Janet McCollum, Chief Executive of Moy Park, and Dr. Donal Denvir, co-founder of Andor Technology, a global leader in high performance scientific cameras, are to receive Honorary Degrees from Queen’s University today.

At Moy Park, Janet McCollum heads one of Northern Ireland’s biggest companies which employs 12,000 people in the UK, Ireland and Europe and has a turnover of approximately £1.4bn. She leads the firm’s business direction across Europe.

She began her career in the food industry through the Coca Cola and Schweppes graduate management scheme and joined Moy Park in 1993, before being appointed to the Moy Park executive board as Finance Director in 1999.

Before receiving her Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science Economics for services to business and commerce, she praised the standard of Queen’s graduates

She said: “It is particularly special to receive this honour from such a prestigious institution which, year after year, produces high quality graduates who contribute immensely to the growth and success of businesses like Moy Park. I share this day with many other graduates who will soon be taking the first steps on their career paths. I congratulate all on their achievements and wish everyone the greatest success for the future.”

Also being honoured by Queen’s University today, is co-founder of Andor Technology, Donal Denvir.

Andor began as a Queen’s spin-out company. It currently has 400 employees in 16 offices world-wide and distributes its products to 10,000 customers in 55 countries. It was admitted to the Stock Exchange and in 2014 was acquired by Oxford Instruments but Dr. Denvir remains key to the company’s commercial success.  Currently, Queen’s and Andor are playing a leading role in the construction of the world’s biggest solar telescope.

Professor Robert Bowman, from Queen’s School of Mathematics and Physics, will deliver the citation for Donal Denvir. He said, “Since co-founding Andor, Donal Denvir’s continued technical influence and leadership has been instrumental in the company’s world leading reputation for the development of scientific cameras and spectrographic and imaging systems. These are underpinning research, development and manufacturing in activities across sectors from astrophysical observation to life sciences and healthcare. Donal is a tremendous inspiration to our students and graduates and we are delighted he is here with us today to receive his honorary degree from his Alma Mater.”

Queen’s has created 73 spin-out companies, which employ over 1800 people and have a combined turnover of £198M. The University is currently the number one institution in the UK for the commercialisation of its intellectual property.

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