|
WALL STREET 50
The 10th Anniversary
Joseph S. Berry Jr. -
Mairtin Brady - David Brennan -
Michael
Brewster - John J. Byrne -
Erin Callan - Charles Carey -
Edith
A. Cassidy - Christopher M. Condron -
Anthony T. Conroy -
Noreen M. Culhane
- David Dempsey - Donald F. Donahue -
Craig S. Donohue -
Michael G. Doorley
- Patrick Henry Dowling -
John G. Duffy - Terrence A. Duffy -
Bryan T. Durkin
- Robert M. Fitzgerald -
Tom Gahan - Timothy Galbraith -
Francis Doyle Gannon
- Regina Fay Gannon -
Robert Charles Golden -
Brian J. Haughey - Sean Heffernan
- Michael P. Higgins -
Adrian Jones - Denis P. Kelleher -
Donald Keough - Kathleen
B. Lynch - Robert J. McCann -
Brian McDermott -
Brendan McDonagh - Liam McGee
- Seamus McMahon - Anthony Murphy -
Kathleen A. Murphy - Una M. Neary -
Jack
O’Callahan - John J. O’Connor -
Brendan J. O’Halloran
- Ciaran T. O’Kelly -
P.J. O’Rourke -
James P.
O’Shaughnessy - Dennis Purcell -
Brian A. Ruane - Arthur
F. Ryan - Thomas Ryan -
Sharon T. Sager
On this, our Tenth Annual Wall Street 50, we include Irish-Americans, not only
from New York but from across the country, including Boston, Los Angeles, and
Washington, D.C.
Indeed, we have quite a presence from Chicago, where, as we go to press, it
was announced that the Chicago Board of Trade has accepted the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange’s buy out bid. Steering this new giant will be some the greatest
minds in the financial industry – all of whom are Wall Street 50 honorees.
Terrence Duffy will be the chairman of the new company, the CME Group Inc.,
while Charles Carey, will be vice-chairman. Craig Donohue will serve as CEO,
and Bryan Durkin, COO.
What an impressive display of business acumen our Wall Street 50 make. The
brightest stars in the financial industry are listed in the following pages,
and they all have one thing in common – pride in their Irish heritage.
We congratulate all of you, and offer a special word of thanks to all our
sponsors and our co-host of this year’s Wall Street 50 dinner, Financial
Dynamics.
Mortas Cine
“ The Irish courage, spirit and humor so clearly shown by our immigrant
forebears are going to be even more crucial to meet the challenges of the financial
markets of the 21st century.”
- Donald Donahue
Chairman-elect and CEO, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.
“ The Irish have proven to be a resilient and giving culture and I am
most grateful to be a part of that legacy.”
- Bryan T. Durkin
Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of the Chicago Board of
Trade.
“ My Irish heritage anchors me and secures my sense of community –
especially important in fast-moving New York.”
- Seamus McMahon
Vice President and Head of Global Financial Services at Booz Allen Hamilton.
“ It’s the warmth and pride in family, no matter what continent
we’re on, which makes the Irish so special to me.”
- John J. O’Connor
Senior Vice President and leader of Corporate Security for Fidelity Investments.
Ancestral Links:
Irish Born: 27%
1st Generation: 17%
2nd Generation: 25%
3rd Generation: 23%
4th Generation: 8%
Counties of origin:
Cork
Mayo
Kerry
Galway
Roscommon
Education: most mentioned colleges:
University College of Dublin
Trinity College of Dublin
Harvard University
Fordham University
St. John’s University
College of Mt. St. Vincent
 Joseph
S. Berry Jr.
KBW
As a Managing Director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., Joseph Berry, Jr.
is responsible for merger advisory work, recapitalizations, and capital markets
transactions.
Berry has worked for KBW for the past 11 years. He has been a member of KBW's
Investment Banking Department since 1998 (previously, he spent two years in
KBW's Equity Research Group), developed a successful analyst/associate mentoring
program, and has been integral in the Investment Banking recruitment process.
A member of The American Ireland Fund's New York regional board, and the Inner
Council of The American Ireland Fund Young Leaders, Berry served as a chairman
of the Fund's New York Dinner Gala this past May.
He is also a supporter of the Hole in the Wall Camps for critically ill children,
and served on the dinner board of the Double "H" Hole in the Woods
Camp in Lake Luzerne, New York.
A fourth-generation Irish-American who traces his family to County Cork on his
father's side, Berry lives with his wife in New York. He graduated cum laude
from Bucknell University in 1996 with a BA in Economics and English.
 Mairtin
Brady
Goldman Sachs
Mairtin Brady is a Global Technology Manager for the Private Wealth Management
(PWM) business at Goldman Sachs. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 as technology
manager for the company’s Private Bank in Zurich, Switzerland. In June
1997, he moved to New York to co-head global PWM Technology, and became a Managing
Director in 2002.
Prior to Goldman Sachs, Brady worked as a technologist for Price Waterhouse
Management Consultants in Dublin, Ireland. In 1988 he moved to London to join
Price Waterhouse Management Consultants Financial Services where he stayed until
1994 when he joined Goldman Sachs in Zurich.
Brady, who says “being Irish means not taking yourself too seriously and
relating to all people,” was born in Drogheda, County Louth. He earned
a B.Comm in Management Science, Operation Management and Economics from University
College, Dublin in 1981, and completed a post-graduate in Computer Modeling
& Simulation at Trinity College, Dublin in 1983. Brady is a member of the
Wild Geese Irish organization in Stamford, Connecticut. He resides in Greenwich
with his wife and family.
 David Brennan
Bear Stearns & Co
David Brennan is a Managing Director of Bear Stearns & Co., and is also
the National Director of the Bear Stearns Advisory Services Alliance. He has
served for the last three years on the Steering Committee for the AICPA National
Personal Financial Planning Conference. Brennan joined Bear Stearns in 2003.
Previously, he was a managing director at Oppenheimer & Co.
A second-generation Irish-American, Brennan received his BA in History from
Fordham University. In 1997, he and his wife Deirdre traveled to Ireland and
acquired a historic Georgian house, a former rectory, in County Limerick. Brennan’s
father’s family is from County Kilkenny, while his mother’s parents
are from County Leitrim.
Brennan, who serves on the Board of The Irish Repertory Theatre, New York City,
was on the dinner committee of The American Ireland Fund’s 2007 Gala,
and enjoys membership in the Irish Georgian Society and NYU’s Glucksman
Ireland House.
His wife, Deirdre, produced Sceillig & Bermuda, A Last Refuge, a natural
history documentary that was directed by the renowned Irish wildlife filmmaker
Eamon de Buitlear.
 Michael
Brewster
Lehman Brothers
Michael Brewster has worked for Lehman Brothers for 15 years, and currently
serves as Managing Director.
He analyzes, reviews, and invests for the MB Value and Growth, as well as the
MB Strategic Dividend & Income Portfolios. He also co-manages, with his
partner, Mark Sullivan, the Small, Midcap and Special Situation Portfolio.
