Richard Cushnie was appointed Director of the NI Bureau in North America in August 2024. Richard is a Northern Ireland Civil Servant with a wide range of policy and delivery experience, including as Deputy Director of the Bureau from 2017 to 2020.
Previously Richard was Director of Good Relations in The Executive Office where he helped create thriving communities, building on his experience of leading reform projects in the Department of Justice and Department of Education. He also has unique insights from secondments across the UK and Irish governments, including in the Northern Ireland Office (where he started his career with landmark reform of policing and criminal justice as part of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement), the Irish Civil Service (where he worked on equality and EU issues in the Department of Justice), and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (including as Director of Communications for The Queen’s historic State Visit to Ireland). He studied English at Trinity College Dublin and has a MA in Public Administration. He is married with two children.