Mark McAleer is the Quality Experience Manager within the Open Innovation team at Catalyst.

He develops the business systems on that we work with making improvements on how we can better serve our members and entrepreneurs. Within the Open Innovation team, he acts as a consultant to companies providing support on their business systems with focus on Innovation Management.

Prior to working with Catalyst Mark worked as a product designer and mechanical engineer in the Life and Physical Science industries developing products for universities and research institutions.

Outside of his main career he has held roles in youth work running youth clubs in his local area and worked as a consultant supporting start-ups and small business in various areas covering engineering, design, and strategy.

During Covid he freely gave his time on various projects, the most significant being designing face masks that were used throughout Northern Ireland supporting NHS staff and key workers.

Helping people is a huge motivator for what he does and who he wants to be throughout his career.

Natasha O’Hea is Innovation Lead for the North West Region in the Open Innovation Team. Her role is pivotal in driving innovation and fostering collaboration in the region.

In her role, Natasha leads the Corporate Innovation Services offered by the Open Innovation Team. She works closely with organisations to define their innovation goals and then collaborates with them to develop and implement the most effective strategies to achieving these goals. Her focus spans across 3 key areas: Innovation Culture, Innovation Practice, Innovation Strategy. Addressing these critical aspects, Natasha helps organisations foster a thriving innovation ecosystem.

Passionate about supporting the growth and economic development of the North West Region, Natasha is an advocate for collaboration and knowledge sharing. She actively promotes partnerships among businesses, public sector and academia to foster cross-pollination of ideas and drive collective progress in the North West Region.

Emma Carson is an Innovation Officer at Catalyst, where she works on the Innovate+ programme within Open Innovation. Her role focuses on supporting small and medium-sized businesses across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland to develop new products, services, and ways of working through innovation, collaboration, and the use of technology.

Working closely with the Innovate+ team, Emma helps businesses explore new technologies, test ideas in practical ways, and improve productivity through hands-on, tailored support. She has experience across innovation support, stakeholder engagement, and programme delivery, and enjoys helping businesses turn early ideas into something real and useful.

Emma is particularly interested in building inclusive innovation ecosystems and supporting sustainable growth. She is motivated by collaboration across sectors and borders, and by working with organisations to help them realise their potential through innovation and creative problem-solving.

Rob is Director of Innovation Partnerships – He is responsible for bringing stakeholders from the private and public sectors and academia together to take advantage of the collaborative opportunities that exist in NI’s innovation sector.

Rob has spent over 25 years in the pharma and biotech sector, and was a member of Matrix, the Science and Technology policy panel for the Northern Ireland Government for over a decade, chairing the organisation until 2024. He also represented NI on the Chief Scientific Advisors Network for the UK and is a visiting lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast.

Since 2022 he has served as CEO at Intelligent OMICS Ltd, an AI-driven drug discovery company and has previously held senior roles in the sector as CEO of CIGA Healthcare and Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI). He began his career in drug discovery and development at Schering-Plough and GlaxoSmithKline, before moving on to Cerebricon and Almac Discovery.