All about Gavin

While Gavin has been at the pulse of the Media & Communications industry for many a year, he was actually reared in the hospitality and retail business with his family running pubs, restaurants and shops in Naas, Dun Laoghaire and Drogheda. Born on a farm outside Naas, Co Kildare, he considers Drogheda, Co Louth as his home town. He now lives 5 miles outside Drogheda with his wife Orlaith and four children.

Gavin set out at a young age and impressively set up a local radio station employing 20 people by age 18. In 1989 he set up the country's first licensed provincial local radio station, LMFM, after working for some years in RTE presenting various programmes including Ireland's first television business programme, "Marketplace".

In 2004, LMFM was sold to UTV for €11 million. In 1992 he founded his Media Consultancy business Dorland which owns www.mediatraining.ie. Dorland is the leading consultancy helping Senior Executives to communicate their business messages internally and externally.

He also successfully invested in a number of companies and start ups and remains part owner of the HRM Group of Companies, one Ireland's biggest players in recruitment.

Gavin is a man who thinks Big so he wants to know if your pitch has the P-E-G Factor, that is ‘Potential for Explosive Growth’. If you’ve got the equivalent to the Post-It or the biro, you will appeal to Gavin immediately. Otherwise, he will probably lose interest. Make that definitely.

In series 2 Gavin made four investments including the sensational hit of the series – Tan Organic. In its first three months, since August 2010, in Pharmacies in Ireland, it has generated over €1m in sales. On top of that in its first six months over 1 million spray applications of TanOrganic were applied in Irish Salons.

Gavin is thrilled to be back in the Den as he says it gives him a “great buzz”. He says that his favourite part of being on the show is “the bit off the TV, working with the people he has invested in".