Brewster, whose previous employment includes a stint at Bally’s Park Place,
and in casino credit at Trump Castle Hotel Casino, earned his higher diploma
in Management Finance from Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland, and later
earned his BS in Business Administration from Thomas Edison State College.
Brewster, who was born in Ireland, says his Irish heritage has taught him that,
“Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits.” His family
on his father’s side come from County Fermanagh; his mother’s family,
the Hegartys, are from County Longford. A member of the Ireland U.S. Council,
Brewster lives in New York with his wife, Margaret.
 John J. Byrne
Bank of America
As the Regulatory Relations Executive for Bank of America, John J. Byrne coordinates
relationships with federal regulators, analyzes regulatory proposals and identifies
emerging regulatory risks. Byrne joined Bank of America in 2005 as senior vice
president for AML Strategies. The company has an affiliate in Dublin called
Banc of America Ireland Leasing Co., Ltd.
Byrne, who received the American Bankers Association Distinguished Service Award
in 2006, earned his BA from Marquette University and a law degree from George
Mason. He is a member of the Bar in both the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania.
A second-generation Irish-American, Byrne states that his “appreciation
for the importance of participating in the political process, that is a keystone
of Irish culture in the U.S., stems from several Irish role models. . . .”
Byrne cites his late father, whose family hailed from Counties Galway and Carlow,
as one of those role models. He traces his mother’s family to counties
Sligo and Galway.
 Erin Callan
Lehman Brothers
Erin Callan, a Managing Director in charge of Hedge Fund Investment Banking
at Lehman Brothers, has worked in the company since 1995, and has headed Lehman
Brothers’ Global Finance Solutions Group and Global Finance Analytics
Group in Investment Banking. Before coming to Lehman Brothers, Callan was an
associate at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York,
specializing in corporate taxation.
For the past two years, Callan has been a member of the investment bank’s
Senior Client Council. She is a multi-year recipient
of the Chairman’s Award for Client Service and President’s Corporate
Citizenship Award, a senior leader of WILL (the women’s network at Lehman
Brothers) and has been honored by the Women’s Bond Club as its 2006 Merit
Award Winner.
Callan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1987, where she earned a BA.
She also holds a JD from New York University School of Law, 1990.
Callan is a third-generation Irish-American. She traces her father’s family
to County Roscommon and her mother’s to County Donegal. A New York City
native, Callan is married and owns three dogs.
 Charles
Carey
For a second- or third-generation leader of the Chicago Board of Trade,
Charles Carey sure talks like a guy from the neighborhood. His voice is Ditka’s.
So is his physique. By Abdon M. Pallasch
“I guess that comes from spending too much time in the pits,” Charles
Carey laughed, motioning to the cavernous room down the hall from his office
where traders still stand in “open outcry” pits shouting out offers
to each other.
Even as about 70 percent of business is now done on-line, the chaotic-looking-to-outsiders
shouting and flashing of hand signals starts with a bell every morning
and still makes up a respectable share of the 4.2 million contracts executed
in this building every day.
“The options are still all open outcry — complex transactions need
to be bargained for in a face-to-face environment,” Carey said. “I
was a pit guy. I came out of the corn pits.”
“A lot of guys are like, ‘This guy’s just a big palooka,’”
said playwright Mike Houlihan, a longtime friend of Carey. “But this guy’s
very smart. Those seats used to go for $250,000 and now they go for $2 million.
He has turned that joint around completely and he’s on the brink of the
deal of the century,”
When we spoke, Carey and his friend Terry Duffy, chairman of the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange [“The Merc”], were trying to convince the 2,000 Chicago
Board of Trade members to approve a $10 billion purchase of the Board of Trade
by the Merc in the face of an $11 billion counter-offer by Atlanta upstart InterContinentalExchange
Inc.
While the pictures on the wall of his office show Carey with President
Bush (“Thanks for coming to my birthday
dinner,” the president wrote), President Clinton, Mayor Daley, and Carey’s
grandfather Peter Carey testifying before Congress, it’s Carey’s
rapport with the rank-and-file board members he was counting on to carry
the day.
Harvard and Northwestern MBAs do not dominate the Chicago Board of Trade. Many
of these guys worked their way up to millionaires from ground level and they
know the bottom line. That’s why they voted in Carey as chairman four
years ago — he speaks their language.
“A formal education didn’t do you a bit of good down here —
it was just street smarts and common sense,” Carey said. Carey recently
served as commencement speaker at his alma mater, Western Illinois University
in McComb, Ill.
He grew up on Chicago’s South Side in the bungalow belt but then moved
to the west suburbs to attend Fenwick Franciscan High School. He transferred
to Oak Park-River Forest High School to play football as a middle guard. After
graduating from Western Illinois, he took a union job installing electrical
conduit in the underground downtown tunnels that would become the site of the
Great Chicago Flood of 1992 — not the typical route for someone aspiring
to become chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade.
Carey’s great-grandfather Simon Carey, a blacksmith, came to Chicago from
Clare and married Mary O’Brien from Roscommon. On his mother’s side,
Patrick J. Callan came from Monaghan to New York in 1979. Carey also has some
German and American Indian ancestry.
Simon Carey’s son Peter Carey became chairman of the Board of Trade. His
son, Charles (Senior), worked as a lard broker. Charles Sr.’s’ brother
Bernard Carey also served as president of the board, and as sheriff of Cook
County in the 40’s when wartime restrictions on trading forced him to
seek an outside job for a while. Carey proudly displays his grandfather’s
badge in his office.
It would be years before the current Charles thought about succeeding his father
and his uncle. He started out bellowing in the pits, waving hands like the guys
still doing that today. He got on the board in 1990. As his business boomed
and friendships blossomed with other traders, he decided to make a run for the
family office in 2003. No one was going to hand it to him.
“It’s a bloodsport fight every few years,” he said.
“But you know us Irish — we like a good fight.”
He was re-elected in 2005.
The old-school relic from the corn pits embraced the big change to electronic
trading, helped birth an Initial Public Offering and started the negotiations
with the Merc’s Terry Duffy. Together, they decided to merge into a Chicago
behemoth. The U.S. Justice Dept. has given its O.K. and the body that oversees
shareholders’ interests has likewise signed off. The only wrinkle was
the last-minute entry of ICE into the mixture.
“Then once we did all the work, this interloper starts coming in here,”
Carey said, dismissively, of ICE.
Duffy, as reserved as Carey is uninhibited, just nodded on Carey’s couch.
“We do six times the volume he does,” Carey said of ICE’s
chief executive, Jerry Sprecher. “It was an amazing thing to have to address
their terms.”
ICE outbid the price-per-share the Merc was offering members of the Board of
Trade. The Merc upped its offer to what Carey says is a value of about $7 million
to each member — after which they keep their seat at the board and continue
doing business just as before. That’s still not as high as the offer ICE
is making, but Carey and Duffy hope to convince members that a purchase by the
neighboring exchange is better for them in the long run.
