The Team at Ortus:
Ortus is comprised of a voluntary board of directors from a wide range of business, professional and academic backgrounds and a committed and professional staff with a wide range of business and commercial expertise.
Seamus O’Prey
Seamus is the general manager with the company. He has the full executive operational management responsibility for the company. He has been working in the field of sustainable development for over ten years and more recently working primarily with the SME sector. He has a background in law and has been developing and delivering business start up and development programmes across a range of sectors. He has been working extensively with SME’s from pre-starts to export marketing businesses for almost six years. Recently he has been concentrating on innovation projects and has developed a number of programmes that are being delivered for the first time in the UK and Ireland. He has also been mentor to many businesses over this period. Seamus recently won a Developing Belfast Top 50 Business Award and has been awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship for 2009.
Sean Toal
Sean is the Property Manager for Ortus and is responsible for the management and development of the company’s property portfolio. Sean joined Ortus in 2002 and has extensive experience in Surveying and Property Management tasks including rental analysis, service charge reviews and development appraisals. He is a probationer member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and is responsible for the development and growth of Ortus’ property assets. Additionally, Sean provides a key mentoring role to a range of businesses and community organisations offering expertise in the property sector.
Shauneen Lowry
Shauneen is the Financial Controller. She has worked in the Field of Finance since 1997 and comes from a background in industry joining us in 2000 from Mivan Ltd. She is part qualified accountant and a member of ACCA, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Shauneen has detailed knowledge of all aspects of the Accounting Process and procedures, including management, monitoring and decision-making. She is responsible for all aspects of the Group Finance function. Her main duties include inter alia proper stewardship of all company accounts in accordance with statutory requirements and good practice, overall control of group budgets and financial planning, management and control of the Group treasury function. She is responsible for the finance, administration and Human Resources team.
Melanie Fitzpatrick
Melanie is the Business Services Co-ordinator in Ortus and is responsible for the development and management of business programmes for the organisation. She has experience in Project Management that ranges from local projects, to Northern Ireland wide projects. She has in excess of eight years training and mentoring experience working in and for SME’s. As a business partner in an electronic manufacturing business for twelve years, Melanie has also project managed many technical projects – both for customers and internally. As a private business consultant, she has also project managed change programmes for customers. Self-employment has provided Melanie with firsthand experience in delivering new business strategies.
Catherine McClelland
Catherine is a Business Development Executive that has worked for Ortus from 2004. Through her role as programme manager for the Start a Business Programme within Ortus, she has extensive experience of business start-up support, having mentored and advised in excess of 1200 clients. She has also written in excess of 450 business plans for new businesses. Catherine also holds a number of other key positions within Ortus, including the promotion, recruitment and coordination of various programmes and events aimed at pre-start, start-up clients and business growth clients. In addition she has developed business improvement plans and assisted in various market research projects.
Tracey Muldoon
Tracey is a Business Development Officer for Ortus. She provides support for the Business Service Team through recruiting and co-ordinating a number of pre-start, start up and business development programmes. Tracey has an ancillary role that facilitates all general enquiries from participants in these programmes. Tracey is one of the lead business researcher’s in the company; her role involves reviewing business needs and referring them to relevant beneficial programmes and workshops. In addition, Tracey manages the charity auction project and is the event manager of the highly successful annual charity golf event. Tracey also developed the company’s business model.
Clare Dunlop
Clare specialises in the development & delivery, on a regional basis of business development training & mentoring initiatives for potential entrepreneurs start ups, business at development stage and social enterprises. She has provided consultancy in ideas generation, confidence building, sales lead generation, market development, marketing, IT, and has also facilitated networking on all island basis for SMEs.
Brendan McCoy
Brendan acts as a consultant for the organisation. He provides expertise in training and the development of business support programmes. Brendan has been an external consultant for ORTUS since 1999. He assists on the management of the EIS Awareness Programme and in programme submission and delivery. He is also co-founder and finance director of a number of companies ranging from Waste Management, inflatable manufacturing and alternative fuels. He has also patented a number of products. Brendan has been involved in numerous programmes such as Franchisor, Women Into Business, product development, export and bulky waste. Brendan is a qualified chartered accountant.
Mandy Copeland
Mandy is the Property Development Officer for Ortus. She has been employed with the organisation for over 10 years were she has held a number of key positions. Mandy is responsible for implementing and overseeing the marketing strategy for Ortus’ property portfolio together with researching and development of new property opportunities. She is currently responsible for marketing and promotion of the Twin Spires Centre, Westlink Enterprise Centre and Ortus’ client property base. Mandy is a student member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, she holds the SEFDI accreditation for NIBSP and is currently undergoing the Energy Performance Assessor Course.
Chris Shaw
Chris is the Property Officer for Ortus and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the company’s owned and managed properties. Chris joined Ortus in 2005 and has a wide range of skills in Property Management, specialising in the area of mixed-use commercial/retail parks. In his role Chris is responsible for letting and marketing Ortus’ properties. He conducts property inspections to meet health & safety requirements and develop maintenance schedules. In addition, he is experienced in the identification of security requirements and co-ordinating the maintenance / installation of security systems.
Margaret Martin
Margaret is the finance officer with Ortus and she has been a member of the staff from April 2002. Margaret has over 35 years experience working with Finance and Payroll. She has a diploma in Sage accounting and NVQ Level 2 in Accounts, and has achieved certificates in both Management Practice in accounts, and ECDL Programme in computers. Her role is to manage the business finances within Ortus. Along with her normal duties working in a busy financial dept, she works closely with the Property and Business Services departments overseeing all invoicing, payments, queries and credit control.
Ryan McDonald
Ryan is the Office Administrator at Ortus. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of the office, its equipment and supplies. With a strong customer service background Ryan is committed to providing the clients, tenants and staff with professional admin support. He is heavily involved in the preparation and organisation of training courses and maintains and monitors the organisations Management Information Systems.