Meet the board | Transport Training Services

Meet The
Transport Training Board

The Transport Training Board (TTB) is a charity registered in Northern Ireland (NI Charity 101451) which has existed since 1991 when it was created to continue the legacy of training and development provided by the Road Transport Industry Training Board.

Inheriting ‘a few fields and some training buildings’ which were once part of the former Nutts Corner airfield, the Board took a long term approach to the sustainability of training in the industries it served by creating the Nutts Corner Business Park. The investment in the business park allowed revenue which has created the modern regional transport training facility at Nutts Corner from where the Board and its wholly owned subsidiary, TTS, deliver its charitable aims of educating and training people employed or wanting to work in the automotive, transportation and logistics industries and providing education and training to the general public. The Board continues to develop training resources through grants and other support to related training initiatives.

Nutts Corner Business park is strategically located at the heart of the road transport network. It is home to major distribution businesses, training and developing organisations as well as automotive and construction businesses.

The creation of the business park was a catalyst to the area being designated as a Strategic Employment Location.

TTB is led by a Board of Charity Trustees who have been recruited to bring strong governance and to reflect the industries the charity serves.

Further information on the Board and opportunities at the Business park can be obtained from the Charity’s Company Secretary.

The Boards membership includes:

Rodney Ferguson

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Rodney Ferguson

Rodney Ferguson was appointed Chair of the Transport Training Board in January 2020 following the retirement of the previous Chair. Rodney has extensive experience in leadership of logistics and transport organisations across Europe. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Chartered Certified Accountants and has an M.Sc in Management and Executive Leadership from University of Ulster. In his career he has leadership positions in Interland Transport Ltd (now Interfrigo Ltd) and Norfolkline (part of Maersk), where he became Commercial Director for Logistics across all European Sites. On its sale to DFDS in 2010 Rodney became VP of Sales and then later Managing Director (in Belfast) before retiring. As Brexit Director, he also took a key role in Brexit preparations for DFDS Logistics. Since his retirement, Rodney has worked as a Consultant for Trader Support Services working with the Institute of Export and International Trader during the initial establishment of the service. Rodney is committed to developing the Transport Training Board’s role as a charity to enable good practice in learning and skill development in the industries we serve.

Pamela Dennison

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Pamela Dennison

Pamela is an experienced senior manager with a demonstrated history of working in the road transport, operations, supply chain and logistics industry. She has spent the last 15 years rising through different positions within transport and logistics within Northern Ireland, ands is now Head of Stakeholder Engagement with the Department for Transport in GB. Prior to that, she was Chair of Logistics UK regional council in NI, the sole employee for CILT in NI, and continues to play a key role in her family business, WS Dennison, which specialises in furniture logistics. Pamela is also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport. Having worked in the family business from a young age, she holds an HGV class C+E license, International Certificate of Professional Competence in road transport (CPC) and Level 3 & 4 in Customs Imports and Exports. With this background Pamela brings a rich experience of developing skills and leadership in key industries the Transport Training Board serves.

Billy Dougan

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Billy Dougan

Billy's career started in 1977 at JP Corry, Springfield Road as a trainee manager and after 2 years he joined Agnew Commercials, a Mercedes Truck and Van dealership. He left after 15 years having reached the position of General Sales Manager, and started with Gray & Adams, a refrigerated trailer and truck body manufacturer. Billy retired from the position of Managing Director in December 2019. He is now involved in a business run by his daughter and son-in-law and heads up the commercial vehicle solar panel division of the business. He is also a director of Manufacturing NI.

Paul Harris

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Paul Harris

Paul spent sixteen years in the military, serving on two tours of Iraq and three tours of Afghanistan before leaving to pursue a career in industry. He headed the EMEA Region for a global freight audit company that helped managed the supply chains of companies such as Apple, Pfizer, HP, and Caterpillar as well as working in Continuous Improvement within the finance industry. Another complete career change then followed and Paul became a Commercial Pilot specialising in Single Pilot Operations conducting flights such as Organ Transplants, Coast Guard, Aerial Survey, and Specialist Cargo. He flew as a First Officer for Flybe until the airline went bust in March 2020 and now splits his time between flying for a mining company in Africa and contracting as logistics specialist for businesses in Northern Ireland. He holds a BSc(Hons) in Management & Logistics from Cranfield University, is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport, and a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

William Gribben

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William Gribben

William has extensive experience in the automotive industry, with more than 40 years of selling cars. He has created a wide network of relationships with many of the major car dealers in Northern Ireland, and is committed to helping TTB achieve its goals.

Seamus Scallon

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Seamus Scallon

Seamus, a native of Northern Ireland, has spent his 45-year career in public transport, over 30 of which have been at a senior level. He has experience of working within both the Public and Private sectors mainly in the British Isles, but his responsibilities have also taken him to Sweden, Denmark and North America where he has been involved in major transport initiatives.

Sharon Loane

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Sharon Loane

Sharon is a Senior Lecturer in International Business at Ulster University’s Business School. She has deep links across Europe, for example through her role as Visiting Professor at the University of Bergamo, Italy, and has been a co-investigator on large transnational projects funded by the European Commission. Sharon also has extensive project and knowledge-transfer experience (IntertradeIreland, InnovateUK, InvestNI) and has key faculty links in the UK and Europe. She is an executive committee member of the Academy of International Business (UK&I Chapter), member of the Institute for Small Business and Enterprise and the European International Business Academy, and a member of IEScholars.net (500 members, 40 nations), which supports International Entrepreneurship research and education, by sharing global expertise and pedagogies. Sharon is particularly interested in exporting and distribution and is Chief Examiner for the Institute of Exports & International Trade (UK).

Steve Weekes

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Steve Weekes

Steve has over 20 years management/leadership experience in a variety of industries including construction plant sales, plant hire, demolition, waste management and motor vehicle engineering. He has held various positions in business development, customer service, general management and is currently Operations Manager at Eastwood Fleet Services.

Gordon White

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Gordon White

Gordon has been working as a post primary teacher for 38 years. He left school at 16 and completed a four-year engineering apprenticeship, with the first year based in Felden GTC. He commenced a teaching career in 1983 and after six years became Head of the Technology and Design department and became more active in curriculum development, assessment and reporting. In tandem with a school career, Gordon became involved with the marking, moderating and developing of level 2 vocational public examinations. For the past 20 years he has, alongside teaching, taken up governance roles with the Western Education and Library Board, General Teaching Council of Northern Ireland, Lisneal College and the North West Regional College. Currently, he represents Northern Ireland and Scotland on the National Education Union’s national executive. He is a past President of the NEU Northern Ireland District, and has held posts of Secretary and Treasurer.

Catherine Boyd

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Catherine Boyd

Catherine, known as 'Cat', is currently the Regional HR Advisor for DFDS Logistics for Ireland. With over 17 year of generalist human resources and recruitment experience, she has worked across the private and public sectors, including the transport and logistics sector for the past four years. Cat's main focus is on providing guidance on general human resource matters, employee relations, recruitment, payroll, policy and procedure development and implementation and performance management. She has an MA in English Literature, an M.Sc. in HR Management and has CIPD accreditation.

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Transport Training Services is a working name of the social enterprise company and charity the Transport Training Board for Northern Ireland charity registration NI101451

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