Frank Cushnahan, who is an independent Corporate Financial and Management Consultant, is to receive the Degree of Doctor of Science for services to commercial and business development.

A banker by profession, he has previously occupied, before retirement, Management Director positions in two leading financial institutions and is highly regarded among the business community both north and south of the Border. He has also undertaken a number of major government reviews which included project refinancing/restructuring and has earned a reputation of being a consummate ‘deal maker’.

Over the years he has occupied many executive and non-executive Board positions within both the public and private sectors. Such positions have included, in the past, Chairman of Belfast Harbour Commissioners; a Director of the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister and Chairman of the latter Audit and Corporate Governance Committee; Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Panel of the Performance and Efficiency Delivery Unit of the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister and also a member of the panel of the latter’s Asset Realisation Task Force.

Mr Cushnahan was also an advisor to the General Board Panel established by the Presbyterian Church to consider issues arising from the financial crisis related to the Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS). In May 2010, he was appointed a member of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee to the Irish Republic’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

His current directorships include Chairman Wineflair (NI) Ltd, Director Northern Ireland Science Park Trust Foundation, and Director Ciorani (Ireland) Ltd.

In 2001, Mr Cushnahan, who was educated at St Malachy’s College Belfast, was awarded the CBE for services to the Northern Ireland economy.