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WallStreet 50. Part 2
The importance of philanthropy is one of the striking features of
business life in the U.S. It is almost expected for wealthy business people
to devote large amounts of time and money to good causes.
“For me, it is a very important part of who I am,” says Bob McCann.
“It is not just, or even mainly, altruism that leads some people to get
involved. . . . I did it for the most commercial – and most New York – of
all reasons. Then the oddest thing happened. I started to care.”
- David Wighton, Financial Times, 5/4/05
The Irish have long had a place on Wall
Street. In 1868, John J. Kiernan published a financial news-sheet. He stayed
ahead of the game by rowing out to the ships in New York Harbor and collecting
the latest news from London and Europe.
Brooklyn-born, the son of Irish immigrants,
Kiernan will be remembered for hiring Wall Street Journal founders, Charles
Henry Dow and William David Jones, as early leg-men for his growing financial
news bureau.
His former office is now the site of the
New York Stock Exchange.
Back in the 1860s, the area around Wall
Street was teeming with Irish immigrants. Fleeing hunger and persecution
in Ireland, they could hardly have foreseen the great heights to which the
Irish would climb in the U.S.
Today, the Irish are involved in every
aspect of American life. But even as they assimilate and move up the ladder
they still take pride in their Irish heritage.
And while our Wall Street 50 list shows
the extraordinary influence of the Irish in the financial sector, what really
makes our Wall Street 50 unique is the number of people on the list who
are involved in community building and charitable organizations. This empathy
for others and desire to “pay if forward” is something that those immigrants
of old would be most proud of.
- Editor Patricia Harty
 
Many of our Top 50 trace their ancestry to at least two counties.
21 of Ireland’s 32 counties represented.
 John
G. Duffy
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
John Duffy has been with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. for more than 25
years and became CEO and chairman in September 2001. Prior to that, from
July 1999, he was president and co-CEO. For nine years up to that date,
he was executive vice president and in charge of the firm’s Investment Banking
Department.
Before joining KBW, Duffy was vice president at Standard & Poor’s Corporation.
He received his BA in economics from the City College of New York and attended
the MBA program at Bernard Baruch College. He serves on the board of trustees
of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College,
Dublin, as well as Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont and The
Ursuline School, New Rochelle, New York.
Duffy, a first-generation Irish-American, was instrumental in rebuilding
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods after the losses they suffered on September 11,
2001. His son Chris, who also worked for the company, was lost on that day.
Duffy’s mother is from Newtongore, County Leitrim and his father is from
Culleens, County Sligo. He lives in Crestwood, New York, with his wife Kathleen
and children Brian, Kevin, Kara and Caitlin.
 Terrence
A. Duffy
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Third-generation Irish-American Terrence Duffy is chairman of the board
of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and is
credited with leading CME to become the first publicly traded exchange
in the U.S. A member of the CME since 1981, he previously held the post
of vice chairman of the board of CME Holdings, Inc.
In 2002, Duffy was appointed by President Bush to serve on a National
Saver Summit on Retirement Savings. Bush called on Duffy again in 2003,
when he appointed him as a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment
Board (FRTIB), which administers the Thrift Savings Plan, a tax-deferred
defined contribution (retirement savings) plan for federal employees.
A Chicago native with roots in County Mayo, Duffy studied business administration
at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He serves on the board of directors
for World Business Chicago, Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, and the Advisory
Council for the Graham School of Management at Saint Xavier University.
He is an active member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Executives’
Club of Chicago, and the Chicago Committee of the Chicago Council on Foreign
Relations. He and his wife have two children.
 Ann
Duignan
Bear Stearns &Co.
Ann Duignan is a managing director at Bear Stearns, one of the world’s
largest financial services companies. She is based in the Bear Stearns offices
in New York, and covers the machinery and multi-industry sectors.
Prior to joining Bear Stearns, Duignan, who is Irish born, worked at
Sanford C. Bernstein as a capital goods analyst. In the trade publication
Institutional Investor, she was voted Best Up and Comer in 2002 and 2004.
Duignan, who is from Roscommon, received her honors degree in Agricultural
Engineering from University College, Dublin, and a higher diploma in Mathematical
Modeling and Computer Simulation from Trinity College, Dublin. Stateside,
she received an Executive MBA from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Duignan
who is married, currently makes her home in New York City, and says, “Our
home in Manhattan becomes a train station for students coming to the U.S.
to work for the summer. Last year we had upwards of 12+ students staying
at one time. We look forward to breaking the record this year!”
 Mary
Beth Farrell
AXA Financial
Mary Beth Farrell, a third-generation Irish-American, is executive vice
president, service delivery of AXA Financial Services, LLC, a subsidiary
of AXA Financial, Inc. Farrell joined AXA in 1999 and today, her responsibilities
include managing the 1,400 employees who provide service to the sales force
and the end customer.
Farrell began her career in 1979 as a staff person at KPMG where she
quickly moved up the ranks to Audit Senior Manager. Before joining AXA she
worked at Citibank and GreenPoint Financial Bank, where she was Senior Vice
President and Controller for five years.
Farrell hails from Scranton, Pennsylvania where she attended the University
of Scranton and obtained a B.S. in accounting with honors. She was awarded
the Frank J. O’Hara Award, a national alumni honor from her alma mater and
now is vice chairperson of the university’s Metropolitan Business Council
and serves as a trustee. She traces her roots on her mother’s side to County
Mayo.
