Deirdre Anne "Dee" Forbes (born 1 February 1967) has been the

Director-General of RTÉ The Director-General is chief executive and editor-in-chief of public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The current director-general is Dee Forbes, who replaced Noel Curran in the role in 2016. Appointment and role The RTÉ b ...

since April 2016. She is the first woman to hold the role, and the first external appointment in almost 50 years. Prior to joining

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

, she was President & Managing Director of

Discovery Networks Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channe ...

Northern Europe.

Personal life

Forbes comes from

Drimoleague Drimoleague (historically ''Drumdalege'', ) is a village on the R586 road at its junction with the R593 in County Cork, Ireland. It lies roughly halfway between the towns of Dunmanway and Bantry, within the civil parish of Dromdaleague. As of ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, where her parents ran the East End bar. Forbes attended national school in the village, before going to boarding school in

Clonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is located at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population as of 2016 was 4,592. Th ...

. She then went on to study history and politics at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. Soon after graduating from UCD, she moved to the UK in 1989, beginning her career with advertising agency Young and Rubicam.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Dee 1967 births Living people Directors-General of RTÉ Irish women in business