Melanie retires after 23 years at the helm

Applying an international outlook to community-focused business support services has enabled retiring CEO Melanie Wilkinson to transform Mallusk Enterprise Park (MEP) into a major commercial hub.
Melanie.Melanie.
Melanie.

Leaving this month after 23 years with MEP, Melanie has been instrumental in creating a vibrant site housing 80 businesses spanning countless trades from accountancy, engineering and freight to publishing, food manufacturing and kids’ entertainment.

Highlights of her tenure include developing unit numbers from 35 to 80, gaining charity status for the park, and using tools gained during study at Harvard University to develop an award-winning portfolio of training courses and business-mentoring services.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Noreen McClelland, chair of the MEP Board of Directors and Deputy Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey said: “Melanie leaves MEP in prime condition and a thriving business. She has been widely praised and recognised in the business community as someone of huge professionalism and enthusiasm. She’s held in the highest esteem by her colleagues and tenants at Mallusk and in the wider community. I’d like to wish her every success as she enters a new chapter in her life.”

Melanie attended Larne Grammar and graduated from the University of Stirling in 1984; subsequently gaining a series of post-graduate qualifications in marketing and business from Ulster University. Her career started in 1988 at LEDCOM as a business support officer while, to gain greater flexibility and accommodate her growing family, Melanie set up her own business in 1991 offering training services aimed at helping specific demographics enter the workforce.