THE interim boss of Invest NI said he believes the organisation needs to change.
Eight months after an independent review found “profound divisions” at the top of the economic support agency, Mel Chittock said the publicly funded body “needs to be refreshed”.
The interim chief executive was speaking at the Northern Ireland Investment Summit, where he revealed Invest NI is also facing a 15 per cent cut to its budget this year.
“It’s been an interesting time, if I’m being honest it has been a very challenging time as well,” Mr Chittock told The Irish News.
“And my job is to make sure that we move the organisation forward.”
Appointed as Invest NI’s interim chief executive following the surprise resignation of Kevin Holland 21 months ago, Mr Chittock declined to be drawn on whether he had applied for the permanent post.
London-based Berwick Partners launched a recruitment process in August to find the next boss of the organisation.
Read more:
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- Invest NI begins formal process to land its new chief executive
It’s understood the window for applications closed on Monday.
“I think the organisation needs a permanent chief executive, I have been a big advocate of that,” he said.
“I think the organisation does need to change. I think it needs to be refreshed, it needs to be fit for what the new economy, the new world looks like.
“I think that means doing things differently and hopefully I’ll be part of that journey going forward, but in what capacity is to be determined.”
Mr Chittock said while he has spent 27 years working for Invest NI, he has also worked in the private sector, and doesn’t consider himself “a career civil servant”.
Discussing the response to Sir Michael Lyons’ highly critical January 2023 report, Mr Chittock said Invest NI had established a process to examine the report’s recommendations and develop solutions, which has involved around 300 people.
That’s expected to result in the publication of an action plan in the coming weeks.
Responding to the independent review’s recommendations has been made more challenging by cuts to Invest NI’s budget.
“As a result, we are being more critical of the projects we look at and we are prioritising things,” he said.
“At this moment in time we haven’t turned a project away for a lack of funding, but what we have tried to do is be a little bit more creative in terms of how we interact with projects and we are picking the better ones in terms of support and funding.”
