Aidan McCullen

Aidan McCullen

McCullen speaking at a Creative Commons Ireland event
Date of birth	(1977-01-05) 5 January 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	110 kg (17 st 5 lb)
School	Castleknock College
University	Trinity College Dublin
Rugby union career
Position(s) Back row Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1999–2001 Lansdowne () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1998–1999 2001–2005 2005–2006 2006–2008 Dax Leinster Toulouse London Irish 57 11 14 (30) (0) (0) Correct as of 31 May 2008 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1998 2003 Ireland U21 Ireland 1 (0) Correct as of 30 June 2003 National sevens team(s) Years Team Comps 2001 Ireland 7s 1

Aidan McCullen (born 5 January 1977) is a businessman and retired Ireland national rugby union team player. He played as a back rower, principally at blindside flanker but also as an openside, no.8 and occasionally in the second row. He played for the Ireland national rugby sevens team in a number of competitions, including Hong Kong Sevens and the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

McCullen is married to former Miss Ireland model Niamh Redmond. They have two sons. ^[1]

Rugby career

McCullen started playing rugby at Castleknock College after moving to Dublin from County Meath. McCullen played for Leinster at schools, and captained the Leinster under 19s and under 20s before representing Ireland at under 21 level. ^[2]

In 1998, after playing for Ireland under-21s, he played a season for US Dax in that year's French first division before joining Lansdowne Football Club in the All-Ireland League. ^[2]

McCullen then joined Leinster Rugby in 2001 as Ireland moved away from the All-Ireland League and towards the Celtic league. That season he also played for Ireland sevens in the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens. He had 60 caps for Leinster and gained an international 15s cap for the game between Ireland and Samoa on 20 June 2003. ^[3] His international career was halted by injury, before he was signed by Toulouse. McCullen was in the starting Toulouse team, but his time at Toulouse was once again impacted by injury. He then joined London Irish until 2008. McCullen returned to Ireland and coached his club side Lansdowne back to division one as a forwards' player/coach. ^[4]

For several years, McCullen commentated for Setanta Sports (now Eir Sports) covering the French Top 14, International games and schools rugby.^{[ citation needed ]}

Business career

McCullen set up and developed the digital infrastructure for the Communicorp Group.^{[ citation needed ]} As "head of digital at Communicorp", ^[5] he promoted the concept of "Radio You Can Read", which was an iPad magazine for the radio station Newstalk 106–108. ^[6]

McCullen was recruited by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ as "Head of Innovation Partnerships and Funding" in January 2016. ^[7] Between 2017 and 2019, McCullen worked with the "business think tank" Katawave. ^{[8] [ failed verification ]}

As of 2021, he was presenting a weekly radio show called "The Innovation Show" which is published online, ^[9] and broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra on Saturday afternoons. ^[10] In 2021, McCullen published the Amazon book "Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organisations and Life". ^[11]

McCullen is a consultant, ^[1] speaker, ^[12] and lecturer in Trinity College Business School ^[13] He is also a non-executive board director for National Broadband Ireland ^[14] and The Rise Global Foundation ^[15]

in 2023, McCullen launched an initiative to document all the works and theories of Clayton Christensen. ^[16]

References

1. "'Where Are They Now?': Aidan McCullen". Leinster Rugby. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
2. "'My agent was looking at me like I was crazy but I signed on the back of a napkin'". 3 May 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
3. "Samoa (7) 14 – 40 (9) Ireland (FT)". espn.co.uk.
4. "Aidan McCullen" . Retrieved 23 December 2016.
5. "It's a yes vote for Newstalk fans". Archived from the original on 22 December 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
6. "Newstalk launches 'radio you can read'". irishtimes.com. 23 May 2013. Archived from the original on 30 May 2013.
7. "Top RTE role for ex-rugby star". Drogheda Independent. 30 January 2016.
8. "McCullen signs up for Katawave". Drogheda Independent. 28 January 2017.
9. "The Innovation Show with Aidan McCullen". SoundCloud. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
10. "The Innovation Show – Saturdays at 3pm on Radio 1 Extra". rte.ie. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017.
11. "Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organisations and Life | Wiley". Wiley.com. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
12. "Our Public Service - Public Service Innovation Conference". Our Public Service. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
13. "Aidan McCullen - Trinity Business School | Trinity College Dublin". www.tcd.ie. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
14. "Meet the team". NBI. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
15. "About". Rise Global Foundation. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
16. "The Disruptive Voice: 104. The Innovator's Dilemma: A Conversation with Matt Christensen". thedisruptivevoice.libsyn.com. Retrieved 4 February 2023.

External links

• ERC Rugby – Player profile (archived)
• lansdownerugby.com – 1st XV (archived)
• Aidan McCullen on scrum.com