Biography
Kingsley Aikins was born and brought up in Dublin and educated at The
High School, Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, from which he graduated
with an honors degree in economics and politics. He also has a postgraduate Diploma in International Marketing and has studied and worked
extensively in France and Spain. For five years he was the Sydney,
Australia based representative of the Irish Trade Board and the Industrial
Development Authority (IDA) of Ireland.
He was a founding director of The Australian Ireland Fund and for two
years served as Executive Director responsible for the growth of the Fund
in Australia and setting up The Ireland Fund of New Zealand.
In January of 1993, Kingsley Aikins moved to Boston to take over as
Executive Director of The American Ireland Fund. The Fund was set up in
1976 and since then The Worldwide Ireland Funds have raised over $300
million for projects of Peace, Culture, Community Development and
Education throughout the island of Ireland. In June 1995 he was appointed
Chief Executive of the Worldwide Ireland Funds now active in 13 countries
including Ireland. He is a member of the Institutes of Marketing, Export
and Linguists. He was also responsible for the successful five-year Hope
and History Campaign to raise $100 million. After 21 years he left The
Ireland Funds and runs a consultancy company based in Dublin called
Diaspora Matters which gives advice on diaspora issues to governments,
corporates and individuals.
Kingsley represented Trinity College, Irish Universities, Vichy (France) and
Leinster in rugby. In 2008, Kingsley was awarded a CBE for his work on
British-Irish relations. He is married with three children and lives in Dublin.