Dr Conor Patterson is the CEO of Newry and Mourne Co-operative and Enterprise Agency. He is also a director and past president of Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade, a member of the Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation, a director and former Chairman of Enterprise Northern Ireland, the company secretary of Binnian Developments, the company secretary of Oriel Developments Ltd and a co-opted advisor to the Board of the Newry Confederation of Community Groups.
Conor manages four Business Parks in Newry, South Armagh and South Down which host 130 businesses together employing 800 people. He has extensive experience of delivering central and local government and EU-funded economic and business development programmes. Between 2001 and 2021 his team assisted 2,830 business start-ups and co-ordinated the provision of support to 1,400 growth companies.
At international level, Conor has been involved in the development of enterprise initiatives across the European Union as well as in Kosovo and Egypt. He has also co-ordinated several trade missions to the USA and Canada and has spoken on ‘innovation in business’ at a number of international conferences.