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Award winning business leaders honoured at Belfast Met Graduation
Belfast Met awarded honorary fellowships to the Founder and CEO of FinTrU and Chair of Invest Northern Ireland in a ceremony at Titanic Belfast on November 13, which was attended by over 700 graduates and guests.
In ceremony one, students from the school of Creative and Digital industries graduated and enjoyed a speech from Mr McCarthy who is the Founder and CEO of FinTrU which employs over 400 staff at its two Belfast city centre offices and its North West office in Derry/Londonderry. This award winning financial services company is committed to giving local talent the opportunity to work on the global stage.
Darragh is a fitting honorary fellow for the College, which is the Northern Ireland further education sector lead for the curriculum in Business and IT.
In ceremony two which included graduates from the College’s Belfast Business School, Rose Mary Stalker shared her experiences in the Business and Engineering sector.
Mrs Stalker is Chair of Invest NI and an experienced business leader who has successfully operated for over 20 years at Executive Team and Board level in companies such as Ford, Boeing and Rolls-Royce. Mrs Stalker has received numerous awards, including the ‘European Woman of Achievement in Business’ and ‘European Automotive Woman of the Year’.
Belfast Met’s Principal and CEO, Marie-Thérèse McGivern, said:
“We are thrilled with our choice of honorary fellows this year. Our theme for this year’s celebration is ‘inspiration and transformation’ and we have filled this brief with Darragh McCarthy and Rose Mary Stalker. Both honorary fellows are a source of inspiration for our graduates and their areas of expertise tie in with Belfast Met’s aim of producing a highly skilled workforce and filling a skills gap in key growing areas; we are delighted to strengthen business links with these two leading organisations.”
Mr McCarthy said: “I am truly honoured to receive this accolade. FinTrU and Belfast Met have enjoyed a thriving partnership to successfully deliver 13 FinTrU Financial Services Academies and a number of Higher Level Apprenticeships in our Corporate Services teams.”
Rose Mary Stalker said: “I am delighted to receive this Honorary Fellowship. Our local colleges play a key role working with our companies and stakeholders to develop courses that support the future skills needs of our workforce. Countries which develop agile responsive skills solutions that meet business and market needs, and enable everyone to contribute to society, will be global winners.”