One of Northern Ireland's leading businesswomen, Dame Rotha Johnston has been named the new non-executive Chair of the Board of NIE Networks.

Dame Johnston has held a non-executive director position with the NI electric utility since 2011, in parallel to a number of other strategic positions, including her current roles as a member of the UK Government's Industrial Strategy Council and Chairperson of Northern Ireland Screen, and her former role as Pro-Chancellor for Queen's University Belfast.

In her new role as Chair of the NIE Networks Board, Dame Johnston will help the company play a key role in meeting a set target of achieving a net zero carbon economy by 2050.

She will assume the role from March 2020, taking over from Stephen Kingon who held the position for nine years.

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Dame Johnston's first engagement as Chair of NIE Networks will see her represent the company as a speaker at the IoD NI Women's Leadership Conference which takes place on Friday 06 March in Belfast.


"NIE Networks has made great strides in attracting and retaining female talent into the business over the last decade, both at entry and senior level and has just been awarded the Bronze Diversity Charter Mark for gender," she commented. 


"The decarbonisation agenda means roles of the future are going to be very different and NIE Networks offers a dynamic career choice across both engineering and professional support roles. So it is an exciting time for those interested in STEM subjects and a career within the energy industry.  Continuing the work to attract diverse talent into the company will be another key focus."

Paul Stapleton, Managing Director of NIE Networks, added: "Rotha Johnston has been a valuable Board member over the last nine years and we look forward to her leadership as Chair in helping NIE Networks to deliver benefits for all our customers today in tandem with planning for the future.


"Rotha succeeds Stephen Kingon who will step down in early March as non-executive Chair. On behalf of the Board and the Company, I would like to thank Stephen for his huge contribution and commitment in successfully steering NIE Networks over the last nine years."

(CM/MH)