UL Honours Outstanding Alumni Posted on October 19th, 2011
At a glittering black-tie evening held on Saturday, 15 October, the University of Limerick Alumni Association hosted the 6th Annual Bank of Ireland UL Alumni Awards. These Awards are the Alumni Association’s highest honour and are awarded to recognise outstanding achievements of individual UL alumni.
Honoured this year at the Awards evening held at the luxurious Savoy Hotel in Henry Street in Limerick city are three University of Limerick graduates:
[Mallow, Co Cork native] Mike O’Flynn, a business leader in the medical devices sector where he heads up the very successful multi-national Boston Scientific in Galway and is responsible for close to 3,000 staff;
[Templenoe, Co Kerry native] Pat Spillane, widely regarded as one of the greatest Gaelic Footballers of all time having amassed a staggering 8 Senior All-Ireland Medals during his inter-county career with Kerry; and
[Tramore, Co Waterford native] Colm Piercy, who was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug early in his life and after a number of successful ventures, he is today the founder and CEO of Digiweb, one of Ireland’s leading telecoms and IT service providers [based in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15] which is also one of the very few of the larger businesses wholly owned and operated in Ireland. [Colm now lives in Blackrock, Co Louth].
In congratulating the 2011 Award Recipients, Mr Bobby O’Connor, Chairperson, UL Alumni Association (ULAA) said “As a UL alumnus myself and a graduate representative on UL’s Governing Authority, I couldn’t be more proud to be associated with our 2011 Alumni Awards winners. Their achievements are an inspiration to all of us and on behalf of everyone at ULAA, I warmly congratulate Mike, Pat and Colm. This Awards programme is tremendously important in allowing us to honour our outstanding graduates and we are deeply grateful to Bank of Ireland for their ongoing support of it”.
Speaking at the Alumni Awards, Professor Paul McCutcheon, Vice-President Academic & Registrar at the University of Limerick said; “Tonight we honour the achievements of three great ambassadors for the University of Limerick and we also celebrate the generations of UL graduates who have played a leading role in building Ireland’s reputation at home and abroad.”
Representing the event’s exclusive sponsor, Mr Gerry Reeves, Bank of Ireland’s Regional Manager (West Munster) said “Bank of Ireland has a long association with honouring excellence and we are therefore delighted to join with ULAA in recognising the outstanding achievements made by UL alumni in different walks of life. Bank of Ireland is proud to continue our association with this great celebration and I particularly congratulate our three Award Recipients this year on their very impressive accomplishments”.
Launched in 2006, this annual Alumni Awards celebration has become one of the most prestigious and significant events in the life of UL, Limerick and the alumni community which itself is a growing one. Just 2 months ago, during Autumn Conferring ceremonies, over 2,500 of our students graduated bringing the number of UL Alumni close to 58,000.
