Maeve Monaghan

Maeve was appointed to NOW Group in 2001 and has been responsible for the development of the organisation over the past 21 years. She has been Chief Executive for the past 13 years and believes passionately in the rights of people with disabilities to have equal access to high-quality training and employment.

NOW Group, a limited company with charitable status, is an award-winning social enterprise that supports 2000 people with barriers to employment and learning into the workforce.

The organisation also operates three successful social enterprise businesses called Loaf Catering, Gauge Impact and JAM Card, the profits from which go back into NOW Group’s work.

Loaf Catering is a social enterprise operating five cafes and an outside catering business. Gauge Impact supports organisations across the third, private, public and philanthropy sectors in the UK and the Republic of Ireland to measure, evaluate and communicate their social impact. JAM Card is a social innovation developed by NOW Group participants. It offers a simple and discreet way of communicating that someone needs ‘Just a Minute’ in social or business settings. There are now 110,000 people using either a physical JAM Card or the app on their smartphone. Over 500 businesses are JAM Card friendly thus displaying their commitment to providing better customer service.

Maeve has an Advanced Diploma in Management Practices and a Masters in Executive Leadership from the University of Ulster. She was named Outstanding Leadership and Management Leader 2018 Women in Business. Maeve was Chair of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland for six years and was Chair of Give Inc, Ireland’s first Giving Circle, for four years.

Maeve was awarded an MBE in March 2022 for services to people with learning difficulties and was included in 2018, 2019 and 2020 WISE100 UK (Women in Social Enterprise Top 100) and highly commended in Nat West’s WISE100 2022 Social Business Leader of the Year.