Bro McFerran was delighted to receive an Honorary Degree of Science for services to economic development at a Graduation Ceremony on 8th June at the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine. Actor, Jimmy Nesbitt presented Bro with his award, having being installed earlier in the proceeding as the UU's new Chancellor.
Bro has been the Managing Director of Allstate Northern Ireland since its incorporation in 1999. Allstate NI is now the largest IT Company in Northern Ireland, employing more than 1900 people across 3 locations - Belfast, Londonderry and Strabane.
He was one of the founding board members of the Software Industry Federation in Northern Ireland (now Momentum), and it's second Chairman, and has served on a number of public advisory boards including being a board member of the Information Age Initiative (Leapfrog) and being a previous Chairman of the ICT Forum for Belfast City Council. He is currently a board member of the Centre for Software Process Technologies (CSPT) based in the University of Ulster and a Board Member of Springvale Training. Mr. McFerran was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List announced on 11th June 2005 for services to the IT Industry of Northern Ireland. He received an Annual Award of Distinction from Belfast Institute of Higher and Further Education in November 2004 in recognition of his achievements in employment and economic development. In 2001 Bro was awarded "IT Professional of the Year" award by the Northern Ireland Branch of BCS in 2001.
Bro was educated at St. Malachy's College and Queen's University, Belfast where he studied Mechanical Engineering. He is married with three children and lives in Belfast.
Actor Conleth Hill, and business leaders Tony Hopkins and Peter Fitzgerald also received honorary degrees on the day.