NIWI Leadership

Maureen Murray, founded the Northern Ireland Women's Initiative in response to the Good Friday Agreement’s commitment to “the right of women to full and equal political participation.” Based in the United States, NIWI’s purpose is to support women in Northern Ireland to develop their political and leadership skills. NIWI is also committed to “the advancement of women in public life.” Toward this end NIWI has trained more than 200 women in Northern Ireland, comprising more than 50% of the women who serve in the National Assembly. In her career prior to this, she served as a media advisor on the Mondale-Ferraro Presidential Campaign and the Al Gore for President Campaign. Maureen Murray holds a MSW from Columbia University and an MA in Public Policy from John Hopkins University.

Listen to Bronagh Hinds on the BBC Radio show
"Woman's Hour" broadcast December 2004

Bronagh Hinds, Director of the Northern Ireland Woman’s Initiative, is a law graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, and now a Senior Fellow in the Institute of Governance. She was Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. Her engagement in the peace process includes as a founder of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and negotiator in the Multi-Party Talks which led to the 1998 Agreement; Board member Community Dialogue fostering intercommunity discourse; and Executive member of Initiative '92 responsible for the international Opshal Commission. She served on the Monitoring Committee overseeing EU peace and reconciliation funds in Ireland. Bronagh Hinds has received a number of awards: International Women's Democracy Center Global Democracy Award 2001; UK Woman of Europe, 1999; Freedom of the City of Baltimore, 1998.