All Ireland Marketing Champion 2011
Digicel Group Denis O'Brien
Denis O’Brien is one of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs.
He is chairman of the Digicel Group, one of the fastest growing cellular companies in the world, with operations in 32 markets and over 10 million customers in the Caribbean, Central and South America regions. Denis also founded the Communicorp Group which owns and manages a portfolio of media and broadcasting-related companies in Ireland and seven other European countries.
Outside of his extensive business interests, Denis chaired Special Olympics World Summer Games in Ireland in 2003, the first time the Summer Games were staged outside the US, and seen as the most successful ever.
Denis serves as a Director on the US Board of Concern Worldwide, and he is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Frontline, the international foundation for the protection of Human Rights defenders.
In 2000 Denis established The Iris O’Brien Foundation to identify and assist projects in Ireland and internationally which aim to alleviate disadvantaged communities.
Digicel is Haiti’s largest single investor. Denis was appointed goodwill ambassador for Port-au-Prince by the city’s mayor and deputy mayor in recognition of his efforts to rebuild Haiti and attract foreign direct investment in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, and on behalf of the Clinton Global Initiative. Denis chairs the Haiti Action Network, which coordinates the activities of approximately 80 support organisations in Haiti. Most recently Denis reconstructed the iconic Iron Market in Port-Au-Prince, which was the first public building in the city to be rebuilt since the earthquake and has become a symbol of the city’s recovery.
Denis holds a BA degree from University College Dublin and an MBA from Boston College.
The Marketing Institute of Ireland is delighted to recognise the achievements of Denis O’Brien through this award.