“We’re battling — a lot of guys don’t think they’re
getting paid enough,” Carey said. “It’s an old-fashioned slugfest
— kind of like a union meeting.”
Carey never expected to succeed his grandfather as chairman of the board but
he has grown quite attached, he said.
“This has not been work to me,” he said. “It’s more
of a pleasure. It’s been something new every day.”
Carey and his wife of 22 years, Linda, live in the suburb of Western Springs
with their three sons, Charlie, 16, Matthew, 14 and Jack, 8.
Carey also served as executive director of the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame.
“It’s kind of a Damon Runyon life — all politics, sports,
it’s all about the stories,” Mike Houlihan said. “The guy
remembers the scores of football games that took place before he was even alive.”
Talking to his Uncle Bernard — the former chairman who’s now 90
and still doing well and keeping his seat on the board — Carey verified
some family history facts with his uncle, then warned him to quickly mail in
his vote in favor of the purchase by the Merc and not to worry about the threat
from ICE.
“We’ll kick some ass,” Carey told his uncle, smiling.
As we go to press we received the news that the Chicago Board of Trade agreed
to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s buyout offer. Charles Carey will
serve as vice-chairman of the new CME group.
 Edith A.
Cassidy
U.S.Trust, Bank of America
Private Wealth Management
Edie Cassidy is a Managing Director and division manager at U.S. Trust Company,
Bank of America Private Wealth Management. She is responsible for managing individual
client assets and a division of portfolio managers. Upon joining U.S. Trust
in 1989, Cassidy was appointed Director of the Equity Research Division.
Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Cassidy was an investment executive at Piper,
Jaffray & Hopwood in New York City. From 1976 through 1986, she was with
International Business Machines Corporation in New York, where her last position
was marketing manager.
Cassidy is a graduate of Goucher College. She is a member of the Board of Trustees
of Learning Leaders in New York City and of the Westmoreland Davis Foundation
in Leesburg, Virginia.
A third-generation Irish-American, Cassidy traces her Irish roots back to counties
Donegal, Fermanagh, and Galway. She is married to Richard Hanley and lives in
New York.
 Christopher
M. Condron
AXA Financial
Christopher “Kip” Condron is President and CEO of AXA Financial,
Inc., and a member of the AXA Group Management Board.
He joined AXA in 2001, immediately following his roles as President and COO
of the Mellon Financial Corporation and Chairman and CEO of the Dreyfus Corporation.
Condron began his career at C.S. McKee and Co. before forming his own financial
planning firm, Condron Associates. When the firm was acquired by
AYCO Corporation, he became co-president.
In 1989, Condron joined The Boston Company, now Mellon Private Asset Management,
where he was named executive vice president. In 1995, he took over the responsibility
for the Dreyfus Corporation.
Condron received his bachelor’s degree in business from the University
of Scranton. He is a member of the Financial Services Roundtable and serves
on its board of directors. He is also the director and treasurer of The American
Ireland Fund.
Married with three children, Condron is a third-generation Irish-American with
roots in counties Donegal and Cork.
 Anthony
T. Conroy
BNY ConvergEx Group
Anthony Conroy is a Managing Director and Head of Trade for BNY ConvergEx Execution
Solutions LLC, a member of BNY ConvergEx Group. He oversees broker-assisted
trading and is responsible for the coordination and deployment of customized
trading solutions designed to meet clients’ investment strategies.
A member of the senior management team of BNY ConvergEx Execution Solutions,
Conroy, who has more than 20 years of direct investment and trading experience,
began his career as a Vice President and Sales Trader at Shearson Lehman Brothers.
Prior to joining BNY ConvergEx Group, Conroy served as a head trader and portfolio
manager for Merrill Lynch Investment Management’s hedge fund unit.
An active member in the securities industries’ Wall Street Committee for
St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Conroy is a third-generation Irish-American
who traces his roots on his father’s side to County Clare, and is very
proud of his Irish heritage. A graduate of St. John’s University, where
he received his BS in Finance, he is married with five children.
 Noreen
M. Culhane
New York Stock Exchange
As Executive Vice President for the New York Stock Exchange’s Global Corporate
Group, Noreen Culhane is responsible for the Exchange’s efforts to attract
new listings and to serve companies already listed. She manages Business Development,
Client Service, Marketing, Sales Support, and the Initial Public Offering process
and Structured Products for the Exchange’s business worldwide.
A first-generation Irish-American, with roots in County Kerry, Culhane
believes that strong relationships founded on mutual trust and respect are essential
to economic growth and peace and that Ireland and the U.S. should lead the way
and be a model for others.
A native New Yorker, Culhane obtained an undergraduate degree from the College
of Mount St. Vincent, where she serves on the board, and a graduate degree in
education from the College of New Rochelle. She also completed the Advanced
Management Program at Harvard. She serves on the Operations Committee for the
NYSE and the Fund Raising Board of the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
She is a board member of the Marco Polo Network, and a board member of the Economic Club
of New York.
 David Dempsey
Bentley Associates, L.P.
David Dempsey, who has over 27 years of experience as an international investment
banker specializing in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, is a Managing
Director at Bentley Associates L.P. in New York. Prior to joining Bentley, David
worked with a number of banks in New York and London, on the merger and acquisition
and corporate finance sides and also with a major management consulting
firm.
David, who began his career at the Chase Bank in London after completing his
term as Secretary General of AIESEC International in Brussels, also serves as
the director of The New Ireland Fund, Inc., a closed-end diversified investment
company with 80 percent of its assets in a portfolio of Irish securities. He
is an Advisory Board member for the Pennell Venture Partners Marathon Fun L.P.,
a private equity fund, and is also the founder of the China Investment Group,
LLC.
David grew up in Dublin and earned a Bachelor of Commerce from University College
Dublin and his MBA from Fordham University. He has served as a Visiting Professional
at New York University, is a commercial pilot and Master Flight Instructor in
his spare time and lives in New York City with his wife, Deborah.
 Donald
F. Donahue
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
Donald F. Donahue is Chairman-elect and Chief Executive Officer of The
Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and its core subsidiaries, National
Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), The Depository Trust Company (DTC) and
Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC). Having served as President and CEO
of DTCC since August 2006, his new position is effective August 1, 2007.
A 21-year veteran of DTCC and previously, DTC, Donahue served as Chief Operating
Officer from May 2003 until August 2006.
Born in New York City, Donald is a second-generation Irish-American who traces
his roots to Kerry on his father’s side and Cavan on his mother’s.
On what his Irish heritage means to him he says, “The Irish courage, spirit
and humor so clearly shown by our immigrant forebears are going to be even more
crucial to meet the challenges of the financial markets of the 21st century.”
Donald is a graduate of Columbia University where he received his BA. He is
married with one child.
 Craig S.
