Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor, City of New York Michael R. Bloomberg is the 108th Mayor of the City of New York. Born on February 14, 1942 in Boston and raised by middle-class parents in Medford, Massachusetts, he attended Johns Hopkins University, where he paid his tuition by taking loans and working as a parking lot attendant during the summer.
After college, he went on to receive an MBA from Harvard Business School. He began a small start-up company called Bloomberg LP in 1981. Today, Bloomberg LP has over 250,000 subscribers to its financial news and information service. As his company grew, Michael Bloomberg started directing more of his attention to philanthropy, donating his time and resources to many different causes. He has sat on the boards of numerous charitable, cultural, and educational institutions, including Johns Hopkins University.
He officially entered public life in 2001, when he entered the race for Mayor of the City of New York. His election came just two months after the tragic attacks of 9/11, at a time when many believed that crime would return, businesses would flee, and New York might never recover. In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg was re-elected by a diverse coalition of support that stretched across the political spectrum. In his second term, he launched an innovative program to combat poverty that encourages work and makes work pay. He's undertaken a far-reaching campaign to fight global warming and prepare New York for an estimated million more residents by 2030. And as co-founder of a bipartisan coalition of more than 200 mayors from every region of the country, Mayor Bloomberg is working to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals and off city streets. We honor Mayor Bloomberg as a great philanthropist and for his leadership of our City. |
Elected Taoiseach (Prime Minister) on May 7th, 2008, Brian Cowen heads up a coalition government in which the largest party is Fianna Fáil and of which he became leader in 2008. Cowen comes from a long political tradition as his father was a Fianna Fáil T.D. in his native County Offaly from 1969 to 1982.
First elected to Dáil Éireann in June of 1984, Cowen served as Front Bench Spokesman on Agriculture, Food and Forestry, and on Health. He has served as Minister in Cabinet since 1992 in a variety of positions including Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (December 1994 to March 1997) and Minister for Health (March 1997 to June 1997). As Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2004 Brian Cowen played a key role in the implementation of The Good Friday Agreement and, subsequently, the St. Andrews Agreement which led to the restoration of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
He was appointed Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) in 2007. Brian Cowen has made the relationship between Ireland and America a priority of his administration. He is also deeply concerned with helping the weaker members of the Irish Diaspora. It is for these initiatives, and his role in the Peace Process, that we recognize and honor him tonight. |
Jack Dunn is President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of FTI Consulting, (NYSE: FCN), a global business advisory firm dedicated to protecting and enhancing enterprise value in an increasingly complex business environment. FTI are important supporters of the Fund across the country and in Ireland. Since Mr. Dunn joined FTI in 1992, the company has grown from $11 million to over $1 billion in revenues, maintaining a compound annual growth rate in excess of 30 percent, including the successful completion of more than twenty-five acquisitions. During Mr. Dunn's tenure, since its listing on the NYSE in 2001, FTI has consistently ranked among the leading performers on the Exchange.
Prior to joining FTI, Mr. Dunn spent over ten years with Legg Mason, Inc., a major regional investment banking firm where he was managing director, senior vice president, a member of its broker/ dealer's Board of Directors and head of its corporate finance group. A Baltimore native, prior to his investment banking career, Mr. Dunn practiced corporate and securities law. He holds a B.A. degree from Princeton University and is an Order of the Coif graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law. Mr. Dunn is a limited partner in the Baltimore Orioles Baseball Club, and a director of Pepco Holdings, Inc. We honor Dennis and Jack for their great achievements as Irish Americans and their generosity towards The American Ireland Fund.
Dennis J. Shaughnessy is Chairman of the Board of FTI Consulting, a NYSE traded company that supports The Ireland Funds both in the US and Ireland. Until November 1, 2004 he was a General Partner of the Grotech Capital Group, which managed approximately $1 billion in private equity funds. He headed up Grotech's Traditional Investment Group, which invested in expansion, mid-market buyouts and restructuring opportunities. The Group focused on consumer and financial products and services, healthcare, and industrial outsourcing and distribution.
Until September 1989 Dennis J. Shaughnessy had been President and Chief Executive Officer of CRI International, Inc., an international petroleum refining service business. He successfully sold its manufacturing subsidiary, the Katalistiks Group, to Union Carbide Corporation in 1984 which was followed by the sale of the entire CRI group to Shell Oil in September 1989. From 1978 to 1981, Mr. Shaughnessy was Sr. Vice President in charge of the Personal Services Division of Mercantile Bank. The Division had approximately 200 employees engaged in the supervision and management of over $3 billion of investment assets in both public and private investments. Prior to 1978, Mr. Shaughnessy was Vice President in charge of Mercantile's Corporate Financial Services Group. The department provided capital raising, M&A, and general financial consulting services to the Bank's clients. Mr. Shaughnessy serves on the Board of Directors of numerous private and publicly traded companies. |
