Martin Naughton (born 2 May 1939), is an Irish-British

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

businessman, engineer and philanthropist. He is the founder of GlenDimplex, a company specializing in electrical appliances. He has been associated with

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

as a benefactor since the 1990s, including donating a state record €25 million, which led to the awarding of an Honorary Doctorate in 1995.

Early life

Naughton is an alumnus of

De La Salle College Dundalk De La Salle College, Dundalk is a secondary school for boys in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. It offers a co-educational repeat Leaving Certificate year, and recently built an extension to its school buildings. History The De La Salle schoo ...

, where he funds an annual scholarship programme. He is a donor to a number of educational institutions, notably

and the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Career

Naughton founded Glen Electric in August 1973 with a small manufacturing facility employing just ten people in

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. In 1977, Dimplex, the leading brand in the UK electrical heating market was acquired by Glen Electrics forming the Glen Dimplex Group. The company set out acquiring further businesses across the UK, with

Morphy Richards Morphy Richards is a British brand of electrical appliances headquartered in Swinton, in South Yorkshire, England. Its products were formerly made at its historic home of Mexborough, and in other facilities across the United Kingdom. However, ...

, the market leader in small domestic appliances in 1985 followed by Blanella, a manufacturer of electric blankets and Burco Dean Appliances, a manufacturer of products for the catering industry, all in the same year. The 1990s saw the company forge its powers of acquisition and strategic business thinking to acquire further businesses across Europe and beyond. An engineer by profession, Naughton has overseen his company to become the world's largest manufacturer in domestic heating appliances. His company has plants in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, the United Kingdom and North America. His business has more than 8000 staff and 22 manufacturing facilities with annual sales of around $1.6 billion. Naughton's stake in the company is worth around £273 million with other investments including an art collection, property in Dublin and shares in the Merrion Hotel Group and the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...

'' newspaper. Naughton was involved in negotiating cross-border trade and promotion and support of businesses during the

Northern Ireland conflict The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

The Naughton Foundation

Martin and Carmel founded the The Naughton Foundation in 1994. A scholarship fund was added in 2008, which originally assisted students in the Louth, Meath, Monaghan area, before being offered to

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

students across the island more recently.

Honours

In 1995,

awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2016, Naughton was awarded the French

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. In 2017,

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Personal life

He is married to

Carmel Naughton Carmel Patricia Naughton is an Irish philanthropist. Naughton attended St. Louis Secondary School, Monaghan, and is a graduate of Mary Immaculate College. She married businessman and GlenDimplex founder Martin Naughton (businessman), Martin Naug ...

, with three children, and lives in

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

. In 2016, his son Fergal Naughton took over as CEO of GlenDimplex. In 2016, Naughton and his wife Carmel were named philanthropists of the year by the Community Foundation for Ireland. In May 2018,

Business for Peace Foundation Business for Peace Foundation (BfP) is a non-profit Foundation (nonprofit organization), foundation based in Oslo, Norway. Formed in 2007 by Per Leif Saxegaard, the Foundation defines its mission as being "to recognise, inspire, and accelerate busi ...

gave Naughton a ''Business for Peace Award'' in recognition of his efforts in promoting the private sector's contribution to peace and environmental sustainability. In November 2018, he was named as the ''Outstanding Contribution to Business Award'' winner at the

Irish Post ''The Irish Post'' is a national newspaper for the Irish community in Great Britain. It is published every Wednesday and is sold in shops in Great Britain and Ireland. History The first print edition of ''The Irish Post'' was published on Fr ...

Awards 2018. Naughton lives at Stackallan House,

which he purchased from

Margaret Heffernan Margaret Heffernan (born 16 June 1955) is an entrepreneur, CEO, writer and keynote speaker. She is currently a professor of Practice at the University of Bath School of Management in the UK. Heffernan is the former chief executive officer of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naughton, Martin Living people 20th-century Irish businesspeople 21st-century Irish businesspeople Irish chief executives Presidential appointees to the Council of State (Ireland) Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Irish billionaires 1939 births People educated at De La Salle College Dundalk Businesspeople from County Louth Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Irish company founders Manufacturing company founders