TOP academic Professor John McCanny (64), whose vision led to the creation of the NI Science Park, has been knighted in recognition of his decades of service towards higher education and economic development.
The Prof-turned-Sir is among a number of prominent businesspeople from Northern Ireland who have been recognised in the New Year Honours list.
Professor McCanny from Newtownards, an international authority on areas such as cyber-security, was also behind the £37 million Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) research facility in Belfast, of which he is a director.
When he helped dream up the idea of the Science Park (now Catalyst Inc) in 2002, it was a brownfield site. But today 160 high technology companies are located there, employing more than 2,600 people.
He also led the initiative that in 2009 created the £30m Centre for Secure Information Technology (CSIT), which now employs 90 people and is the UK’s innovation and knowledge centre for cyber-security.
In the past six years it has played a key role in the creation of over 1,200 additional new jobs, in effect creating a new cyber-security business sector in Northern Ireland.
Professor McCanny - who has also published five research books, 360 peer reviewed research papers and holds over 20 patents - holds a degree in physics from the University of Manchester, a PhD in physics from the University of Ulster and was awarded a DSc in 1998 in electrical and electronics engineering by Queen’s University.
Meanwhile a CBE has gone to former leading banker Gerry McGinn, chairman of the Strategic Investment Board, for services to the Northern Ireland economy.
As well as his extensive financial services and banking experience in London, Dublin and Belfast, he was the Permanent Secretary in both the Department of Education and the Department for Regional Development, and he also chairs Capita Asset Services (Ireland) and is on the board of the Progressive Building Society.
Two leading figures in Northern Ireland's agri-food sector - Tony O'Neill (Dunbia) and John McCann (Willowbrook Foods) - were each recognised in the annual honours list with an OBE and MBE respectively.
O'Neill, whose past roles have been at the likes of Nestle, Premier Foods, WD Irwin & Sons and Moy Park, currently chairs the Agri-Food Strategy Board and is joint-chair of the Future Skills Action Group and a past chair of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association.
McCann established Willowbrook Foods in 1968 on land on the shores of Strangford Lough which his family had farmed for more than 200 years, and he pioneered a new strategy by using own-grown farm vegetables in the packing for supermarkets. Today his company has sales of £22m and employs more than 90 people.
Bangor man Sam Goldblatt (66), who founded Goldblatt McGuigan in 1978 and now serves on the board of philanthropic body Giving Northern Ireland, is awarded an OBE for services to business and the community.
There was an MBE - awarded for services to economic development - for John Armstrong, managing director of Armstrong Medical, which he founded in 1984 to manufacture and sell respiratory disposable products for critical care applications.
Since then the company has grown considerably to become a worldwide supplier of innovative respiratory disposables for anaesthesia and critical care, supplying products to 52 countries from its 90,000 sq ft manufacturing facility at Wattstown business park in Coleraine. Last year it turned over £10 million and the company has 110 staff.
And leading chef Simon Dougan (45), who trained as a waiter at the London Waldorf and once spent time travelling around Europe in a van, has received an MBE for services to hospitality and catering (he is managing director of The Yellow Door Ltd in Craigavon.
An MBE, recognising her role in economic development, has also gone to Brenda Morgan from Glenavy, who since June 201 has been partnership manager for British Airways in Northern Ireland, having spent the previous 20 years with British Midland International.
