Biography

Michael McQuillan is the Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Northern Ireland, working with the region’s Local Enterprise Agencies to deliver enterprise support, access to funding, and property solutions for start-ups and local micro and small businesses.

He has led the Northern Ireland Enterprise Barometer since its launch seven years ago. Now the largest survey of Northern Ireland’s micro and small business community, it provides critical insights that inform policy and shape support interventions across the region.

Michael spent over 15 years at the entrepreneurial coalface, founding, scaling, and successfully exiting several businesses. He later served as Director of the Business Institute and Head of the Centre for SME Development at Ulster University, leading the design and delivery of innovative curricula for entrepreneurial leaders across the UK and Ireland. He held this role for five years before joining Enterprise NI in 2018.

He brings a distinctive blend of entrepreneurial experience, academic insight, and enterprise-development expertise to the ERC, championing the needs of Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurial small business economy.