Board, Council and Committees

The Federation's Board comprises the President, Vice-President, Immediate Past President, Treasurer and the Managing Director.  The Board are the statutory directors of the Federation.  With the exception of the Managing Director, the Board are nominated and appointed from within the CEF Council and serve on a voluntary basis.  The offices are re-nominated annually at the AGM with Vice-President, President and Past-President serving 2 years in each position.   

 

 

CEF President - Martin O'Kane, June 2022-

Martin O’Kane is the Deputy Group Managing Director of Heron Bros Ltd and joined the company in 1994, having worked previously in London and Coleraine. He has BSc Hons in Quantity Surveying from the University of Ulster, Diploma in Project Management from Queens University, Belfast and became a Fellow of the RICS in 2015. 

Martin’s professional interests span a wide variety of industry boards and councils including being past Treasurer and Chairman of APM 2007/08. 

He joined the CEF General Contractors Committee in 2009 and the Council in 2017,was appointed the CEF Vice President in May 2020 and President in June 2022.

 

 

CEF Vice President - Bryan Vaughan, June 2022-

Bryan is Managing Director of Vaughan Homes, a family firm building private homes in NI for the past 35 years. He has 33 years experience in the house building industry.  

A Chartered Member of the CIOB since 2000, Bryan serves on the Board of the Construction Industry Training Board and the NHBC Regional Committee.

Bryan is a past Chairman of the CEF Private Housing Committee and has served on that Committee since October 2001. He was appointed to the CEF Council in April 2012 and has served as Honorary Treasurer since April 2018.

 

 

 

CEF Past President, John Tracey, 2020-2022

John Tracey is the Managing Director of Tracey Brothers Ltd – a family owned, Fermanagh based construction company who have been operating for close to 70 years.
John’s professional career began as an engineer with Murphy International in London. During his time with Murphy Group, he worked across a diverse range of sectors including piling, construction and term contracts.

He then returned to join the family business and fulfilled several roles before taking the helm as Managing Director.  Over the past twenty years the business has grown and diversified, and the company have established themselves as one of Ireland’s leading construction companies.

John joined the Council in 2013 and served as CEF President from May 2020 til June 2022.

 

 

CEF Honorary Treasurer, Mark Kelly, June 2022-

Mark Kelly is Finance Director of Kelly Brothers Ltd.  Mark is Chair of the Social Housing Committee and was elected Honorary Treasurer in June 2022.

 

 

 

 

CEF Council Director - Martin Lennon, June 2022-

Martin is the Managing Director of O'Hare McGovern, the Newry-based award-winning construction company established in 1972.

Martin was elected to CEF Board in June 2022.   

 

 

 

 

 

CEF Council Director - Janet Deane, June 2023-

Janet is Financial Controller Martin of Deane Public Works Limited, the Fermanagh based civil engineering business founded in 1967.

Martin was elected to CEF Board in June 2023.   

 

 

CEF Chief Executive - Mark Spence, 2020-

Mark joined the CEF in 2019 as Assistant Director having served 8 years’ as a director for one of Northern Ireland’s major contractors. His involvement with UK and Irish construction goes back more than 20 years to his role advising both clients and bidders on major PPP capital procurements for education, health and infrastructure.  Mark is a Senior Advisor to the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and sits on the Procurement Board of the NI Executive. He is responsible for the running the CEF and delivery of services to members while leading engagement with the NI Assembly, Executive and procuring authorities as well as partnering with other professional bodies to represent the views of Federation members.

The Federation Council is the policy making body of the Federation. Members of Council are elected through direct nominations from the Federation's four specialist sector committees. The Federation Council determines the future strategy for the Federation and the operational details are then carried out through the sector committees.

The Council also nominates representatives to other outside bodies associated with the construction industry including the Joint Council for the Building and Civil Engineering Industry (NI).

Current Membership

The General Contractors Committee represents the interests of Federation members involved in general and commercial contracting in the private sector and in the delivery of public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and office accommodation.

This Committee liaises regularly with major government clients including the Department of Education, Department of Health, Construction Procurement Delivery (CPD) and the Department of Finance. These Liaison meetings involve discussion on procurement methods and workload programmes.

Current Committee Membership

The Private Housing Committee represents the interest of Federation members involved in the construction of private houses. The Committee liaises regularly with government agencies and statutory undertakers and other bodies that directly affect the provision of private houses, including the local councils, Department for Infrastructure, NI Environment Agency, NI Water, NIE Networks, NHBC, the Law Society and many others.

Current Committee Membership

The Civil Engineering Committee represents the interests of Federation members involved in civil engineering works. The Committee liaises regularly with Department for Infrastructure, Translink, NI Water, Rivers Agency, Construction Procurement Delivery (CPD) and the Strategic Investment Board through the Civil Engineering Consultative Committee.

Current Committee Membership

The Social Housing Committee represents the interests of Federation members involved in civil engineering works. The Committee liaises regularly with Department for Infrastructure, Translink, NI Water, Rivers Agency, Construction Procurement Delivery (CPD) and the Strategic Investment Board through the Civil Engineering Consultative Committee.

Current Committee Membership

The Health & Safety Committee represents the interests of Federation members in the industry wide area of health and safety.

The Committee liaises regularly with the Health & Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) and issues guidance and resources to assist members with keeping their workforce safe.

Current Committee Membership

The CEF People & Skills Task Force was set up in 2021 to pool resources on vital industry challenges including modern slavery, diversity, recruitment, mental health and a host of other topics.

The CEF ConstructZero Task Force was set up in 2021 to focus on the vital emerging agenda of carbon reduction and to assist members in achieving net zero by 2050 in line with CLC's Constructzero plan. 

The CEF Risk & Procurement Task Force was set up in 2021 to provide vital industry feedback on a host of procurement changes arising through Procurement Board and in general across the sector