Board Members
Our Trustee Board have overall responsibility for governing Nexus
Board Members
Our Trustee Board have overall responsibility for governing Nexus
Nexus Board Members
Our Trustee Board bring a wealth of experience.
You can read more about each Board member by clicking on their profiles below.
Catherine Cooney
Chair
Sheryl Henderson
Vice Chair & Treasurer
Hannah Henry
Secretary
Gillian Orr
Olga Pollock
Charlene Kearney
Oyiwodu Okibe Oga
Donna Feehan
David Cairns
Catherine Cooney
Chair
Sheryl Henderson
Vice Chair
Hannah Henry
Secretary
Hannah is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland with 10 years’ experience in financial management.
The majority of her experience has been gained in the Northern Ireland public sector, having previously worked in Health and Social Care, she now works for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in their Finance Business Partner team for Support Services.
Hannah was a former member and treasurer of the Nexus Board from 2017 to 2020 and has returned to the Board for another term. From her previous work with Nexus Board, she had a particular interest in value for money in the public sector and ensuring public money is spent correctly. She fully values the work of Nexus and has been a supporter of the organisation since her initial term on the Board.
This time around, Hannah hopes to build on her previous contributions to the Board to ensure Nexus continues to be able to deliver such an important and valuable services for their clients.
Elly McGinn
Elly is an Operations Manager working for South and East Belfast GP Federations. She has worked in General Practice and Primary Care for almost 10 years, in a variety of senior roles, most notably with the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency, the Health and Social Care Board (now known as Strategic Performance and Planning Group (SPPG) in the Department of Health), and the Eastern Local Medical Council.
Elly specialises in event, project and financial management, and has expertise in communication strategies, graphic design and data analytics.
Elly is a Care Experienced adult and works in a few additional roles with Kindercare NI, Queens University Belfast and the NI Guardian ad Litem Agency, where she uses her lived experience to inform and improve service delivery, provide consultancy and facilitate training workshops and presentations.
Olga Pollock
Olga has 20+ years experience of working in Human Resources, mainly across the private sector. She is passionate about her profession and sees its purpose as serving the needs of both the organisation and its people to create diverse and inclusive workplaces. Olga is also a voluntary content writer for Legal Island.
Outside of her professional life Olga is wife to Gavin and mum to two great kids, Lilyrose and Lucca. She enjoys running and spinning but equally enjoy eating (chocolate and sweet things are her downfall…oh and shoes).
Olga has been placed with Nexus as a Boardroom Apprentice. In her HR capacity she has always strived to ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect, so this will align well with her apprenticeship role. Olga hopes to be able to bring her existing skills to the programme as well as learn new ones, and have some impact on supporting the Vision, Mission and Values of Nexus.
Gillian Orr
As Corporate Affairs Manager, UK at Bank of Ireland, Gillian manage the banks corporate reputation strategy alongside political and media relations engagements.
Gillian has significant experience in media and public relations, sponsorship and event management as well as corporate social responsibility and uses her skills and experience to support the work of Nexus.
Charlene Kearney
Charlene worked as a Clinical Physiologist providing and reporting specialist diagnostic tests in hospitals across Northern Ireland before moving into a senior management role five years ago. Charlene has worked in healthcare for 22 years and is excited to bring the skills, knowledge and experience she has gained throughout her career to her role as board member at Nexus.
Charlene has been involved with Nexus for many years and is passionate about the services and care we provide for people impacted by sexual violence and abuse. She is personally driven and committed to helping shape future service developments and ensuring that service users continue to be at the heart of the organisation.
Oyiwodu Okibe Oga
Oyiwodu has a background in law with over 15 years’ experience in compliance and company secretarial services. She is a member of the Corporate Governance Institute (CGI) UK & Ireland and glad to join the team actualize the organization’s goal.
She is passionate about the wellbeing of women and seeks to promote avenues that will assist and protect women and girls from any form of abuse so they can live beyond the societal norms that tend to limit or define girls, their health, and opportunities.
Donna Feehan
Donna is a Strategy Transformation Manager at Danske Bank, with more than two decades of service. Her experience is within Commercial Development designing and implementing customer focused strategies. Donna is deeply passionate about diversity and inclusion, believing in the power of embracing diverse perspectives and experiences to promote equity and representation within business and society.
Donna previously served on Nexus Board from 2017 to 2020 and is delighted to return for another term. Donna has had the privilege of experiencing the life-changing impact of Nexus and seeks to harness this alongside her professional experience to advocate for our service users.
David Cairns
David has 10 years experience in the Criminal Justice Sector and currently works in the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service. Prior to this he worked for 10 years in the commercial sector, mainly focusing on the FMCG market.
He believes that Nexus provides vital support in the areas of education, training, and counselling support for those affected by sexual violence and abusive relationships. He aims to support the team to continue to provide this life-changing work.
