Primary Job Title CEO & Founder Primary Organization Alison
Location Galway, Galway, Ireland Regions European Union (EU), Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Gender Male
Website alison.com/ LinkedIn View on LinkedIn
Mike Feerick is the CEO & Founder of Alison, the empowerment and free online learning platform. Alison, with its 50 million registered learners and 15 million graduates of its 6,000 free courses, is one of the world’s largest platforms for basic education and workplace skills training. The platform offers B2C and B2B eLearning solutions.
Mike was born in New York and then raised in Limerick and Galway, Ireland. After graduating from college, he gained an internship with philanthropist and mentor Chuck Feeney. Working with Chuck, he began to develop an interest in social entrepreneurship. He realised that the best way to address a social issue was to create a sustainable business model around the need. After working with Chuck, Mike attended Harvard, where he attained an MBA.
Before starting Alison, Mike served as the Acting Managing Director of Interactive Investor International and has also held positions with Bertelsmann Music Group. He previously owned the franchise rights to JFAX Ireland, and he is the founder and former CEO of Yac.com, a web-based unified messaging telecoms provider.
In 2000, Mike started the precursor to Alison, a subcontracting e-learning business for Microsoft called Advance Learning. He then started Alison in 2007 as an avenue to increase employability for all.
Mike is an Ashoka Fellow, UNESCO (2010) and WISE Award winner (2013). He is also Founder and Chairman of Ireland’s National Diaspora Programme, Ireland Reaching Out. He holds degrees from the University of Limerick and Harvard University.
