Declan Ganley

Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist.

He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the eurosceptic Libertas Party.

Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur, Ganley has built businesses across the European Union, Russia and latterly, the United States.

After leaving school in 1987, Ganley has been involved in business ventures selling Russian aluminium, and in the Latvian forestry sector.

Notably, he co-founded Broadnet, a company which rolled out internet and telecoms services across the European Union in the late 1990s.

In the early 1990s, Ganley founded Kipelova Forestry Enterprises, which became one of the largest forestry companies in the Russian Federation.

In 1996, his company Ganley International founded the Anglo-Adriatic Investment Fund, an Albanian financial fund formed to collect and invest privatisation vouchers.

Following political upheaval and several changes of government, the Albanian government ceased its planned privatisation programmes, and the fund became dormant.

He formed a company called Liberty Mobile that made two unsuccessful bids, in partnership with Qualcomm, to obtain mobile telecoms operator licences in Iraq from the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Ganley has investments in joint ventures with Nana Pacific, an Alaska Native Regional Corporations with special US Government contracting access.

This joint venture was structured with the help of business partners Jack Shaw and Don DeMarino.

The partnership eventually led to the creation of Ganley's current company, Rivada Networks, and the joint venture company Rivada Pacific formed 49%/51% with Nana Pacific.

Ganley received the Louisiana Distinguished Service Medal for his work during Hurricane Katrina, where Rivada's emergency deployable communications systems were credited by state and federal officials with dramatically improving communications between emergency response organisations, and saving countless lives.

Ganley sold the company in 1997.

In 1999, after the award of 42 German licences to Broadnet, the Irish Independent valued Broadnet at $875m.

Ganley later sold his shares to Comcast for an undisclosed sum.

As of 2022, he is the chairman and CEO of Rivada Networks, a telecommunications company specialising in the use and arbitrage of wireless spectrum.

Rivada has patented technologies in the field of dynamic spectrum arbitrage.

Ganley served as the chairman on the Forum on Public Safety in Europe & North America, 2005–2006.

He was an advisor on "technology and terrorism" to the Club De Madrid.

During the 2008 Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, Ganley and the Libertas Institute successfully campaigned for a "No" vote, which was overturned in a second referendum.

In 2008, Ganley accepted the Czech Republic's Michal Tosovsky Prize on behalf of the Irish electorate.

As of 2022, he is the CEO and chairman of Rivada Networks, a US-based firm specialising in the provision of telecommunications systems to the military, police and emergency services in disaster situations.

Ganley has written about the future of mobile spectrum and bandwidth for the Sunday Independent.

In 2009, Ganley founded and became chairman of Libertas, a political party with pan-European ambitions.

The party was unsuccessful in the 2009 European Parliament Election, succeeding in getting only one candidate elected, in France.

Ganley was upbeat after the defeat, describing the venture as a failed experiment.

Ganley was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, to Irish emigrant parents.

He returned to Ireland with his parents to live in Glenamaddy, County Galway, at the age of 13.

Ganley was the founder and chairman of the pan-European political party Libertas, and was a candidate for Libertas in the 2009 European Parliament election in North-West Ireland.

In May 2011, Ganley set up a Swiss finance fund, St. Columbanus AG, along with businessmen Constantin Gurdgiev and Andrew Jamieson, which was billed as a "safe haven" for Irish funds from European banks.

Ganley advocates a Federal Europe, with directly elected office holders representing the people and holding the currently unelected EU Commission to account.

Ganley has described himself as "avowedly pro-life", and actively supports anti-abortion causes in Ireland.

He campaigned for a "No" vote in the 2012 Irish European Fiscal Compact referendum.

He has guest-presented Tonight with Vincent Browne.

In 2013, Ganley testified that Rivada's patents had the potential to "save the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars".

He founded and sold companies in forestry and the online sector.

On 14 March 2013, Ganley represented Rivada Networks in testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, for the hearing entitled "Oversight of FirstNet and Emergency Communications".

In July 2013, he spoke at the Dublin Rally for Life.

In 2018, Ganley actively and unsuccessfully campaigned for a "No" vote in that year's abortion referendum.