Sharon McNicholl was a key member of the senior team at Belfast City Council for 24 years before taking up the post of Strategic Director (Strategy and Performance) at Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council in 2018.
She returned to Belfast City Council in July 2023 to take up the role of Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director of Corporate Services. The remit of this role currently includes Audit, Governance and Risk Services, Digital Services, Commercial and Procurement Services.
Sharon is the senior lead within the Council for the Belfast Region City Deal which includes £200m investment in five new university centres of excellence; and over £100m in digital enabling infrastructure, equity financing and challenge funding for accelerated cluster growth. She leads the Smart Belfast urban innovation framework delivered by the Council’s City Innovation Office. This work includes delivery of the £3.8m Belfast 5G Innovation Region programme.
She is a member of Innovation City Belfast, the city’s senior leadership group advocating for Belfast’s innovation value proposition.
Sharon works alongside Elected Members, the Chief Executive, and the Corporate Management Team, as well as colleagues throughout council to deliver services, investment and programmes across Belfast.