Frank O’Mara (born 17 July 1960) is an Irish businessman and former runner. A three-time Olympian, he was twice World Indoor Champion in the 3000m. O’Mara has post-graduate degrees from the University of Arkansas and had a successful career in the wireless industry.

Early life

O’Mara began his athletics career at age 10, finishing 3rd in the All-Ireland 400m. He attended JFK primary school and St. Munchins College, where he played rugby. O’Mara won the Irish schools 1500m in an intermediate championship record of 3:58.2.Mulqueen, Charlie. “O’Mara Shatters Another Record,” ‘‘Limerick Leader’’. June 13, 1977. His victory that day led St. Munchin's to win the team title.

College Athletics O’Mara received a scholarship to the University of Arkansas, where he studied engineering. While there, he ran 3:40.5 in Houston, TX in 1983 to become only the third Irishman to ever win the NCAA 1500m. That same year, he was on the first University of Arkansas team to win a Championship of America title at the Penn Relays, where he anchored the distance medley relay. He also anchored the 4 × 1500 m relay team to victory and was named the Penn Relays’ most valuable track performer. That summer he ran 3:52.50 at the Cork City Sports and was a semi-finalist at the inaugural world championships in Helsinki. In 1997, he was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor.

Athletics career

Primarily a miler early on, O’Mara set a personal best in 1985 for the 1500m, finishing second at the Ivo Van Dame Invitational with a time of 3:34.02. Three weeks later, he won the Fifth Avenue Mile in an impressive 3:52.28.Yannis, Alex. “O’Mara Wins Mile in an Upset,” ‘’New York Times’’. September 29, 1985. He set his personal best for the mile when finishing 4th in the 1986 Grand prix final in Rome with a time of 3:51.06. He finished 8th at the European Championship in Stuttgart in the 1500m race won by Steve Cram ahead of Sebastian Coe. Also that summer, he was a member of the Irish quartet of Coghlan, O’Sullivan and Flynn who broke the World 4 x 1 Mile record, becoming the first team to break 16 minutes, setting a new mark of 15:49.08.

In 1987, O'Mara broke the Irish record for 5,000m, finishing third place at the Bislett Games in Oslo. His time of 13:13.02 stood as the national record for 11 years. A finalist at the 1987 World Championship in Rome, he placed 9th behind the winner Saïd Aouita. He competed in three Olympic Games, finishing 4th in the preliminary rounds of the 1500m at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and fourth in his heat of the 5000m at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, narrowly missing the next round.the Barcelona Olympics

O'Mara's two major victories in the 3000m happened during World Indoor Championships. At Indianapolis in 1987, he won a tactical race in 8:03.32, beating fellow countryman Paul Donovan, who placed second. In 1989, he failed to defend his title at Budapest, finishing 5th behind Saïd Aouita. That same year, he edged out close friend Marcus O’Sullivan to win the US Indoor Championships at Madison Square Garden. But in 1991, he reclaimed his title with a dominating performance in Seville. Leading at the bell, he easily pulled away from Hammou Boutayeb in a championship record of 7:41.14, which was the third fastest time ever run. He also won the British AAA Championships title in the 3,000 metres event at the 1992 AAA Championships.

On five occasions, O'Mara was Irish national champion, and in 2015 he was inducted into the Irish Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.

Business career

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, he served as an assistant coach for the University of Arkansas and was on the coaching staff when Arkansas won its first NCAA Triple Crown in 1985. He continued his education and received an MBA and a JD. He was admitted to the Arkansas Bar in 1993. He was an RTÉ track & field commentator from 1995 to 2000, during which he covered the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics.

He began his business career as lawyer for Alltel Wireless in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1996. He held various executive roles at Alltel, including EVP of Human Resources and EVP of Customer Service. However, his tenure as Chief Marketing Officer was most notable. During that period, Alltel changed its logo and rebranded over 800 retail locations and 3,000 agent locations, launched a ground breaking product called My Circle and implemented a national, award-winning advertising campaign featuring the rival company's sales guys. ‘’2008 Effie Awards’’. In January 2009, Verizon purchased Alltel for $28.1 billion.

O’Mara was named CEO of Allied Wireless, a subsidiary of Atlantic Tele Network (ATW) in September 2009. Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) bought former Alltel markets from Verizon. ATN also bought the Alltel brand, enabling Allied to operate as Alltel in the acquired markets. O’Mara built a team of largely former Alltel colleagues, who successfully completed major systems, network, and customer support conversions. In 2013, ATN sold Allied Wireless to AT&T.Seaman, Jessica, “AT&T to Buy Wireless Business” ‘‘Arkansas Democrat Gazette’’. January 23, 2013. During his tenure as CEO, O’Mara was a member of the executive committee of the board of CTIA (the wireless trade association).

Personal life In 2010, O'Mara was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease

Personal Bests 1984Tom Black InvitationKnoxville, Tennessee, US2ndOutdoor 800 m1:47.75 1985Ivo Van Dame InvitationalBrussels, Belgium2ndOutdoor 1500m3:34.02 1986Golden GalaRome, Italy4thOutdoor mile3:51.06 1987AthletissimaLausanne, Switzerland6thOutdoor 2000m4:59.00 1989Nikaïa Grand PrixNice, France5thOutdoor 3000m7:40.41 1988Kodak ClassicGateshead, United Kingdom1stOutdoor 2 miles8:17.78 1987Bislett GamesOslo, Norway3rdOutdoor 5000 m13:13.02 1991Mt. Sac RelaysWalnut, California, US1stOutdoor 10,000m27:58.01 1987Brown InviteProvidence, Rhode Island, US1stIndoor 1500 m3.37.9h1986Fayetteville InvitationalFayetteville, Arkansas, US1stIndoor mile3.52.301991World Indoor ChampionshipsSevilla, Spain1stIndoor 30007.41.14

Achievements Representing 1984Olympic GamesLos Angeles, United Statesheats1500 m3:41.761985European Indoor ChampionshipsPiraeus, Greece4th3000 m8:11.111986European ChampionshipsStuttgart, West Germany8th1500 m3:42.901987World Indoor ChampionshipsIndianapolis, United States 1st3000 m8:03.32World ChampionshipsRome, Italy9th5000 m13:32.041988Olympic GamesSeoul, South Korea33rd (h)5000 m13:59.461989World Indoor ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary5th3000 m7:52.211990European ChampionshipsSplit, Yugoslavia24th (h)5000 m13:59.441991World Indoor ChampionshipsSeville, Spain 1st3000 m7:41.14World ChampionshipsTokyo, Japan27th (h)5000 m14:03.191992Olympic GamesBarcelona, Spain18th (h)5000 m13:38.791994European ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland13th5000 m13:58.75

References

External links St Munchin's College

www.awcc.com