Chairman of the Board

From his inauspicious beginnings on a small farm in Iowa to becoming president of the Coca-Cola Company and how to chairing the board of Allen &Company, a New York investment banking firm, Donald Keough has retained his avid interest in all things Irish. 

His love of Ireland led to his involvement in that country’s economic development, and Keough went on to serve on the Irish Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Board, visiting Ireland several times in the process. 

A navy veteran and graduate of Creighton University, Keough has since been awarded honorary doctorates from Trinity College, Dublin, and is former chairman of the University of Notre Dame, where he and his wife, Marilyn endowed a chair of Irish Studies in 1993. 

That same year Keough received Notre Dame’s highest award, the Laetare Medal. He has also been honored with the American Irish Historical Society medal, and was formerly named Irish American of the Year by this magazine.