Donohue
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
On October 17, 2006, it was announced that Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)
would acquire the Chicago Board of Trade. The $25 billion deal will create the
world’s biggest market for derivatives. Behind this deal is Craig Donohue,
who, since his appointment as CEO in 2004, has set CME’s vision and developed
growth strategies to expand the company’s core business lines and global
distribution. He had a pivotal role in the successful CME’s demutualization
in 2000, the company’s initial public offering in 2002, and a historical
transaction processing agreement with the Chicago Board of Trade in 2003.
After receiving a BA from Drake University in 1983, Donohue earned a Juris
Doctor from John Marshall Law School in 1987, a Master of Laws degree in Financial
Services Regulation from IIT Chicago-Kent College in 1989, and a Master of Management
degree from Northwestern University in 1995.
Donohue, who is Chairman of the Board the National Council on Economic Education
(NCEE), a nonprofit organization, is a third-generation Irish-American
with roots in County Cork. He lives in Northbrook, Illinois, with his wife and
their three children.
 Michael
G. Doorley
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Michael G. Doorley is Chief Administrative Officer for Prudential Financial’s
International Insurance and Investments Division and Global Marketing Communications.
Prior to joining Prudential, he was Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
at Van Eck Global. Prior to Van Eck, he was with Deloitte and Touche.
In 1992, Mike founded the Wall Street Friends Annual St. Patrick’s Day
Cocktail Reception to benefit various Irish-American charitable causes. Over
the years the event has assisted such organizations as the Special Olympics
held in Ireland and most recently the families of soldiers injured
and killed from the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry New York State Army National
Guard, also known as “The Fighting 69th” or “Irish Brigade.”
Born in the Bronx, NY, Mike received a BA in Accounting from Fordham University
and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mike is a first-generation
Irish-American with both parents from Strokestown, Co. Roscommon. He is a member
of The Ireland US Council and visits Ireland frequently.
 Patrick
Henry Dowling
CIT Aerospace and Defense Finance
Since October 2005, Patrick Henry Dowling has been the Managing Director and
General Manager of CIT Aerospace and Defense Finance. In his time at CIT, a
leading provider of commercial and consumer financing solutions, Dowling
has been responsible for expanding the global reach of CIT Aerospace & Defense
Finance by providing solutions for manufacturers, suppliers and service providers
seeking debt, leasing and structured financing. Dowling, who received
a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Fordham University and a Juris Doctorate
from Pace University School of Law, began his career at Price Waterhouse and
The Continental Group. In 1984, he began working at GE Commercial Finance and
later served as Managing Director and Industry Leader-Aerospace and Defense
for GE Commercial and Industrial Finance. Dowling is an active member of the
American Institute of CPA’s and the Connecticut Society of CPA’s,
as well as the National Chamber Foundation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and
the Institute for Defense & Business. A second-generation Irish-American,
Dowling mother’s family hails from County Cork. He is married to Kate
and has three sons: Patrick (Paddy), Connor, and Mackenzie (Mack).
 John G. Duffy
KBW Inc.
In 2001, John Duffy was named Chairman and CEO of Keefe, Bruyette &Woods,
Inc., a firm that he has been with for more than 25 years. He had served
as the president and co-CEO from 1999 until 2001, and in the nine years previous,
Duffy was the executive vice-president of the Investment Banking Department
within the firm. Duffy’s prior employment was with Standard &
Poor’s Corporation as vice president.
After attending the City College of New York, where he earned his BA in economics,
Duffy received his MBA from Bernard Baruch College. Duffy is active on the board
of trustees of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University
College, Dublin, and, since 2004, the board of directors of The American Ireland
Fund. He also serves as the chairman of the Investment Committee of the Cardinal
& Gold Fund of Cardinal Hayes High School, Bronx, New York.
In 2006, Duffy gave the keynote address at Irish America’s Wall Street
50 dinner, and was honored by the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United
States. His mother is from Newtongore, County Leitrim and his father is from
Culleens, County Sligo.
 Terrence
A. Duffy
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Terrence A. Duffy has been the Executive Chairman of Chicago Mercantile Exchange
(CME) since 2002. Previously, he served as Vice Chairman of the Board of CME
Holdings Inc. from its formation in August of 2001.
In 2002, Duffy was appointed by President Bush to serve on a National Saver
Summit on Retirement Savings. The following year, he was confirmed by
the U.S. Senate as a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board
(FRTIB). He serves on several boards including FXMarketSpace Limited, a joint
operation of CME and Reuters, and World Business Chicago. His involvement extends
to groups such as the Economic Club of Chicago and the President’s Circle
of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He is also involved in the Mercy Home
for Boys and Girls, and Saint Xavier University. In 2007, he received a Doctor
of Humane Letters from DePaul University.
A native of Chicago, Duffy attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
He calls his third-generation Irish heritage a source of “great pride,”
and traces his father’s family to Westport, County Mayo. He lives in Lemont,
Illinois with his wife and twin sons.
 Bryan T.
Durkin
Chicago Board of Trade
As Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of the Chicago Board
of Trade, Bryan Durkin is responsible for the exchange’s trading operations
and oversees both floor-based and electronic trading platforms.
Joining the exchange staff of the CBOT in 1982, Durkin has played many roles
including being in charge of the exchange’s Office of Investigations
and Audits. The former Chairman of the Joint Compliance Committee, Bryan has
represented the exchange on various industry panels concerning trading practices
and operations.
A second-generation Irish-American, Durkin traces his roots to County Mayo on
both sides. He credits his Irish immigrant grandparents with “paving the
way” for his “beautiful and productive life,” adding: “The
Irish have proven to be a resilient and giving culture and I am most grateful
to be a part of that legacy.” He has a Bachelor’s degree in Business
Administration and an MBA from Lewis University. Durkin has been an adjunct
faculty member of the MBA program at his alma mater where he taught courses
on organizational behavior and management. Durkin lives in Chicago with his
wife and four children.
 Robert
M. Fitzgerald
LaSalle Bank
Robert M. Fitzgerald is Senior Vice President in the Public Funds Division of
LaSalle Bank where he is a relationship manager for clients in the government
sector. Prior to joining the bank in July 2005, he was senior vice president
for Bank of America. Fitzgerald also had a long career with the Federal Reserve
System, serving as senior vice president of operations at the Chicago Fed, and
Chairman of the Federal Reserve System’s subcommittee on electronic payments.
Fitzgerald holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Loyola University, Chicago,
and is an alumnus of both the Graduate School of Banking at the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, and the Executive Development Program at Northwestern University,
Evanston. He serves as vice chair of the Chicago Crime Commission, is secretary-treasurer
of the Bankers Club of Chicago, a trustee of Old St. Patrick’s Church,
a trustee of the Children at the Crossroads Foundation and a director of Concern
Worldwide (US). Fitzgerald is a second-generation Irish American, with ancestors
from Counties Kerry and Mayo and is a member of the Irish Fellowship Club. He
is the father of four adult children and has eight grandchildren and lives in
Chicago.
