BC Alumnus Gift Establishes Fellowship for Irish Students

Irish entrepreneur and philanthropist Denis O’Brien has donated a financial gift to establish an MBA fellowship for Irish students at the BC Carroll School of Management. Each year, the fellowship will fully fund the cost of the MBA program at BC for two Irish students. O’Brien is the chairman and principal shareholder of Digicel Group, one of the world’s fastest growing cellular companies as well as the owner and board member of Communicorp, Ireland’s largest media holding company.

An alumnus of BC’s MBA program, O’Brien created the Fellowship at Boston College to provide an opportunity for aspiring business leaders from Ireland to obtain a graduate education at a premier American university. O’Brien graduated from BC’s Carroll School of Management with an MBA in corporate finance in 1982.

In addition to his positions with Digital Group and Communicorp, O’Brien also serves as the chairman and co-founder of Frontline, the Dublin-based International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. Frontline works to ensure that the standards set out in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders are known, respected and adhered to worldwide. He has also established The Iris O’Brien Foundation to identify and assist projects in Ireland and abroad that aim to alleviate disadvantaged communities.

The O’Brien Fellowship at BC will cover the full cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, books and living expenses for the duration of the MBA program, as well as international travel to and from Boston. Prospective applicants for the fellowship must be Irish citizens and have exceptional academic and/or career achievement and must possess the high personal and professional standards of the program’s namesake.

regions: Boston

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