Belfast International Homecoming 2023

The current Lord Mayor of Belfast is Councillor Ryan Murphy, who took up office on the 5^sth June 2023.

Councillor Murphy is a member of Sinn Fein and was originally co-opted onto Belfast City Council in 2018 and was elected as a representative for the Oldpark district at the 2019 Local Government Election.

At 28, Councillor Murphy is one of the Belfast’s youngest serving Lord Mayors and comes from the Ligoniel area of the city.  He has pledged to be a ‘Mayor for All’, working for all communities across the city to unlock Belfast’s potential. He also plans to focus on championing young people and showcasing the city’s diversity during his year in office.

Joe joined Belfast Harbour in 1997, holding a number of roles including Commercial Manager and Port Manager as well as Commercial Director until his appointment as CEO in 2018.

Prior to joining the Port, Joe held positions with Undus Ltd and Cantrell and Cochrane Ltd. Joe is currently a board member of Simon Community, a Council member of the Ireland US Council, and Northern Ireland CBI Council member.

Neil has spent the last 15 years working in various areas of learning & development, operations, facilities and hospitality with Innovation driven businesses and start-ups. Spanning from the music industry as a tour and production manager, Apple, within the Retail and L&D team, WeWork as a Community & Operations Manager, to my current position helping build successful teams and grow start-ups as Director at Innovation Factory. He is a highly effective leader who excels at building, developing and empowering diverse teams of managers and individual contributors. A results-orientated professional with strong business acumen and a close focus on customer experience and repeatable success. Proven ability to enroll teams and cross-functional stakeholders in successful projects, focusing on customer success and project delivery that work towards a common mission.