Cllr Gerry McMonagle, Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council, described Pramerica’s story as outstanding clearly reflecting their confidence in and commitment to Letterkenny and Donegal as an ideal location for investment.
He made his comments in his address at the official opening of Pramerica’s new state of the art facility ‘The Rock’ in Letterkenny on Friday last.
“The official opening marked an important milestone in the life of Pramerica and gave us a chance to reflect on the journey that Pramerica has had and how the company has grown steadily since it first started in 2000 with only 8 employees” says Cllr. McMonagle.
“This company now employs over 1500 people from over 35 different countries providing 200 Technology and Business services to meet the needs of Prudential Financial, Pramerica’s parent company.”
He added that the contribution that Pramerica has made not only to Letterkenny but to Donegal and the entire North West region is huge.
The building alone represents a forty-two million euro investment and employed over 220 local tradesmen during its construction, he said.
“Pramerica has demonstrated their commitment to this area in a number of ways including their continuing effort to support a strong pipeline of talented graduates in this region through its partnerships with third level institutions in the region as well as their own community programme including initiatives such as the Community Engagement Council, the Spirit of Community Awards, Junior Achievement and Coding for Girls”.
Cllr McMonagle also paid a special tribute to Barbara Koster, Senior Vice President & Global Chief Information Officer with Prudential Financial and described her as “one our greatest advocates in the United States who over the past 17 years has promoted Pramerica and Ireland as an ideal place to do business”.
Barbara Koster was one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious Tip O’Neill Irish Diaspora Award and was honoured at the special gala event on Friday evening.
Cllr McMonagle said “I believe that this is a most fitting award for Barbara. It is an award that is presented to honour those who have made an outstanding contribution to life on our island”.
“Barbara’s support for Pramerica, for Ireland and most importantly for Letterkenny and County Donegal has been outstanding. She has been a champion for Pramerica and a champion for Donegal and she had the vision and the foresight to see what this super talented group of people based here in Letterkenny could do and could achieve”.
The Mayor of Letterkenny Municipal District Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh and Minister for State Joe McHugh was also in attendance at the official opening of the new Pramerica facility in Letterkenny on Friday last.
