Nicola Murphy, new Chair of Energy Institute, NI Branch

Nicola Murphy has been a member of the Northern Ireland Committee of the Energy Institute for over 10 years including a period of representing all the regions on the national council. Locally, she has held various positions from Treasurer to Vice Chair, and has now been elected as Chair.

Monday 27 July 2020

Nicola Murphy, new Chair of Energy Institute, NI Branch

Nicola Murphy has been a member of the Northern Ireland Committee of the Energy Institute for over 10 years including a period of representing all the regions on the national council. Locally, she has held various positions from Treasurer to Vice Chair, and has now been elected as Chair. This means that she will lead the committee, and engage with members in NI. In the short-term this will be via video conferencing and webinars. She will also recommend that members take advantage of the personal development opportunities available, for example the Chartered status that the EI offers.

Nicola runs her own consultancy, Green Connect NI specialising in Community Energy. In the past 4 years she has worked with the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland on their Sustainable Energy Communities program and continues to do so.
Amidst all this, her passion is encouraging more women into the Energy sector. She aims to get women into senior management jobs and help them to take up board positions. Better gender balance at the top is proven to be better for the bottom line of business and overall performance.

“79% of UK Energy companies have no women in executive board positions”.
In this cause, with the help of Women in Business she was instrumental in setting up Women in Energy. Earlier this year, over 50 women turned up to the inaugural event sponsored by Pinsent Masons. Currently there are only two other female members on the EI NI branch: Clare McAllister, (Head of Membership and former Chair), and Sam McCloskey, (Honorary Secretary). Nicola tells us that, “Over the next few years we will endeavour to continue building on the Women in Energy platform to inspire and motivate women to deal with work related situations with aplomb and to be a forum to discuss current trends in the sector”.
Nicola is a trustee of Holywood Shared Town where she frequently volunteers on a range of projects including hosting energy events for the local community. She is a member of the Energy Institute’s Powerful Women’s group and is a busy wife and a mother to two girls.

Eleanor Roosevelt, former 1st lady of the United States, diplomat and activist once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you”. Nicola tells us, “If you can’t manage once a day, perhaps once a week is more realistic, it could be agreeing to give a talk on something to your work colleagues, attend a new client meeting, taking up a management position etc. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised!”.

Monday 27 July 2020