Our Team

As Chief Executive of the SEUPB, Gina is responsible for the PEACEPLUS Programme which has a value of €1.144 Billion.  This new cross-border funding Programme is supported by the European Union, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Ireland, and the Northern Ireland administration.

The Programme is designed to support peace and prosperity across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, building upon the past 25 years of work of the previous PEACE and INTERREG Programmes. 

Having spent most of her career involved with EU support programmes, Gina has gained extensive knowledge of the complex cross-border development needs of the region and the appropriate European funding instruments available to meet them.

Gina is a qualified chartered accountant who trained and qualified with Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC). Before joining the SEUPB as the Director of Corporate Services in 2003, she gained extensive practical knowledge of managing the distribution of cross-border PEACE funding during her work for Co-operation Ireland.

Gina is a regular speaker at major conferences and exhibitions across Europe on the management of EU Programmes in a post conflict society.

Within the Corporate Services directorate is the Certifying Authority – responsible for the certification of all expenditure claims submitted to the EU Commission, and ensuring eligibility with EU and national rules. This includes the review of processes and procedures by those implementing the Programmes and ensuring any irregularities are raised and actioned. In the SEUPB, the Certifying Authority also controls the cash flow, including making payments to lead partners, drawdown of funds from the European Commission and subsequent reimbursement to each Member State. 

Corporate Finance, Human Resources, IT and Communications also sit within the Corporate Services directorate. 

PAUL SHERIDAN, CORPORATE SERVICES DIRECTOR 

The Managing Authority (MA) has overall responsibility for the management, implementation and evaluation of the Cooperation Programmes (the document approved by the European Commission which establishes the programme strategy and priorities) . The MA has established a Financial Control Unit (FCU) to verify the legality and regularity of all expenditure incurred. It conducts checks on each lead partner to establish their its administrative, financial and operational capacity to receive grant funding.  FCU also carries out administrative and on-the-spot verifications of claims made by a project. 

PAUL BEATTIE, MANAGING AUTHORITY DIRECTOR

With functional responsibilities delegated by the Managing Authority, the Joint Secretariat assists in the implementation of the Programmes and is responsible for providing information on funding opportunities. The Joint Secretariat (JS) also prepares project assessments for presentation to the Steering Committee to assist in its  decision-making role. JS also assists lead partners in the implementation of their projects and the delivery of outputs. 

MARK HUDDLESTON, PEACEPLUS JOINT SECRETARIAT INTERIM DIRECTOR