 Mary
C. Farrell
UBS Wealth Management
On July 1, 2005, Mary Farrell retired from her position of managing director
and chief investment strategist for UBS Wealth Management USA. She worked
as an investment analyst and strategist for over 30 years.
Farrell began her investment career in 1971 at Pershing & Co., and held
positions at Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch before joining PaineWebber as
an investment strategist specializing in small and mid-capitalization issues.
Farrell is a regular panelist on “Wall $treet Week” with Louis Rukeyser,
and is the author of Mary Farrell’s Beyond the Basics: How to Invest Your
Money, Now That You Know a Thing or Two.
Farrell was named the Financial Women’s Association’s Woman of the Year
in 2002 and the University of Hartford’s Woman of the Year in 2001. She
received her BA in economics from Manhattanville College and her MBA from
New York University.
A second-generation Irish-American, Farrell traces her roots to counties
Westmeath, Cork and Mayo. She is married with two children.
 Thomas
V. Ford
The Bank of New York
As executive vice president and manager of the securities lending division
at Bank of New York, Thomas Ford oversees all of the company’s lending activities,
including client administration, operations, trading, and investment functions
in New York, London and Hong Kong. He joined the securities lending group
in 1994 and has had full responsibility for the entire program since 1998.
During Ford’s tenure, the program has grown nearly ten fold to become one
of the largest and most successful agent lending programs in the world.
Ford, who has over 25 years of Wall Street experience, joined The Bank
of New York in 1992 as a managing director, and was promoted to senior vice
president in 1994, before taking his current position in 2002. He is also
a member of the Bank’s Asset and Liability Committee.
Ford received his MBA at Fordham University. He is second-generation
Irish-American, with roots in Dublin. He and his wife Mary Anne have three
children.
 Robert
Golden
Prudential Financial
Robert Golden joined Prudential Financial in 1976. He held positions
of increasing responsibility during his tenure, until assuming his current
position as executive vice president and director of corporate operations
and systems.
Golden, who earned his BS in accounting and his MBA in finance from Fordham
University, is First Vice Chair of HeartShare Human Services of New York.
He was named a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher and a Knight of Malta, and was
honored as “Man of the Year” by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Brooklyn
in 2001.
Golden’s many other honors include the Outstanding Volunteer Award by
Opus for Person-to-Person, the Caritas Award from the Catholic Teachers’
Association of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
As a third-generation Irish-American, Golden traces his roots to County
Mayo. He is married to Maureen Moore and they have two children, Katie and
Bobby.
 Stephen
J. Grady
REFCO Group
As Chief Operating Officer at REFCO Global Futures, Stephen J. Grady
is responsible for global operations for the firm’s futures businesses.
He is credited with driving the institution of efficient operational process
throughout the futures businesses.
REFCO Group Ltd., LLC is a diversified financial services organization
that boasts operations in 14 countries, a total of 2,400 employees, and
more than 200,000 customer accounts in an extensive global client base.
The international nature of the company allows REFCO to provide a broad
range of financial products and services worldwide through its subsidiaries
and affiliates. These include exchange-traded derivatives, managed futures,
prime brokerage services, fixed income, foreign exchange, equities, OTC
derivatives and asset management.
Grady is a native New Yorker, a Brooklynite to be exact, and a graduate
of St. John’s University in Queens. He is a third-generation Irish-American
and is Irish on both sides of his family. His father’s ancestors hailed
from County Tipperary and his mother’s (whose maiden name was Patricia Rooney)
from County Donegal.
He is a member of the NFA and sits on the New York Board of Directors
for the FIA. He is also a member of NYMEX FCM Advisory Committee, and a
member of the New York Board of Trade.
 Edward
D. Herlihy
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Not a financial trader himself, Edward Herlihy is still a powerful insider
on the Street. Herlihy is a lawyer who specializes in the largest and most
complex bank and financial institution mergers & acquisitions, and recapitalizations
throughout the United States. Along with being one of the most sought after
lawyers in financial cases, Herlihy also lectures and writes about legal
issues involving financial matters and banking.
He has been a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz since 1984, and
has often been involved in takeover battles and proxy contests. Herlihy
began his career as a staff attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission,
and received a grounding for his future work there. He has worked for Watchell
Lipton since he left the SEC.
His Irish roots can be traced back to counties Kerry and Cork, and he
is a third-generation Irish-American. He is a native of Great Falls, New
York, and earned his bachelor’s degree at Hobart College, and his J.D. from
George Washington University. Herlihy is married and has two children.
 Michael
P. Higgins
CIBC World Markets
Michael Higgins is Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Finance
at CIBC World Markets. He is one of the most active and respected real estate
finance executives in the U.S. He has experience in all aspects of the real
estate industry and has been involved in the financing and advisory of over
$50 billion of commercial real estate transactions.
CIBC is a leading financial institution and one of the largest in North
America, with total assets exceeding $200 billion and offices around the
world.
A native of County Mayo, Ireland, Higgins earned his BA in commerce from
the National University of Ireland, Galway, where he serves on the foundation
board. He also has a master’s degree in real estate finance from New York
University. He is married and has four children.
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