Northern Ireland food directors in line for top UK awards

Directors of two of Northern Ireland's biggest companies, Moy Park and Dunbia, both key players in the local food industry, have been shortlisted in a prestigious UK award for excellence.

Shortlisted in the annual awards run by the Institute of Directors are Alan McKeown, supply chain director at Dunbia, Northern Ireland's biggest meat and pork processor, and Mike Mullan, HR director of Moy Park, the region's single biggest company and one of Europe's largest poultry processors.

Moy Park is now owned by Brazil's JBS, the world's largest meat processor by sales. Moy Park employs over 5,000 people in Northern Ireland and is headquartered at Craigavon in county Armagh.

McKeown is shortlisted in the Young Director of the Year category in the awards which will be announced at a gala dinner in London on 23 October. Mullan is listed in the Leadership in Corporate Responsibility category.

Dunbia's group chief executive Jim Dobson was named Director of the Year 2014 by the IoD. Dunbia employs over 3,000 people and is headquartered at Dungannon, county Tyrone. It has operations in Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands and exports meat products to over 40 countries.

The awards recognise directors at the forefront of leadership excellence. The IoD holds the awards every year because it believes in the value of leadership. In big corporates, small businesses, the public sector, charities, the difference between success and failure is leadership. Directors who win these awards have been recognised as the best in their field by the organisation for business leaders, the IoD said.