For over 25 years, David C. McCourt, Chairman and CEO of Granahan McCourt Capital, has been an innovator, entrepreneur, and business leader across the construction, communications, and media industries. Although only 47 years old, he has founded or bought 10 companies in 3 countries and is widely recognized as a transformational force in the telecommunications business. The Economist described him as having "incredible credentials as a telcom revolutionary."Mr. McCourt's business activities have been characterized by a number of "firsts." In Boston, he built Corporate Communications Network, the first competitive phone company in the U.S. After U.S. troops liberated Grenada in 1983, McCourt established the first independent television station on the island, producing a range of programming for the Caribbean market. In 1996, he founded RCN Corp., the first residential telecommunications company to bundle data, voice, and video over one network.One of seven children, he was raised in Watertown, Massachusetts, and graduated from Georgetown University. In 1982, he created his first company, McCourt Cable Systems, which quickly became the largest privately owned designer and builder of cable systems in the country. The breakthrough methods he deployed to lay cable systems would, 15 years later, become the industry standard. In the meantime, his Corporate Communications Network eventually merged with MFS Communications, which was later sold to Worldcom for 14.3 billion dollars.For his next venture, Mr. McCourt forged an alliance with Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc., (PKS) the world-renowned engineering and construction firm. Together they formed the London-based McCourt/Kiewit International, which quickly became the largest designer and builder of residential cable television and telephone networks in Europe. These new networks and the creation of the first competitive cable systems in the UK, foreshadowed the surge of new network construction in the United States in the late 1990s. In 1993, Mr. McCourt purchased controlling interest in C-TEC Corporation, a diversified telecommunications company based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Four years later, McCourt split C-TEC into three publicly traded companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange: RCN Corporation, Cable Michigan, Inc, and Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises, Inc. Initially, McCourt became Chairman and CEO of all three companies, until sold or until a successor was found. Mr. McCourt also served as Chairman and CEO of a fourth company during this time period called Mercom, which he also sold. Today the combined annualized returns of the companies spun-off C-TEC are approximately three time the returns of the S&P 500 over the same time period. Beginning with his station in Grenada, Mr. McCourt has maintained a long-time interest in film and television production. Over the past several years he has served as an executive producer, including on the ten-part documentary series "What's Going On?," which examines the impact of global conflict on the lives of children around the world. The widely praised Showtime television series, produced in cooperation with the United Nations, attracted the support and participation of numerous prominent actors including Meg Ryan, Michael Douglas, and Richard Gere. Today Mr. McCourt also sits on the boards of Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network (CSPAN), The National Advisory Board of J.P. Morgan/Chase, the North American Advisory Board of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College, Dublin, the Board of Overseers of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the American Irish Historical Society.In December, 1985, President Reagan presented McCourt with the first "C Flag" award, recognizing his contribution to "Telecommunications, Media, Education, and Humanitarian Efforts". He was also selected as "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young LLP, as well as top entrepreneur by the Harvard Business School Club of New York. He has been profiled in numerous publications, including USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, The Economist, The Boston Globe, New York Magazine, the New York Times and was one of New York Magazines' New Yorkers of the Year. In April 2004 the American-Irish Historical Society announced that he would be the recipient of its annual Gold Medal, an award previously bestowed on President Reagan, author Mary Higgins Clark, and entertainer and human rights advocate Bono.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
