This year’s Newry Chamber President’s Banquet held on Friday 17th October in the Canal Court Hotel & Spa also marked the fourth year of the Chamber President’s Award.
The President’s Award is the most prestigious award presented by the Chamber and bestowed upon visionary leaders from our local business community.
The award celebrates not just business leadership, but a lasting contribution to our local economy and community, those who use their success to make a wider difference and who also inspire entrepreneurs of the future.
This year’s recipient of the award was Feargal McCormack, Founder of FPM Chartered Accountants. Previous recipients of the prestigious award include, posthumously to the late, great Brian Conlon and Lord Ballyedmond in 2022, Founder of Glen Dimplex, Martin Naughton in 2023 and last year, Paddy and John McParland, Owners of the Canal Court Hotel & Spa.
Feargal is a much-cherished, highly respected and deep-rooted member of our local business community, who founded FPM Chartered Accountants in Newry back in 1991 and grew into one of Ireland’s leading advisory businesses.
Along with the help of his colleagues past and present which Feargal is always the first to mention, he grew a business that not only set new standards of professionalism but pioneered new models of growth and partnership including the very first private equity merger of its kind in Ireland, with AAB in 2022.
Even as he steps back from their day-to-day leadership role as Head of Ireland for the firm, for anyone who knows Feargal, he is not someone who sits still and continues to serve as Senior Partner & Head of Family Business for AAB Group, supporting entrepreneurs across this island to build stronger, more sustainable enterprises.
Feargal’s leadership has reached far beyond his own business through roles as President of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Pro-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, Chairman of the GAA National Finance Committee in Croke Park and Patron of Special Olympics Ireland. Feargal has also been recognised by both Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast with honorary doctorates for his contribution to business and to society.
Feargal is a very humble man, a proud Warrenpoint man and a proud family man, they are his pride and joy, and it was a privilege to have his wife, Anne and son Ruairi with us at the event to see Feargal receive the prestigious Newry Chamber President’s Award.
VIEW FEARGAL’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH HERE.