Rachael McGuickin

Rachael McGuickin

Director of Business Development, Sustainability and Transformation at Visit Belfast

Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
500+ connections

Join to view profile

About

Eighteen years international sales and marketing experience, building and leading teams to deliver transformational results working in tourism, economic development and international education.

Passionate about inclusive growth, sustainability, regenerative tourism, social impact and making Belfast and Northern Ireland an amazing place to visit, live, work, study, do business and invest in.

- Belfast resilience and sustainability Board member, - One Young World Belfast 2023 Advisory Board member
- Trustee, The strand arts centre

.......

Education and Professional Development:

1st Class Hons PRII Post Grad diploma attained at the European Institute of Communications - 3rd in Ireland overall. Studied part-time.

1st Class Hons attained in Communications, Advertising and Marketing (CAM) at the University of Ulster.

Distinction - Professional diploma in Digital Marketing and Social Media with the Digital Marketing Institute of Ireland. Studied part-time.

Articles by Rachael

Activity

Join now to see all activity

Experience

  • Visit Belfast

    Visit Belfast

    6 years 4 months

    • Visit Belfast Graphic

      Director of Business Development, Sustainability and Transformation

      Visit Belfast

      - Present 2 years 8 months

      Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

    • Visit Belfast Graphic

      Director of Business Development

      Visit Belfast

      - Present 6 years 4 months

      Belfast, United Kingdom

      Director at Visit Belfast - the destination marketing and management organisation for the city region. Lead the promotion of Belfast and Northern Ireland internationally as a Business events, Cruise and Travel Trade destination - to attract business delivering economic impact of c£65m for the city.

  • Member Board Of Trustees

    The Strand Arts Centre

    - Present 2 years 3 months

  • Board Member

    Belfast Resilience & Sustainability Board

    - Present 4 years 4 months

    Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

  • Queen's University Belfast Graphic

    Head of International Office

    Queen's University Belfast

    - 2 years 9 months

    Responsible for the development and delivery of Queen's ambitious international growth strategy across five territories - South East Asia, China, Middle East and Africa, India and the Americas. Responsible for developing commercial market strategies and partnerships with our global agent network, INTO, institutional partnerships and Government sponsors to deliver commercial recruitment targets.

    Responsible for c30 international staff in five regions, the University’s global agent…

    Responsible for the development and delivery of Queen's ambitious international growth strategy across five territories - South East Asia, China, Middle East and Africa, India and the Americas. Responsible for developing commercial market strategies and partnerships with our global agent network, INTO, institutional partnerships and Government sponsors to deliver commercial recruitment targets.

    Responsible for c30 international staff in five regions, the University’s global agent network and key institutional partnerships. Led the opening of Queen’s first in-country recruitment offices in China and Dubai.

    .......

    Queen's is one of the top 1% of Universities in the world and a member of the prestigious Russell Group, ranked in the Top 10 within the UK for research intensity (REF2014). It is also the 20th most international University in the world.

    The international office team has representatives based in China (Beijing and Guangzhou), India (New Delhi), Malaysia, Dubai and Belfast. We are also a proud Joint Venture partner of INTO.

  • Visit Belfast. Graphic

    Director of Business Tourism

    Visit Belfast.

    - 4 years 1 month

    Belfast, United Kingdom

    Member of the senior management team at Visit Belfast, the destination marketing company for the city with responsibility for all international business development and marketing within key business tourism, cruise and travel trade market segments.

    Responsible for the development and delivery of Belfast's business tourism strategy and promoting the city internationally as a leading conference, meetings and events destination, delivering 150% growth in inbound business to Belfast in…

    Member of the senior management team at Visit Belfast, the destination marketing company for the city with responsibility for all international business development and marketing within key business tourism, cruise and travel trade market segments.

    Responsible for the development and delivery of Belfast's business tourism strategy and promoting the city internationally as a leading conference, meetings and events destination, delivering 150% growth in inbound business to Belfast in three years.

    Led the award-winning Visit Belfast business tourism team in securing conference and events for Belfast worth c£50m economic impact per annum.

