Simon Hamilton (born 17 March 1977) is a Northern Irish businessman, consultant and former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician. Hamilton served as the Economy Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2016, until its collapse in January 2017. He was a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for Strangford from

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

to 2019.

Education

Hamilton was educated at Regent House School and Queen's University, Belfast holding degrees in history/politics and law. He served as Chairman of the Queen's Unionist Association and as a member of Queen's University Senate.

Career

Hamilton began his career as an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

with an accountancy firm in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and was employed as a DUP Policy Officer in their Party Headquarters from 2003 until his election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007. He was elected to Ards Borough Council in 2005 but did not stand at the 2011 Election. Hamilton was secretary of Strangford DUP Association and vice-chairman of Newtownards DUP Branch. He was appointed minister of finance and personnel and replaced Sammy Wilson on 29 June 2013 in a reshuffle. He was later appointed as the Health Minister of Northern Ireland in a further DUP reshuffle on 11 May 2015. He resigned from this post several times during September and October 2015 in the context of a political crisis at Stormont. In June 2019, Hamilton announced he was standing down from front line politics to become CEO of Belfast

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

. He also resigned from the DUP to take this role.

References

1977 births Living people People from Newtownards Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Members of Ards Borough Council Ministers of finance and personnel of Northern Ireland {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub