Howard Hastings is currently chair of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and the Managing Director of Hastings Hotels. He is also a Director of Merrion Hotel Ltd (ROI) and a member of the Board of Governors at Rockport School Ltd. During the 1990s he was Chairman of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland and Founding Chairman of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation.

Howard has also been a member of Castlereagh College governing body and a Board Member of Business in the Community and the Bank of Ireland Advisory Board. His previous public appointments include Tourism Ireland, the Training & Employment Agency, Investors in People, New Deal Task Force and the Tourism and Hospitality Training Council.