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

General Manager

Seamus 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

Property Manager

Sean 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.

Melanie Fitzpatrick

Business Services Manager

Melanie is responsible for the development and project management of business programmes for the organisation. Melanie has in excess of 10 years training and mentoring experience working in and for SME’s both as a private consultant and as an employee – having supported in excess of 2500 individuals and businesses in business start up and development support. Melanie was also a business partner in an electronic manufacturing business for twelve years and has firsthand experience in being self-employed.

Melanie has developed Ortus’s business support capabilities and resources to facilitate the extensive support that is currently provided to organisations in the private sector, the public sector, and the social economy sector. Diversification and innovation are considered to be priority within the Ortus strategic development plan and Melanie leads the Business Services team to ensure this is achieved.

Margaret Martin

Finance Officer

Margaret 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.

Clare Dunlop

Senior Business Development Executive

Clare Dunlop is a Senior Business Development Executive in Ortus. She has in excess of 11 years training and mentoring experience working with NI SME’s; having supported in excess of 2000 individuals and businesses at both start up and development stages.

Clare specialises in the development & delivery of business development training & mentoring initiatives for potential entrepreneurs start ups, businesses 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.

Clare has been fundamental in the development of Ortus as a niche player in the Northern Ireland marketplace for the delivery of franchise start-up and growth consultancy. Clare has developed the organisations capabilities and reputation such that Ortus is now the point of contact for businesses and individuals in Northern Ireland seeking to explore franchising as a business model.

Catherine McClelland

Senior Business Development Executive

Catherine McClelland is a Senior Business Development Executive in Ortus. Having over 7 years experience she is responsible for advising, training and mentoring both business start up and business development clients. She has extensive experience in business start-up support, having mentored and advised in excess of 1500 clients, delivered 100’s of business training seminars and workshops, and prepared more than 600 business plans. In addition, she has completed numerous business improvement plans and market entry reports for growing businesses that aim to expand and/ or enter new markets.

Catherine is also responsible for the successful promotion, recruitment and coordination of various programmes, networking events, business seminars and workshops.

Catherine was involved in the management of a family business and therefore has first-hand experience of the challenges that SME’s can face.

Mandy Copeland

Property Development Officer

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

Property Executive

Chris 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.

Ryan McDonald

Office Administrator

Ryan 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.

James Scott

Marketing & Communications Officer

James is responsible for the development and implementation of the marketing and client communication strategies for the company. James has extensive experience in the retail and caring sectors. He has also worked and volunteered in the disability sector and has two years experience sitting on the executive committee of a charity. Prior to his current role, James had been employed as a Business Services Executive at Ortus.

Eugene Murray

Property Executive

Eugene is responsible for the development of the Fire Risk NI business specialising in the provision of fire risk assessments. Eugene has recently qualified as a NEBOSH certified Fire Risk Assessor. Eugene joined the company in August 2010 with a BSc (Hons) Property Investment and Development and is a graduate member of the RICS. Eugene also assists the Property Manager with property investment valuations, property development appraisals and property portfolio performance analysis.