New Assembly role for former AES director

Lesley Hogg is the first woman to be appointed to the post and takes up the role after the retirement of the former Clerk/Chief Executive, Trevor Reaney.

She will be responsible for providing procedural advice and support to the Assembly Speaker, advising the Assembly Commission, taking responsibility for leading a professional Secretariat to support the Assembly and acting as the Accounting Officer for the organisation.

With past roles as the Director of Strategic and Regulatory Affairs for AES, which owns Ballylumford and Kilroot power stations, and as Chairperson of the Electricity Association of Ireland, Mrs Hogg brings a wealth of both public and private sector experience to the post.

She was also formerly the Director of Finance and Corporate Affairs at the Agri-food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI).

A Chartered Accountant, she held the positions of Principal Financial Accountant for the PSNI during its transition from the RUC, Regional Finance Manager for the newly integrated national British Red Cross Society and Training Manager for Price Waterhouse.

Mrs Hogg is a member of the Board of Governors of Carrickfergus Grammar School, where she was Head Girl, and was also a non-Executive Director of Women in Business, a charity supporting and promoting Business Women in Northern Ireland.

She is married with two children.

“I am very much looking forward to my new role as Clerk/Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly both as a new challenge and an opportunity to make a contribution to the political life of Northern Ireland,” she said.

“Throughout my career — which has encompassed many different roles in both the private and public sectors — I have tried to bring fresh thinking and a strategic approach to my role. I think that will be of benefit at the beginning of a new mandate with a new Assembly, a new Speaker and new structures.

“This will present many opportunities to add value to the work that has been done over recent years and I am therefore delighted to be leading the Assembly Secretariat through the next phase of its journey.”