Gavin O'Reilly

Infobox Celebrity
name = Gavin Karl O'Reilly


birth_date = 17 December 1966
birth_place = Dublin, Ireland
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Chief Operating Officer of Independent News and Media
salary =
networth =
spouse = none; Alison Doody (1994-2002/2005)
website =
footnotes =
children = Alanna and Lauren O'Reilly

Gavin O'Reilly (born 1966) is a Dublin-born businessman with Irish and Australian citizenship, the second son and fourth child of Irish media magnate Tony O'Reilly and Australian Susan Cameron. He is currently Group Chief Operating Officer of Independent News and Media, the largest press group in Ireland and South Africa, and one of the largest in Australia and New Zealand, with almost 200 titles and a readership of over 100 million, and is also President of the World Association of Newspapers (2005-2010), and a director of the Ireland Funds.

Life

Early life

O'Reilly was born, the eldest of triplets, and fourth of six children, in 1966, in Dublin, and brought up in Dublin and Kilcullen, Ireland and Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh, USA. After a year at Harrow School, he completed school at Clongowes Wood, a private school in a historic house near one of the then main family homes, Castlemartin in Kildare (Clongowes and Castlemartin had previously been owned by the same family).

Early career

After taking his Leaving Certificate exam in 1985, O'Reilly went to London, taking a summer job in advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (now part of DDB), and staying there for around two years. He then attended Georgetown University School of Business but interrupted his studies to work as a stockbroker in Hong Kong and London, before finishing his degree with honours.

Later career

In 1993, O'Reilly was hired by the public company led by his father, Independent News and Media plc (INM), by then already the largest press group in Ireland, and worked on the "Independent Directory" and then in other areas. He was appointed CEO of the Irish operations of INM in 1999 and oversaw the move of the company's printing operations to Citywest Business Park in 2000 [Cork, Ireland, 19 December 2001: Irish Examiner, "Gavin O'Reilly likely heir apparent to take over father's mantle" - Conor Keane] . He was additionally made Group Chief Operating Officer in December 2001 and appointed to the board in 2004.

In late March 2008 O'Reilly, at a company AGM not attended by his father, launched an attack on the second-largest shareholder in Independent News and Media, telecoms entrepreneur Denis O'Brien, who has been building a stake in the company which nearly rivals that of the O'Reilly family [International Herald Tribune: Irish billionaires' feud over newspapers gets personal, p. 8 (Business/Media & Communications), Julia Werdigier] . O'Reilly and O'Brien mixed socially in the 1990's.

With a purchase of 25,000 shares in June 2008, O'Reilly now owns around 0.25% of Independent News & Media (his father's close circle controls a total of around 29.25% of the company).

Other roles

In 2004, O'Reilly was elected First Vice-President of the World Association of Newspapers, succeeding the sitting President, who resigned to take up diplomatic duties, in 2005, and then being re-elected for two years in June 2006, and for another two years in June 2008.

He is also Chairman of the National Newspapers of Ireland, and of two hotels in which his family has interests, Dromoland Castle and Ashford Castle, and is a director of Norkom Technologies and numerous charitable foundations, including the Ireland Funds [ [http://www.apn.com.au/board.asp] Gavin O'Reilly profile on Board of Directors page of APN website, as retrieved 27 March 2008] .

Personal life

O'Reilly married model and actress Alison Doody on June 25 1994, at family residence Castlemartin, with 560 guests present. Making their home at Bartra House, [citeweb|url=http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/03/02/story521590034.asp|title=Rich chase streets of dreams|author=Hughes, Emer|publisher=ThePost.ie|date=2003-03-02|accessdate=2008-05-18] a 10,000 sq ft home overlooking the sea in Dalkey, purchased in 1996, with neighbour's including singer Enya and U2 guitarist The Edge, the marriage produced two daughters (Alanna in 1996; Lauren in 1999). Separating in 2002, the couple finalised their divorce in 2005. Doody and the children still live at Bartra, while O'Reilly lives in Dublin and London.

ee also

* Brothers (Anthony) Cameron O'Reilly, Tony O'Reilly, Junior
* Step-mother Chryss Goulandris

ources

* Cork, Ireland, 19 December 2001: Irish Examiner, "Gavin O'Reilly likely heir apparent to take over father's mantle" - Conor Keane.
* Dublin, Ireland, February 2002: The Dubliner, "Independent Man" - Trevor White.
* London, The Observer, 27 January 2008: "O'Reilly junior proves passion for print is in the genes / But Gavin insists Independent News & Media is not a family heirloom", James Robinson The Observer, retrieved online 27 March 2008 ( [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/27/independentnewsmedia] ] )

Notes and references