The VSS Board
The VSS Board is chaired by a non-executive Director. It supports the delivery of effective Corporate Governance in keeping with the Code of Good Practice (NI) 2013.
The Board takes an objective long-term view of the business of the organisation, leading its strategic planning process and assisting the Chief Executive and Accounting Officer in setting and meeting its corporate aims and objectives.
Under the general guidance and direction of the Ministers of The Executive Office, the key aspects of the Board’s role include:
- Setting the strategic direction for the organisation, including its vision, values and strategic objectives;
- Overseeing the implementation of its corporate and business plans, monitoring performance against objectives and supervising its budget;
- Leading and overseeing the process of change and encouraging innovation, to enhance the organisation’s capability to deliver;
- Overseeing the strategic management of staff, finance, information and physical resources, including setting training and health and safety priorities;
- Establishing and overseeing the implementation of the corporate governance arrangements of the Victims and Survivors Service Limited, including risk management; and
- Overseeing and monitoring progress against all of its equality of opportunity and good relations obligations.
VSS Board Information
Please click here to download the Board information document.
The VSS maintains a register of interests for its Board Members. This is available for review on request.
The VSS Board also observes an agreed Code of Conduct, which can be made available on request.
In This Section

Oliver Wilkinson
Chair
Oliver Wilkinson was appointed to the VSS Board on 13 December 2013, and to the position of Chair on 1 April 2015. He has approximately twenty years senior management experience in the voluntary sector, firstly as CEO of Victim Support NI from 1992- 2002 and CEO of Discovery 80 Ltd from 2002-2011. Oliver is also a founding member of Healing Through Remembering.

Patricia Haren
Board Member
Patricia was appointed to the VSS Board on 1 April 2015. She has over 14 years’ experience in Senior Management positions in the Voluntary Sector, including as Director of the Bytes Project (2000 to 2004) and as Director of the Women’s Support Network (October 2004 to January 2014).

Bertha McDougall
Board Member
Bertha McDougall was appointed to the VSS Board on 4 December 2013. Previously, Bertha was a Commissioner for Victims and Survivors from 2008-2012, and also held the role of the Interim Commissioner for Victims and Survivors from 2004-2006. Bertha is currently the Chair of Forgotten Families.

Dame Sandra Horley
Board Member
Dame Sandra Horley was appointed to the VSS Board in October 2022. Born and raised in Canada, Sandra was educated at McGill University, Montreal, and Birmingham and Oxford Universities in the UK. Over four decades Sandra worked in the field of homelessness and domestic abuse in the UK. For 38 years she was Chief Executive of Refuge, the national charity, supporting 7,000 victims and survivors each day. Sandra grew a single shelter for abused women and children into the UK’s pre-eminent provider of support services for victims and survivors of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, stalking, forced marriage, ‘honour-based violence’, modern slavery and human trafficking. She used her position at Refuge as a platform to advocate for change, and worked closely with the police, the legal profession, and government, both in the UK and overseas, to deliver legal, institutional, and attitudinal reform. Previously, Sandra worked as director of the Haven Project in Wolverhampton supporting homeless women and children. She has been a homelessness officer in Shropshire and a housing advice worker for a local authority in London. Sandra is currently a board member of Bromford Housing Association providing social housing for 100,000 people. She chairs its Customers and Communities Influence Network, giving customers a say in the design and delivery of services. In 2021, Sandra was conferred a Damehood for her contribution to the protection of women and children and promoting greater understanding and awareness of domestic abuse.

John Cahill
Board Member
John was appointed to the VSS Board in October 2022. John Cahill is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast and Warwick University. He worked as a Cost Accountant for Glen-Dimplex before joining Short Bros Plc as a Systems Analyst. He was also head of Information Technology Services for the Bombardier Aerostructures Division, managing IT in Belfast, Morocco, USA, Canada and Mexico and a member of the senior management teams in Montreal for Bombardier Aerostructures Division and Shorts Bros plc (now Spirit AeroSystems Belfast). John is also Information Technology advisor to Praxis Care.

Brian Gilfedder
Board Member
Brian was appointed to the VSS Board in August 2023. He is a successful NI Business figure having worked at a senior level in FMCG (Cadbury Ltd), Energy (DCC PLC) and in the Office Products & Services arena more recently as a Director with Banner Group Ltd in NI, Scotland and England.
A graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, he has worked primarily within the local business community and is currently a business consultant and advisor/mentor within our business community.
Catriona MacArthur
Board Member
Dr Catriona MacArthur was appointed to the Board in August 2023.
She is an award-winning social impact strategist with more than 30 years’ national and international experience at the highest echelons of government and the third sector.
Catriona has a life-long interest in and commitment to promoting peace and reconciliation, having worked with some of the most disadvantaged communities in post conflict societies around the world.
She holds an MPhil in Peace Studies from the Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin) together with a PhD in Media and Communications. On her return to Ireland in 2017, she set up her own consultancy working primarily for the voluntary and community sector.
Terms of Reference
Terms of Reference for the VSS Board can be viewed by following the link below.
Please click the links below to see the minutes of VSS Board Meetings:
2023 Minutes | ||
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June 22 2023 | Europa Hotel - Belfast | Download Document |
May 25 2023 | Europa Hotel - Belfast | Download Document |
April 20 2023 | Clayton Hotel - Belfast | Download Document |
February 24 2023 | Titanic Suites - Belfast | Download Document |
January 24 2023 | Clayton Hotel - Belfast | Download Document |
2022 Minutes | ||
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November 8th 2022 | Titanic Suites - Belfast | Download Document |
October 18th 2022 | Radisson Blu hotel, Belfast | Download Document |
September 13th 2022 | Remote via Zoom | Download Document |
July 26th 2022 | Remote via Zoom | Download Document |
May 10th 2022 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
May 4th 2022 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
February 8th 2022 | Clayton hotel Belfast | Download Document |
January 18th 2022 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
2021 Minutes | ||
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November 9th 2021 | Clayton Hotel | Download Document |
October 19th 2021 | Clayton Hotel | Download Document |
September 14th 2021 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
July 27th 2021 | Europa Hotel | Download Document |
June 8th 2021 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
April 20th 2021 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
March 9th 2021 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
February 9th 2021 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |
January 20th 2021 | Remote Via Zoom | Download Document |