Armagh woman seeks to strengthen diaspora’s voice with Fellowship Programme

In the busy corporate world of New York, Jane McCooey stands out — not just for her senior role at leading global financial services firm Morgan Stanley, but also for her passionate commitment to Northern Ireland's future.

An Armagh native now calling New York home, McCooey has embarked on a journey of reimagining leadership through the Centre for Democracy and Peace's Fellowship Programme, bringing her corporate experience to a seven-month programme of collaboration and leadership development.

Selected as one of this year’s 28 Fellows, McCooey is using her position in the global business community to shine a spotlight on Northern Ireland's challenges. The programme, launched at Stormont's Parliament Buildings in September, aims to create better leaders for a better tomorrow across Northern Ireland’s civic, business, and political sectors.

"We are the best advocates for ourselves," says McCooey, who is Executive Director and Chief of Staff to the Chief Information Officer of Enterprise Technology & Services at Morgan Stanley.

The Fellowship has taken McCooey beyond her day-to-day corporate responsibilities, including a residential at the University of Oxford and an upcoming residential in Dublin. She has also been challenged to look at how to best support the arts and culture sector back home as part of a group task.

The stark contrast between New York's robust arts scene and that of Northern Ireland's has only strengthened McCooey's ambition to act. She sees the global diaspora as a potential catalyst for meaningful change.

“In New York, it's all about Irish music and Irish theatre and Irish arts, and it's very vibrant and then you come back here and you hear about the issues that there are — so I feel that the diaspora need to raise awareness and give back to support issues such as these at home,” she explains.

“We’re really excited about the project that we're doing because we really do think it's going to make a tangible impact. Working in the private sector, I hope that I can bring perspective in terms of how to increase efficiency to help give artists a viable future.”

McCooey isn't new to engaging with the diaspora. As the Founder and CEO of Women with Ambition, a professional networking platform for Irish and Irish American women in New York, she has already demonstrated her ability to create connections that transcend geographical boundaries.

The Fellowship Programme represents more than a professional development opportunity. For McCooey, it's a platform to mobilise the diaspora, raising awareness and creating structures through which the global Irish community can meaningfully support Northern Ireland's development from both at home and afar.

Her time on the programme will conclude with a graduation ceremony at Hillsborough Castle in March.

Partnered by notable Northern Irish businesses including Allstate Northern Ireland, Camlin Group, FinTrU, Fujitsu, Northern Ireland Electricity Networks and Ulster Carpets and supported by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Irish-American Partnership, the Fellowship is more than a programme—it's a bridge between Northern Ireland's past and its potential future.

You can keep up to date with the Centre for Democracy and Peace's Fellowship Programme on LinkedIn and X.