 Tom Gahan
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc,
Tom Gahan is the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.,
the U.S. investment banking and securities arm of German banking colossus Deutsche
Bank. The firm offers underwriting, financial advisory services,
and mergers and acquisitions assistance, and specializations in the technology
and telecommunications equipment industries. Deutsche Bank Securities also provides
investment products, brokerage, and financial advice to wealthy individual
investors through its Deutsche Bank Alex Brown division. Gahan is also Head
of CIB Americas based in New York. He is a member of both the Global Banking
Executive Committee and Global Markets Executive Committee and is responsible
for Deutsche Bank’s corporate and investment banking business across advisory,
debt and equity activities in the Americas. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Gahan spent
11 years at Merrill Lynch in a number of capacities, most recently as Global
Head of Credit Trading within the Fixed Income Division. Gahan has a BA in Economics
from Brown University.
Married with five children, Gahan is a third-generation Irish-American
with roots in County Wexford.
 Timothy
Galbraith
Bear Stearns Asset Management
Tim Galbraith is a Managing Director at Bear Stearns. Galbraith joined Bear
Stearns Asset Management in 2001 as an equity research analyst overseeing software
and technology with the New Castle Funds. He has also worked as an analyst with
the Bear Stearns Fund of Hedge Funds group. Currently, he is in charge of the
manager selection process for HedgeSelect, the hedge fund platform business
out of Bear Stearns.
Tim traces his Irish roots to his mother’s side. Hailing from County Limerick,
the Sextons were early settlers of Connecticut. At the age of 21 Galbraith set
out to reclaim his Irish heritage, spending the summer hitchhiking through Ireland.
Tim told Irish America, “My ‘thumbs up’ salute to the Irish
people left an indelible impression and my travels inspired me to write my college
thesis on the Anglo-Irish Accord of 1985.”
A graduate of Claremont McKenna College, Tim received his MBA from Columbia
University. He lives in New York with his wife Jill Slansky, who is a senior
counsel at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. They have two children,
Madeline and Jack.
 Francis
Doyle Gannon
Royce & Associates, LLC
Francis Gannon is a Principal and Assistant Portfolio Manager for Royce &
Associates, LLC, a firm he joined in 2006. The company is the investment
adviser for The Royce Funds.
Prior to joining Royce & Associates, Gannon worked as chief investment strategist
with AIG SunAmerica Asset Management. Under his portfolio management supervision,
SunAmerica Growth and Income Fund was listed in Gene Walden’s book, The
100 Best Mutual Funds to Own in America (4th Ed.) in 2001. He was a regular
panelist on Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street for several years and has more
than 13 years of investment management experience.
Gannon has a BA in English and Economics and an MA in English Literature from
Boston College. He is married and has three children, named Francis Jr., Charlotte,
and Emmett.
A fourth-generation Irish-American, Gannon is a member of the Friendly Sons
of St. Patrick, which once named him Young Irish-American of the Year. Gannon
traces his Irish ancestry to counties Mayo and Roscommon.
 Regina
Fay Gannon
UBS Investment Bank
Regina Fay Gannon is a Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank and head of
the U.S. Equities Client Relationship Management Group.
In addition, she co-heads Access for Success, an initiative recently launched
by UBS IB and Global AM to facilitate cross-divisional business opportunities
– particularly with pension funds. Gannon is co-chair of UBS Investment
Bank’s Client Strategy Committee, the head of the bank’s Women’s
Network – All Bar None, and a member of various management committees
for the global equity business. Last year, Gannon was awarded the UBS Leadership
Award in recognition of her commitment to the client business and talent development.
Gannon worked previously as a vice president of Merrill Lynch’s Relationship
Management Group. Before attending business school, Gannon served as vice president
of investment banking at Chemical Bank for four years. She earned her MBA at
the University of Chicago and her BA from Georgetown University.
A second-generation Irish-American, whose family hails from Counties Mayo and
Kerry, Gannon lives in New York with her husband Frank and their three children.
 Robert
Charles Golden
Prudential Financial
Bob Golden joined Prudential in 1976 and is now Executive Vice President of
Prudential Financial. Under his leadership, Prudential founded a technology
and call center in County Donegal, which now employs 600 people. Golden, who
earned his BS and MBA from Fordham University, serves as first vice chair
and director of HeartShare Human Services of New York, a nonprofit organization
for children in need. In 2000, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
In 2001, he was named Man of the Year by Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and
by the New York Aquarium.
In 2002, Golden was named Man of the Year by Catholic Big Brothers, and in 2006
was named a Distinguished Irish-American by New York City Comptroller, William
Thompson. Golden is a Knight of Malta and a Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulchre.
A third-generation Irish-American with roots in County Mayo, Golden is a member
of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the
St. Patrick Society of Brooklyn. He and his wife Maureen live in Staten Island
with their two children, Katie and Bobby.
 Brian J.
Haughey
Citigroup
As a Director with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Brian J. Haughey has been
a driving force in developing the company’s overseas Mutual Fund Fee market.
His innovations in product securitizations led to increased demand and over
$3.5 billion in sales.
Haughey was raised in Ireland and attended University College Dublin, graduating
with a BS in 1985 and a Master’s in Business Studies in 1990. He moved
to the United States in 1994 and began working at Citigroup, then known as Citicorp,
in 1997. Before moving to the United States, Haughey worked in the electronics
industry in Dublin.
Haughey’s father, Sean, is from County Derry, while his mother, Imelda
Corcoran, hails from County Galway. He is married with three children, and says,
“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Irish who came to the USA
before us.”
 Sean Heffernan
LaSalle Bank
As Senior Vice President and head of LaSalle Bank’s Public Funds Division,
Sean Heffernan has a leading role managing the bank’s business and presence
in the government market in Illinois. He is the chairman of an internal committee
coordinating the delivery of the bank’s products and services in the government
market.
Sean joined LaSalle in 2004 after several years as a partner in the law firm
Holland & Knight. He served as an assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley from
1990-2001, and represented the City of Chicago before the Illinois General Assembly,
the governor’s office and state agencies.
A third-generation Irish-American, Sean traces his roots to County Kerry. Heffernan’s
father’s family comes from the town of Ballylongford. His mother’s
family is from Ballybunion.
Sean Heffernan is a graduate of Notre Dame. He received his Juris Doctorate
from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law. Sean lives in Chicago with
his wife Nancy and their four children, Mary, Edward, Matthew and Caroline.
LaSalle Bank has a subsidiary in Dublin, Ireland.
 Michael
P. Higgins
CIBC World Markets
Michael Higgins is Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Finance at CIBC
World Markets.
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.
Higgins 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.
A native of County Mayo, Higgins earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from National
University of Ireland, Galway, where he serves on the foundation board. He also
holds a Master of Science degree in Real Estate Finance from New York University.
Higgins, who is married and has four children, is a member of The American Ireland
Fund. An avid golfer, he served as chairman of the AIF’s golf outing at
Baltusrol, New Jersey in 2004, helping to raise $100,000 for Irish charity.
 Adrian Jones
Goldman Sachs & Co.
