Paul MacDonnell

Paul MacDonnell is regulation and planning manager at the Irish Insurance Federation where his principal responsibilities are to represent the industry to the Irish and EU authorities. He is a co-founder of the Open Republic Institutealongside Constantin Gurdgiev and has led the development of the organisation to date. He has extensive print and broadcast media experience, appearing regularly on radio and television on behalf of the ORI. He has contributed to Irish newspapers and to The Wall Street Journal. He has 17 years experience as a business and communications consultant. During the 1980s, he worked for Hill & Knowlton in the UK as a government affairs and corporate communications consultant. He advised several organisations including: Wyeth, Eurotunnel, Tarmac, Monsanto, Texas Instruments and The British Foreign Office on political and corporate communications issues. He returned to Ireland in 1991 where he led the marketing and communications launch of Dell Computer Corporation. In 1992 He founded his own consultancy PMD&A and during the next six years advised a number of companies including, Cable & Wireless and Standard Life on communications and marketing issues. He directed Cable & Wireless’ entire Irish marketing programme between 1992 and 1998. In 1999 he established and ran the marketing department of software consultancy, Fineos. He co-founded the Open Republic Institute in 2001. He holds a degree in English literature and Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from University College Dublin [1]