Mr Malcolm Quigley

Originally from Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Malcolm graduated from UL in 1997 with a Business Studies with Japanese degree. Shortly after, he headed to Brussels where he completed an Internship at the European Commission before moving to the Federation of European Direct Marketing and from there, was head-hunted by the second largest telecommunications company in Europe, GTS. He also completed an MBA at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and it was during this time that he discovered Voluntary Service Overseas. VSO is the world's leading independent, international development organisation working through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries. Founded in 1958, VSO now celebrates '50 years of sharing skills and changing lives' and the fact that over 30,000 volunteers have served in over 70 countries. 

In 2001, Malcolm began working overseas as a volunteer with VSO and Refugee Return Service, anNGO in North-West Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH). Over the course of his time there, it became one of the main return organisations supporting the return of refugees displaced by the Yugoslav war from Serbia to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Malcolm also helped raise enough funds to rebuild thousands of homes destroyed in the war. Another major contribution was the establishment of a Rights-based campaign to raise the awareness of returnees' rights upon return to BiH. Additionally, whilst in the Western Balkans,Malcolmdevised a fundraising training course and personally rolled it out across all the VSO and UNHCR partner organisations in the region. It has since been adopted as a training module for all VSO outgoing volunteers.   

In 2004, Malcolm established VSO Ireland in Dublin and became its only staff member. Today, Malcolm is Director and responsible for seven staff and an annual budget of €2.2million. His responsibilities range from directing and positioning the organisation in Ireland to preparing large funding proposals to working with Irish companies on business partnership programmes to representing volunteering policy at government and sector level. His role also involves working in the field overseas. Most significantly, VSO Ireland under Malcolm's leadership has raised over €5.5million for overseas projects and created the opportunity for close to1,000 Irish people to volunteer overseas. 

As an active contributor to the development sector in Ireland, Malcolm is a member of Comhlámh and on the board of Dóchas and ‘Red Card to Racism' NGO, a major European anti-racism initiative. When not working or volunteering, he likes to indulge his passion for theatre, travel and cycling. 

The above text is an extract from the 2008 UL Alumni Awards Souvenir Booklet.