interpersonal and managerial skills on both a local and international level.  Gayle has extensive experience in managing high profile events, global marketing initiatives and large-scale budgets. 

Gayle joined the Business Support team in 2021 to manage the Skill Up programme. This suite of free accredited courses, funded by the Department for the Economy, aims to upskill and reskill individuals in economic priority areas to boost the economy.

Aislin graduated from Ulster University with a degree in Business and Marketing. She has worked in the Business Support Team since 2016 across two different roles, becoming a Business Development Executive in 2022.

Aislin works with a wide range of businesses across the Southern Region to identify their training needs, to upskill and retain their workforce and to source the best training solution to meet their requirements.

Jane started her administration career with the Northern Ireland Civil Service in departments including Private Housing, Roads Service, Planning Service and Water Service. Following a career break Jane has been with the SRC Business Support Team since 2006, undertaking all aspects of training administration for students and companies.

Jane has a wealth of experience in advising business clients on the training solutions available to them from BSI and always ensures customer service is a key priority.

Jenny graduated from Ulster University with a degree in Environmental Health.

Before joining BSI in July 2022, Jenny worked for a leading local charity for 13 years. Starting as a finance administrator and working her way up the hierarchy to become a finance officer in later years.

Jenny has acquired a wide and varied skill set throughout her years of employment.

Abbie graduated from Ulster University in 2021 with a First Class Honors Degree in Business Economics. Before joining BSI, Abbie worked in economic consultancy, providing strategic insights, economic analysis, and policy recommendations to public and private sector clients.

Abbie joined BSI in 2023, she works with businesses across various industries to assess their training needs, upskill and retain their workforce, and source the best training solutions to meet their requirements.