College Management Team

Tommy Martin, Interim Principal and Chief Executive

Tommy was appointed Interim Principal & Chief Executive of SERC in August 2024. He has been a member of SERC’s Management Team since 2009 and has played a key role in the strategic and financial management of the College, first as Head of Finance, then as Chief Finance Officer and more recently as Deputy Chief Executive. Prior to joining SERC, Tommy spent seventeen years in various financial roles across several industries with the BBC, Praxis Care Group Ltd. and Nortel.

Tommy graduated from Ulster University with First Class Honours in Business Studies; holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Collaborative Transformation; and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

Heather McKee, Deputy Principal Student Support Services

Heather is the Director of Strategic Planning, Quality and Support at the South Eastern Regional College (SERC) with overall responsibility for the leadership and management of the strategic planning, quality, admissions, international development, engagement, student support functions and campus management.

Heather has over twenty years' experience leading collaborative approaches to development, towards meaningful change within communities. Before moving to the Further Education sector, Heather held senior leadership roles in local Government. She has led and developed innovative community safety initiatives, large capital projects and developed the first strategic Community Plan for Newry, Mourne and Down.

Heather is actively building on the collaborative foundations created through community planning to drive lifelong learning opportunities and benefits for communities through the strengths of the FE Sector.

Mr Gary Ritchie, Deputy Principal Curriculum

Gary is a product of the further education sector having studied up to Higher National Diploma (HND) level at North Down and Ards Institute, winning the HND student of the year for the United Kingdom in 2001. Gary continued his education completing a BEng (Hons) in Environmental Engineering at the University of Ulster in 2004.

Over the past 19 years Gary has held various positions in his time with SERC ranging from industrial consulting, to lecturing, Deputy Head of School and latterly 3 years as Head of Curriculum Development.  During this time Gary has had a focus upon aligning the College curriculum to the needs of industry, supporting economic growth and enhancing the educational outcomes for learners.

Gary is a keen practitioner of Project Based Learning (PBL) and pedagogy that provides opportunity for the development of learner Transversal Skills and he has played a key role in developing the curriculum offering at all levels within SERC.

As the new Deputy Principal Curriculum, he will have responsibility for the entire curriculum offering within SERC.