THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW/Michael Ryan, vice-president of Bombardier Aerospace:HAVING TO deliver devastating news to your workforce just hours before you accept a major business award can hardly be described as a typical working day.

For Michael Ryan, though, vice- president and general manager of Bombardier Aerospace in Belfast, the current global economic climate means typical days are something of a luxury.

Belfast-born Ryan has been at the helm of Bombardier’s operations in the North since 2000. The group is one of the largest private sector employers in Northern Ireland. It has 5,300 permanent staff and an estimated 900 sub-contractors employed at its facilities in the North.

Last week, the Canadian firm announced plans to axe 1,360 jobs across the group because of a fall in business jet orders.

Belfast is one of the locations hit and it was Ryan’s unpleasant task to explain how Bombardier’s corporate decisions taken thousands of miles away would affect its Northern Ireland employees.

Bombardier Aerospace claims its long-term human resources strategy is to establish stability in its permanent workforce levels by “hiring temporary workers mainly through third-party contractors to provide increased flexibility in periods of fluctuation”.

What this means for Northern Ireland is that over the next five months, some 300 sub-contractors will lose their jobs at Bombardier’s east Belfast facility.

It is a massive blow to the local economy and one that Belfast- born Ryan would personally be loath to have to deliver under any circumstances.

However, the fact that later the same day he would receive the Institute of Directors Award of Excellence for 2009 – the North’s equivalent to a businessman or woman of the year award – made the jobs losses even more difficult for him personally.

Ryan described the award as “a great honour”, but he said his delight in receiving the recognition was tempered by what was going on in the local economy and his own company.

“I’m very conscious that businesses across Northern Ireland, including our own, are going through a very turbulent time at present. Many companies have to make very difficult decisions during this short-term volatility in order to adapt and secure their long-term survival.

“However, I’m very fortunate to be part of a company that places such a high value on, and commitment to, corporate social responsibility.

“We strive to provide a safe and rewarding workplace for our employees,” Ryan adds.

“We invest 2 per cent of our profits into the community through a variety of initiatives and we have strong environmental values in terms of our product development, operations and processes.”

He hopes that as “companies grapple with weathering this current recession”, they will still manage to afford what he describes as “due respect” to the individuals and local communities involved in whatever changes companies are forced to make.

“How businesses manage these changes is an investment that will both protect their business today and place them in a better position for the future when economic conditions improve.

“Whilst our company is among those that have had to make some very difficult decisions, we are still investing in the future to ensure that we have the right people, skills and products to secure our long-term survival.”

Ryan is passionate about his east Belfast operation and is understandably its biggest champion. He has nothing but praise for its workforce and the loyalty they have shown to Bombardier throughout the years.

He is perhaps the embodiment of the loyalty Bombardier’s employees feel towards what is still known locally as the Short Brothers plant in the North.

He has been closely involved in its fortunes for more than two decades and his enthusiasm for the industry and for the jobs and the opportunities it creates in Northern Ireland is infectious.

Ryan graduated from Queen’s University in Belfast in 1981 with an honours degree in aeronautical engineering and joined Short Brothers in the same year.

Before Bombardier acquired Short Brothers in 1989, Ryan worked in a number of management positions including general manager of the advanced composites production unit and general manager of fabrications.

By 1997, he was director of procurement in Northern Ireland. Two years later he was transferred to Montreal where he was appointed general manager of procurement for Bombardier Aerospace. Ryan returned to Northern Ireland in 2000 to take up his current post.

He is now in charge of a team which is responsible for the design, manufacture and support of civil aircraft structures for Bombardier regional and business aircraft and engine nacelles for several aircraft engine manufacturers.

No one in the North underestimates the considerable influence Ryan wields as vice- president of Bombardier’s operations in Northern Ireland.

The Canadian group makes a very significant contribution to the local economy.

Bombardier produces about 10 per cent of Northern Ireland’s total manufacturing exports and has an estimated annual spend of almost £140 million among some 800 suppliers in Northern Ireland, Britain and the Republic.

In the nine years since Ryan has been in charge, the Northern Ireland operation has suffered first the economic fallout from the September 11th terrorist attacks, which led to job losses, and then disappointment when Bombardier delayed plans for the launch of a new commercial jet which would have created jobs in 2006.

Ryan is no stranger to having to communicate bad news on the job front to Bombardier employees in the North. Close associates say it causes him more pain because of his local ties than it might do for a general manager somewhat more removed from the community.

“He personally knows his workforce and he is very aware of the effect job losses have on their lives,” one said.

Ryan has stressed to the workforce in Northern Ireland that the current job cuts will not affect Bombardier’s latest £500 million investment that will enable the Belfast plant to design and manufacture the wings for the new 110-130 seat CSeries family of aircraft.

The British government is supporting the investment with a £52 million finance package, which is part of a wider £155 million government investment package in Bombardier.

Bombardier has stressed that recruitment is continuing for the new CSeries project which will sustain over 800 jobs in Belfast.

There is a general consensus among key business people in the North that without Ryan at the helm, Northern Ireland may have lost out on the opportunity to benefit from the CSeries project.

He admits that competition to bring the investment to Belfast was “intense” within the Bombardier group but he is confident that with it, the historic east Belfast aerospace site will be able to propel itself “higher up the value chain” and gain a significant foothold in the substrate sector.

He believes this is where the future of the plant lies.

Ryan says it gives Belfast the opportunity to expand its role from being a centre of excellence when it comes to the production of aircraft fuselages and development of advanced composites to moving into a totally new area – wing production.

In the meantime, Ryan is the proud owner of the perpetual IOD Award of Excellence sterling silver trophy. It recognises not only the contribution he has made to Northern Ireland by his contribution to Bombardier’s success but, perhaps more importantly to him, it also acknowledges his work outside the corporate arena.

He is heavily involved in both Business in the Community in the North and the West Belfast and Greater Shankill Employer’s Forum – which deals with addressing employment problems in deprived areas.

Flying high in the business world is one thing but Michael Ryan has his feet firmly on the ground when it comes to living up to responsibilities at home.

Name: Michael Ryan

Position:Vice-president and general manager, Bombardier Aerospace.

Age:50

Family:Married with three children.

Background:Born in Belfast, Ryan graduated from Queen's University in 1981 with an honours degree in aeronautical engineering and joined Short Brothers in the same year. He is currently chairman of Business in the Community Northern Ireland.

Interests:Sports, reading, listening to music.

Something you might not expect:Ryan is a big fan of Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.