  • InterTradeIreland Graphic

    Head of Communications and Marketing

    InterTradeIreland

    - 3 years

    Head of communications and marketing for InterTradeIreland - responsible for:
    - PR and public affairs strategy development and delivery (Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland)
    - Management of corporate comms - publications, ministerial briefings, website, media enquiries, sponsorship and communication policies FOI, equality impact etc.
    - Development and delivery of annual marketing and communications plans for InterTradeIreland's business programmes - equity, R&D, sales, innovation…

    Head of communications and marketing for InterTradeIreland - responsible for:
    - PR and public affairs strategy development and delivery (Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland)
    - Management of corporate comms - publications, ministerial briefings, website, media enquiries, sponsorship and communication policies FOI, equality impact etc.
    - Development and delivery of annual marketing and communications plans for InterTradeIreland's business programmes - equity, R&D, sales, innovation and graduate recruitment.
    - Delivery of integrated marketing and PR campaigns - advertising, media relations, public affairs, direct marketing and events.
    - Stakeholder management and engagement
    - Management of organisation marketing and comms budgets and resources

  • BT Graphic

    Senior Channel Marketing Manager, BT Business (London)

    BT

    - 2 years 3 months

    - Responsible for marketing and comms activity within BT Business corporate volume account management - circa 19,000 corporate customers to help deliver revenue targets.

    - Campaigns development and management - IT services, broadband, mobile and calls & lines across five sites throughout the UK.

    - Product launches within the channel - internal comms, incentives, training, development of marketing materials

    - Management of partner relationships - Microsoft, Cisco, BT…

    - Responsible for marketing and comms activity within BT Business corporate volume account management - circa 19,000 corporate customers to help deliver revenue targets.

    - Campaigns development and management - IT services, broadband, mobile and calls & lines across five sites throughout the UK.

    - Product launches within the channel - internal comms, incentives, training, development of marketing materials

    - Management of partner relationships - Microsoft, Cisco, BT Basilica & Lynx, sales genius, BTiNet, specialist sales channels.

    - Member of the BT Business Corporate Volume senior management team.

  • Marketing and Communications Manager

    Northern Whig Ltd

    - 2 years 8 months

    - Development of the company's sales and marketing plan
    - Business Development and account management
    - Marketing communications
    - PR - press releases, media management
    - Internal comms

Education

  • Ulster University Graphic

    Ulster University

    (1st Class Hons) BSc Hons Communications, Advertising and Marketing Communications

    -

  • Digital Marketing Institute Graphic

    Digital Marketing Institute

    Digital marketing institute of Ireland Digital marketing Distincton 90%

    -

    Post grad

  • Public relations institute of Ireland

    1st Class Hons Public Relations

    -

    Obtained via the European Institute of Communications - Dublin
    3rd in Ireland overall

Volunteer Experience

  • Institute of Hospitality Graphic

    Committee member NI Branch

    Institute of Hospitality

    - 1 year 1 month

  • Macmillan Cancer Support Graphic

    Volunteer - fundraising

    Macmillan Cancer Support

    - 10 months

    Health

  • Board Member

    Belfast Resilience and Sustainability Board

    - Present 4 years 5 months

    Environment

    Member of the Belfast Resilience and Sustainability Board tasked with the development of Belfast’s first ever resilience strategy.

    Belfast's Resilience Strategy proposes that we transition to an inclusive, zero-emissions, climate resilient economy in a generation.

Honors & Awards

  • Best Conference Destination

    C&T (Corporate and Incentive Travel) Awards

  • Destination Team of the Year

    Meetings Industry Association

  • Best Convention Bureau 2023 - Global

    MICEBOOK

  • Destination team of the year

    Meetings Industry Association

  • Global Innovation Award - Changing the Menu for Good

    Global Destination Sustainability Index

  • Top 10 Sustainable Destination in the world

    GDS Index

  • Beat Conference Destination - Global

    C&IT Awards

  • Best CSR Initiative - ABPCO Excellence Awards

    ABPCO

  • Top 20 Sustainable Destination in the World

    GDS Index

  • Best Events Destination 2021

    C&IT Awards

  • Best Events Destination

    C&IT awards - conference and incentive travel

  • Best Events Destination

    C&IT Magazine

    Winner of international industry award - Best Events Destination by C&ITs industry judging panel

  • Marketing Team of the Year

    M&IT Magazine - MIMA awards

  • Destination Marketing Team of the Year

    C&IT Magazine, UK & international

Organizations

  • City Destination Alliance

    Member

    - Present

  • Institute of Hospitality

    Committee Member - NI Branch

    -

Recommendations received

1 person has recommended Rachael

Join now to view

More activity by Rachael

View Rachael’s full profile

  • See who you know in common
  • Get introduced
  • Contact Rachael directly
Join to view full profile

Other similar profiles

Explore collaborative articles

We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.

Explore More

Add new skills with these courses

See all courses