As a Managing Director in the Principal Investment Area (PIA) of Goldman Sachs
in New York, Adrian Jones focuses on healthcare and consumer-related opportunities
and sits on PIA’s Global Investment Committee. Adrian joined Goldman in
New York in 1994. After joining PIA in London in 1998, Jones returned to New
York in 2002, and became a Managing Director later that year. He went on to
become a partner in 2004.
Jones joined the Irish Army as an officer cadet in 1981, and served as
a lieutenant from 1983-1989. From 1987 to 1988 he served in the United Nations
peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. In 1989 Jones moved to the U.S. and
worked for two years at the Bank of Boston in Credit Derivatives. Aside from
his military accomplishments, Adrian, who was born in Roscommon, has a BA in
Economics and Politics from University College, Galway, an MA in Economics from
University College, Dublin, and an MBA from Harvard. Jones lives in Ridgewood,
New Jersey, with his wife, Christina, and their two sons, Danny and Liam. In
addition to a number of corporate boards, Adrian serves on the Board of Autism
Speaks.
 Denis P.
Kelleher
Wall Street Access
Denis Kelleher is Founder and CEO of Wall Street Access, a diversified
financial services organization with expertise in money management and
trading for institutions and hedge funds. Billions of dollars are processed
through Wall Street Access annually and it is a member of the New York Stock
Exchange.
Kelleher began his career in 1958 as a messenger with Merrill Lynch, where through
dynamic financial talent, he rose dramatically through the company ranks
until 1980 when he used his acquired knowledge and experience to found Wall
Street Access.
Kelleher, a native of County Kerry, Ireland, is a graduate of St. John’s
University, where he now serves as Chairman of the Board. He is a member of
both the Independence Community Bank and The New Ireland Fund, and was proud
to be recognized with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1995.
In 2005, Kelleher was Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in
New York City. He is married with three children.
 Donald Keough
Allen & Co.
Following his retirement as President, COO and Director of the Coca-Cola Company
in 1993, Donald Keough became Chairman of the board of Allen & Company Incorporated,
a New York investment-banking firm.
In 2004, Coca-Cola re-elected him to the post of director, making a change in
their retirement policy. Keough has been a crucial member of the company since
1950.
Keough also serves on the boards of IAC/InterActive Corp., Global Yankee Holdings,
Convera Corporation, and Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. He has received various honors
in his career, including honorary doctorates from the University of Notre Dame,
his alma mater Creighton University, Emory University, Trinity College, Dublin,
University College Dublin, and Clarke University. The University of Notre Dame’s
highest honor, the Laetare Medal, was presented to Keough in 1993. In 1995,
Keough established the Keough Institute of Irish Studies at the University of
Notre Dame. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Art & Sciences
in 2002, and inducted into the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of
Fame in 2003. Keough received honorary Irish citizenship in June, 2007.
 Kathleen
B. Lynch
Merrill Lynch & Co
As Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer with Global Securities
Research & Economics for Merrill Lynch, Kathleen Lynch is responsible for
the Finance, Human Resources, Marketing & Communications, Operations and
Technology groups within Research.
Lynch began working for Merrill Lynch as an analyst in 1987; from 2001-05, she
served as a business manager within the research department. Lynch attended
Bucknell University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business
administration. She later received her MBA in finance and international
business from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Lynch is proud to be a first-generation Irish-American. Her father’s
family hails from County Galway, while her mother’s family (McAleavy)
is from County Donegal. Now married with three children named Aidan, Aine, and
Declan, Lynch reflects on her Irish upbringing: “I am very proud
of my Irish heritage and am blessed to have seen Ireland through the eyes of
my mother, who grew up in a fisherman’s village in County Donegal
during tougher times. I hold her values very dear – work hard, share with
others, enjoy the simple things in life, and hold faith and family dear.”
 Robert J.
McCann
Merrill Lynch
Robert J. McCann is Vice Chairman and President of Merrill Lynch & Co.,
Inc.’s Global Private Client Group. He is also a member of the firm’s
Executive Management and Operating Committees.
Since joining the firm in 1982, McCann has served in a variety of leadership
positions including head of Global Equities, head of Global Securities Research
& Economics, Chief Operating Officer of Global Markets & Investment
Banking and Vice Chairman of the Wealth Management Group.
McCann is a member of the Board of Trustees of Bethany College and the Board
of Directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).
He serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of The American
Ireland Fund and as a consultant to the Administration of the Patrimony of the
Apostle See (A.P.S.A).
McCann, whose family roots are in County Armagh, is also chairman of the Sponsors
for Educational Opportunity (SEO) Executive Advisory Board. He is married with
two children.
 Brian
McDermott
UBS Investment Bank
Brian McDermott is an Executive Director at UBS Investment Bank in Stamford,
Connecticut. He has worked for UBS for 10 years, two of which were spent in
Zurich, Switzerland, and is the North American Head of FX Prime Services Sales.
McDermott attended Iona College on a bagpipe scholarship, where he earned a
BA in Finance. In 1991, he began working at Prudential Securities.
A second-generation Irish-American, McDermott holds dual citizenship. He traces
his roots to Monaghan and Derry on his father’s side and Longford on his
mother’s side. A member of the Westchester chapter of the Friendly Sons
of St. Patrick, McDermott says, “My parents taught us to be proud of our
Irish heritage. We were always learning about the history of Ireland and the
many traditions we have. My Irish heritage is a constant reminder to follow
the examples set forth by my ancestors.”
McDermott, who coaches youth lacrosse and CYO basketball, in his spare time,
lives in Pleasantville, New York with his wife, Lorraine, and their four sons.
 Brendan
McDonagh
HSBC Finance Corporation
Brendan McDonagh is Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Finance Corporation
and Chief Operating Officer for HSBC North America Holdings, Inc.
As CEO McDonagh is responsible for HSBC’s consumer finance businesses
in the U.S., including consumer and mortgage lending, credit cards, auto finance,
insurance and taxpayer financial services. As COO he has responsibility
for the corporate head office functions at HSBC headquarters in Prospect
Heights, Illinois. McDonagh is also a group general manager for HSBC Holdings,
the Chair-elect of the Consumer Bankers Association, an associate of the Institute
of Financial Services, and a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a
UK organization.
McDonagh is a first-generation Irish-American whose father is from Dublin
and mother is from Ballina, County Mayo. He received his Bachelor of Business
Studies and Master of Arts degrees from Trinity College, Dublin. He is active
in several USA/Ireland organizations including the New York Regional Board of
the American Ireland Fund and the USA Board of Co-operation Ireland. He currently
resides in Chicago with his wife and two children.
 Liam McGee
Bank of America
Liam E. McGee is President of Global Consumer and Small Business Banking for
Bank of America, which serves nearly 56 million consumer and small business
households in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
McGee joined Bank of America in 1990 and has broad leadership experience in
consumer and commercial banking, as well as technology and operations. In 2001,
he was appointed president of the Bank of America Consumer Bank.
Active in civic affairs and education, McGee is a member of the National Urban
League Board of Trustees and the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte, North
Carolina. He recently served as chairman of the board of trustees of both the
University of San Diego and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.
