The UCD Investors and Entrepreneurs Society were honoured to host one of the world’s leading business executives and a remarkable Irish international business success story, Ronan Dunne, Executive Vice President and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group. Ronan spoke on a live, virtual webinar from New York as part of the organisation’s Speaker Series on 29th March, 2021.

Verizon are the world’s largest telecommunications company and Ronan leads the teams responsible for delivering wireline, TV and wireless connected experiences to more than 100 million consumers every day. His insights and experiences were truly fascinating and inspiring.

Ronan touched on some of the most exciting advancements in the world, including 5G and its enormous potential to advance business, social inclusion and front-line work. Additionally, the charismatic CEO outlined the breath-taking new fan experiences 5G is creating with Verizon facilitating seven live high definition streams of content at this year’s Super Bowl and extraordinary data collection from the playing field.

The commitment of Verizon, and Ronan personally, to corporate social responsibility initiatives was discussed, particularly in the areas of dignity of work, education and tackling climate change.

Finally, Ronan left attendees with a summary of his personal roadmap for leadership containing endless nuggets of invaluable advice. He touched on the significance of teamwork and authenticity in the leadership journey and added, significantly for students, “Know the question before you try to answer it.”

Ultimately, those in attendance were treated to a masterclass in business, life and leadership advice which will live long in the memory.

This article was written by final year BComm student Ruairi McCormack, who is also Co-Head of the Speakers Series for the UCD Investors and Entrepreneurs Society.