Mr John Travers will step down as chief executive of Forfβs, the national policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation, early next year. In a statement, Forfβs said Mr Travers had indicated he expected to take up a number of advisory positions where his knowledge and experience in business strategy formulation and implementation in the promotion and development of industry and R&D could be of some benefit.

Mr Travers has been chief executive of the board since its establishment in 1994 and has spent 35 years working in the public sector. He began his career with the Department of Local Government in 1967 and also worked for the IDA and the Department of Economic Planning and Development before being appointed to the Department of the Taoiseach in 1980. While there, he was involved in the first social partnership programme in 1987.

Mr Travers moved to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in 1988 where he was closely involved in the Culliton Report on industrial policy, published in 1992.

At Forfβs, he oversaw the publication in 1996 of the national strategy report setting out the first ever medium-term strategy for promoting a strong enterprise sector in Ireland. He was also involved in the publication of the strategy aimed at creating an information society in Ireland and the setting up of Science Foundation Ireland. Mr Travers also acted as director-general of Science Foundation Ireland and is a board member of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at UCD.