25 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2024
PEOPLE
L-R: Claire McCollum, host, with Jenna Bell, CIOB (sponsor), John McGinnis and Phil Spencer, host.
L-R: John with his wife Anne McGinnis in 2023.
Lifetime Achievement Award WINNER: JOHN MCGINNIS, MCGINNIS GROUP
Halloween celebrations. His involvement with the Chamber was extensive, spanning any event promoting Derry as a place to enjoy, prosper and live in. John has played a very constructive and positive role in his community through company investment in major development schemes such as Dorman’s Wharf, the Quayside Centre and the Sainsbury’s Commercial site in Strand Road. Beyond his business interests, he has also played a proactive role in collaborating with Government officials, ministers and journalists to promote a positive image of the city. Among initiatives he has supported over the years is Derry Boston Ventures, devised by local politician John Hume and Government Minister Sir Richard Needham, and involving trade missions to the US to promote inward investment opportunities and create jobs and peace at home. Currently, John is part of a team based at the Ulster University Magee campus in Derry, which focuses on fundraising activities for the Medical School.
John McGinnis, recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, is founder of the McGinnis Group and highly decorated for his services to industry in Northern Ireland. Established in 1978, the McGinnis Group has grown to become one of the most respected builders in Northern Ireland, offering competitive, progressive and high-quality developments. Over that time, John has been a stalwart supporter of his community, recognised with an OBE for his work in regeneration in 2001 and an honorary doctorate from Ulster University for his contribution to industry in Northern Ireland in 2009. Born into a farming family in Co Derry in 1952, John was the youngest of 12 children and helped out on the farm from a young age. By 14, he was helping one of his brothers to build a house and soon began travelling over to England to work on building sites in the summer. Moving across the water to take up a position as a trainee site engineer, he worked long hours during the day, sleeping on the site at night. In 1975, John returned from England to take up a post at Campsie, just outside Derry, where a new factory was being built for textiles company Courtaulds. Showing his civic spirit from a young age, John joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce and helped organise a new mayor’s parade aimed at uniting the community amidst The Troubles. It would become an annual event bringing thousands onto the streets and serve as a forerunner of Derry’s world-renowned
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