A native of County Donegal, Ireland, McGee grew up in Southern California and
speaks Spanish fluently. A graduate of the University of San Diego, he
has a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University,
and a law degree from Loyola Law School.
McGee and his family live in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 Seamus
McMahon
Booz Allen Hamilton
Seamus McMahon is the Vice President and Head of Global Financial Services at
Booz Allen Hamilton, based in New York. Working with the firm from 1985-1995
Seamus rejoined Booz Allen in October 2006. In his current position McMahon
leads the retail banking practice in North America.
Prior to rejoining the firm McMahon held leadership positions at other
consulting firms and had line responsibilities at Toronto Dominion Bank
and HSBC Group. His most recent position was at HSBC as Regional President of
the Atlantic region where he oversaw all branch and commercial activities.
McMahon, whose roots are in counties Monaghan and Tipperary attended Trinity
College, Dublin where he graduated with a BA in Economics. Asked what his Irish
heritage means to him McMahon answers, “My Irish heritage anchors me and
secures my sense of community – especially important in fast-moving New
York.” McMahon has two children. He is a member of the board of the National
Council of Economics Education and lives in New York.
 Anthony
Murphy
HSBC North America Holdings Inc.
Tony Murphy is currently Senior Executive Vice President, Head of Portfolio
Management, HSBC North America Holdings Inc., (HNAH), a new position established
in March 2007.
Prior to his appointment to his present role, Murphy was President and CEO of
HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., and a dual executive officer of HBUS. He had
been a leading member of the Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets (CIBM)
senior management team in the Americas since 2000. Before joining HSBC in 1990,
he held positions at Towers, Perrin, Forster and Crosby, HSBC James Capel &
Co. and Nomura International, based in London.
Throughout his career, Murphy has been a consistent advocate for enhancing workplace
diversity and a promoter of community outreach initiatives in the education
field. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he earned his degree in Mathematics and
Physics from Trinity College, Dublin. He holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics
from Oxford University, and is a Fellow of the UK Institute of Actuaries.
Married with two children, aged 18 and 11, Murphy counts trekking and photography
among his many interests.
 Kathleen
A. Murphy
ING U.S. Wealth Management
Kathleen Murphy is Chief Executive Officer of ING U.S. Wealth Management
and a member of ING Americas Executive Management Team. Her responsibilities
include leading the Retirement Services and Retail Annuity businesses of ING,
which totaled $158 billion in assets as of December 31, 2006, as well as ING’s
Broker Dealer network, which is one of the largest independent broker dealer
systems in the country. As CEO, Murphy is charged with leading thousands of
employees and well over one hundred thousand distribution partners to drive
growth and value creation while continually enhancing the company’s competitive
positioning.
Murphy joined ING in 2000, after ING’s acquisition of Aetna Financial
Services. Prior to this acquisition, Kathleen served as General Counsel and
Chief Compliance Officer of Aetna.
Murphy holds a Juris Doctorate degree with highest honors from the University
of Connecticut, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in both Economics and Political Science from Fairfield University.
A 3rd-generation Irish-American – her father, Charles Murphy’s
family hailed from Cork, while her mother, Christine Connor’s family were
originally from Kerry – Kathleen is married to George Hornyak and has
a four-year-old son Jack.
 Una M. Neary
JPMorgan Chase
Una Neary joined JPMorgan Chase in May, 2007 as a Managing Director in the Auditing
Department. She is responsible for the oversight of the Treasury &
Securities Servicing Audit Team, reporting to the General Auditor. Treasury
& Securities Servicing businesses include the cash management and custody
operations of the firm. She manages a global audit team of 68 professionals.
Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, Neary spent her entire professional career
at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the Bank Supervision Group. Over
her 16 year career there, Neary had increasing management responsibilities for
the supervision of both large foreign and domestic banking organizations and
reached the level of vice president. She participated in various internal
and external working groups, including her most recent appointment to the Basel
2/Accord Implementation Group.
Neary is a graduate of Manhattanville College and has a Bachelor of Arts degree. She
is a first-generation Irish-American whose father is from Tubercurry, County
Sligo and whose late mother was from Dublin. When not working, Una enjoys spending
time with her family, especially with her father, Jimmy at Neary’s (Manhattan’s
favorite Irish restaurant) and spoiling her six nieces and nephews.
 Jack
O’Callahan
The kid who helped propel the U.S. team to its miraculous 4-3 victory over
the Soviets, giving the country a morale boost at the height of the Cold War
in 1980, is now a star in the trading business. By Abdon M. Pallasch
“The kid’s made the team. He’s busted his ass for me for
seven months and now I gotta send him home? Is that the deal?” U.S. Olympic
Hockey Coach Herb Brooks asks his superiors about Jack O’Callahan in the
movie Miracle.
The anguished look on O’Callahan’s face in the locker room at Madison
Square Garden said it all. He had torn the ligaments in his left knee during
an exhibition game against the Soviets, and in barely 48 hours the Olympic hockey
rosters had to be submitted. He’d endure any pain not to miss out on a
chance to go back up against the Russians and beat them in Lake Placid. Coach
Brooks did not look optimistic.
“Dr. Richard Steadman, America’s foremost orthopedic surgeon at
that time, came in and said that I might have a chance to play, but it would
be day-by-day and the decision would be made at the last minute,” O’Callahan
remembers. “He put me on a very intense 5-time-a-day rehab and strength
program and I recovered enough in those next two days to convince Herb to put
me on the roster. I missed the first two games against Sweden and Czechoslovakia,
but played in the next five games.”
He was ready for the all-important game against the Soviet Union and helped
lead the U.S. team to its miraculous 4-3 victory, giving the country a giant
morale boost in 1980 during the Cold War.
How do you top that?
O’Callahan, who had been an All-American player and team captain at perennial
college hockey powerhouse Boston University, signed with the NHL’s Chicago
Blackhawks and after two minor league seasons, joined the Blackhawks for the
next five seasons. He was dealt to the New Jersey Devils at the beginning of
the 1987-88 season and finished the last two years of his NHL career in the
Meadowlands.
O’Callahan’s business career started in Chicago in the spring
of 1984. He was looking for an off-season internship of some sort when he
and his wife went out to dinner with Walter Payton and his wife Connie. Payton,
an NFL Hall of Famer and Chicago Bear football legend, asked O’Callahan
if he could help and then offered to make an introduction to a board member
at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
“He said, ‘Can I make a phone call for ya?’ I said ‘Sure,’”
O’Callahan said. “Within two days, I was a runner at the Merc and
after eight weeks, I knew I had found something awesome.”
O’Callahan bought an Index and Option Seat at the Merc. After several
summer off-seasons of clerking and taking classes, he began trading in the fall
of 1989 as a local in the S&P 500 futures pit.
At the Merc, he became reacquainted with Jack Hughes, another Boston native
who had been one of the last cuts from the ’80 Olympic hockey team. Hughes
had moved to Chicago in 1986 and had been filling customer orders in the same
trading pit.
