Both directors will bring unique experience in tourism and commercial development which will enhance the Board in taking forward the regeneration of the Derry City Council area.
Notes to Editors:
Biographical Details
Name: Mr Matt McNulty
Current Position: Director of Tourism, International Development Ireland Ltd
Matt McNulty has spent his career mainly in Irish and international tourism. He was Deputy Director General and Director General of the Irish Tourist Board (Bord Failte) in the period 1988 to 98 and helped transform the tourism economy of Ireland through boosting investment and radically changing the international marketing strategy. Ireland was branded for the first time under his direction.
He has also made a significant contribution in the area of urban renewal in Dublin being Chair of the Dublin Metropolitan Streets Commission in 1986 which planned the beginning of the transformation and he continues as Chair of Temple Bar Properties – now Temple Bar Cultural Trust the company established by Government to restore and develop Temple Bar.
He has also been centrally involved in conservation and is remembered for his personal contribution to the restoration and opening to the public of major historic buildings like Malahide Castle, Newbridge House, The Dublin Writers Museum and others.
He is also Chair of Design Ireland, the creative cluster of Ireland’s economy and a director of a number of companies in the travel, hotel and agricultural sector. He was a founder and former Chair of the People in Need Charity and is currently Chair of the children’s charity Tara’s Palace Trust.
In recent years he has worked as an international management consultant and managed the creation of new tourism and economic strategies for eight countries mainly in the in the Middle East. He currently resides in Dublin but is moving to the North West later this year.
Name: Mr Tom Fanning
Current Position: Chief Executive, Midland Expressway and Macquarie Motorway Group
Tom Fanning was appointed CEO of Midland Expressway Limited, the private sector company appointed to build and operate the M6 Toll by Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Australia in November 2001. He was responsible for overseeing the completion of the £900m M6Toll project, encompassing the marketing, opening and operation of Britain’s first tolled motorway. He represents the UK on tolled infrastructure throughout Europe via Macquarie Motorway Group as a member of the Steering Committee of ASECAP.
Previously Chief Executive with the Odyssey Trust, Fanning supervised the funding development and delivery of the £120m Odyssey complex in Belfast which opened in 2001. Prior to that, he held directorships with Commercial Union and the Burton Group where he was responsible to the Chair for a number of town centre shopping and regeneration schemes amounting to over 2million square feet of floor space. He was also a founding Director of London & Regional Properties the UK’s largest private sector property investment company, where he spearheaded, amongst other schemes, a PFI initiative including 400,000 square feet for the Inland Revenue. He is the past Chair of the Sandwell urban regeneration company. Mr Fanning also chairs the Board of the South Staffordshire Partnership within the West Midlands and is a Board member of the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership.
Mr Fanning is a Chartered Surveyor by profession and is a Freeman of the City of London and has spent over 30 years in the construction industry. He is 57 and married with 3 children.
For media enquiries contact OFMDFM Press Office on 028 9052 1859. Out of Office hours please contact Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
