Declan Ganley is an Irish entrepreneur and chairman & CEO of Rivada Networks, a leading public safety communications business with operations in the US and Europe. Declan has built a number of businesses in the telecommunications and natural resources sector, including Broadnet, which rolled out wireless networks in ten European countries. He started a cable TV network, Cabletel, in Eastern Europe, and from 1991-1997 built what became the largest private forestry company in the former Soviet Union. Declan is also both founder & chairman of The Libertas Institute, which has campaigned on European issues, starting with its successful referendum campaign against the first Libson Treaty in 2008. A pro-European, he has instead campaigned for a democratic, solvent and federal European Union. In addition to his regular and political work, Declan is also a regular commentator/op-ed contributor on business and European affairs for international print and broadcast media.
Declan is a recipient of the Louisiana Distinguished Service Medal for what was cited as “life saving actions” in leading Rivada Networks’ delivery of communications capability for emergency responders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, he was also awarded the Frode Jacobsen Prize for Courage in Copenhagen and the Czech Republic’s Michal Tosovsky Prize.
Declan has also served for over twenty years with the 54th Field Artillery Regiment, Irish Army Reserve and is the co-author of the book, What If Ireland Defaults (Orpen Press 2012). He was himself the subject of media columnist Bruce Arnold’s 2009 book The Fight for Democracy.
Information valid as of October 2012.