Within three years, the two started Beanpot Financial Services, to work with
hedge fund commodity clients. The two former players named their new company
after the Boston hockey championship they used to compete in during college
– Hughes at Harvard and O’Callahan at BU.
O’Callahan, 49, grew up in Charlestown, Mass., the historic Irish-Catholic
section of Boston at the foot of the Bunker Hill Monument across the bridge
from Boston Garden. He attended the renowned Boston Latin School prior to enrolling
at Boston University, where he graduated in 1979. O’Callahan’s father
spent a long career at Boston Edison Company. He and O’Callahan’s
mom Bernadette are retired.
O’Callahan’s great-grandfather, John Joseph O’Callahan, the
youngest of five brothers, came to America around 1900 from Bantry Bay,
in County Cork. O’Callahan’s mother’s family, the Russells,
also hailed from Cork, and his grandfather Frederick Russell became a Boston
firefighter in 1925.
Jack O’Callahan visits Ireland often and his daughter, Rachael, spent
a college semester at University College Dublin. He remembers playing golf in
Tralee years ago with some of his former Blackhawks teammates. The players were
matched up with caddies. O’Callahan’s caddy introduced himself as
Gene O’Callaghan.
“I said, ‘Did my friends put you up to this?’” O’Callahan
said. “I took out my driver’s license to show him my name and he
grabbed me and said ‘Cousin Jack! Where are you from?’ I told him
I lived in Chicago. He said, ‘There was a time when we were kings of this
country. Now we’re caddies’”
O’Callahan has been treated like royalty often because of his role in
the 1980 Olympics. Team members were selected five years ago to light the torch
for the opening ceremonies at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Mayor Daley and Aon Founder Patrick Ryan have enlisted O’Callahan to help
them in their campaign to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to Chicago.
“The 2016 Summer Games in Chicago will be the greatest Olympics ever and
I’ll do whatever I can to help make it happen,” O’Callahan
said. Among other duties, he has been on hand to entertain Olympic officials
as they come through Chicago to scout it out.
The country was reminded of just how important a victory that hockey game against
the Soviets was by the critically acclaimed 2004 movie Miracle, which takes
some artistic license but is largely accurate, O’Callahan said.
“Director Gavin O’Connor did a wonderful job with both the
on-ice and off-ice footage,” O’Callahan said. “He went out
of his way to show us both as people and as hockey players and froze us in time
for future generations of hockey fans and Americans.”
The scene in which Kurt Russell as Coach Herb Brooks brings the team back onto
the ice for a punishing practice following a tie against the Norwegian team
really did happen, O’Callahan said. That was one of the scenes O’Callahan
had long talks with O’Connor about, he said.
“We were looking up into the stands at the pretty girls during the game,”
O’Callahan remembers. “Herb really kept us on the ice for an hour.
He kept us there until midnight. They turned the lights off. That part where
he said, ‘I play for the USA’ – that never happened. I think
he just got tired of beating on us. What they didn’t show in the movie
was that we played that same team again the next day and we beat them 9-0.”
O’Connor looked for young actors who really knew how to play hockey and
found an authentic Boston guy to play O’Callahan.
“They cast Michael Mantenuto, an Italian guy, in my role,” O’Callahan
said, “and an Irish guy, Patrick O’Brien Dempsey as [team captain]
Mike Eruzione. Mike and I both still laugh about that. I think all the actors
did great and they were really into it as most had grown up as hockey players
and knew our story.”
But the fight in the movie between O’Callahan and Rob McClanahan –
used to show the rivalry between the Minnesota guys and the Boston guys —
never really happened.
“Robby was much too smart to start a fight with an Irish guy from Charlestown,”
O’Callahan quipped.
President Carter invited the team members down to Washington for an unprecedented
lunch with the president to congratulate them on their win.
They were a bit taken aback when the Washington press corps tried to get them
to voice opinions on Carter’s decision to boycott the summer Olympics
in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
“People are going to start asking us questions because we won a gold medal
and now we’re experts on world politics?” O’Callahan said.
He and the other team members mostly declined invitations to appear with candidates
so as not to politicize the win. But O’Callahan did appreciate it when
Boston Mayor Kevin White sent a limo to pick him up from the airport when he
got back to Boston and bring him home where “about 1,000 people were waiting
in front of my house.”
Now O’Callahan lives in the Chicago suburb of Glencoe with his wife Jenny,
daughter Rachael, who starts medical school this fall, and son Aaron, who will
be a senior at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut.
 John J. O’Connor
Fidelity Investments
John J. O’Connor is the Senior Vice President and leader of Corporate
Security for Fidelity Investments, where he has worked since 2004.
A certified public accountant and fraud examiner with over 20 years experience
investigating financial crimes in and outside the U.S., O’Connor
has been an advisor to the Department of Justice and has lectured on audit and
forensic techniques at several universities, including Stanford. He has been
on the board of regents for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
and is a member of the International Security Management Association.
O’Connor, who earned his BS in accounting from the University of Massachusetts,
is a second-generation Irish-American who traces his family to Boherbue, County
Cork on his father’s side and Ballyconnell, County Cavan, on his mother’s.
He says of his Irish heritage,“It’s the warmth and pride in family,
no matter what continent we’re on, which makes the Irish so special to
me.”
He and his wife, Heidi, live in the Boston suburbs with their three children.
 Brendan
J. O’Halloran
TD Securities
Brendan O’Halloran is Vice Chair and USA Region Head of TD Securities
and Senior Vice President of TD Bank Financial Group. He is responsible for
the firm’s investment banking, sales & trading and operational
activities in the United States.
TD Securities, a subsidiary of TD Bank Financial Group, and one of North America’s
largest financial services providers, operates in key financial
centers around the globe.
Prior to his current position, O’Halloran served as head of US Debt Capital
Markets where he oversaw Loan Origination, Loan Sales & Trading, High Yield
Origination, and Fixed Income Origination & Distribution. He has also served
as Head of Global Loan Syndications and was responsible for all syndicated loan
underwritings for TD Securities worldwide.
O’Halloran, who began his career on Wall Street with First Boston, holds
an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School
of Business. His mother was born in County Mayo and his father in County Dublin.
O’Halloran resides in New Canaan, Connecticut with his wife Lorraine and
their three children.
 Ciaran T.
O’Kelly
Bank of America
Ciaran O’Kelly was named Co-Head of Global Equities for Banc of America
Securities in June 2007. Previously, he was head of U.S. Equities with responsibility
for Cash Sales & Trading, Derivatives Sales and Trading, Institutional Sales,
Electronic Trading and Equity Capital Markets. Prior to that, he was head of
Equity Capital Markets, with responsibility for origination and execution of
common stock, convertible and private placement issuance. O’Kelly joined
Bank of America in November 2002 as head of Equity Trading, and led the Listed,
NASDAQ and international trading desks. In 2004, he assumed additional responsibility
for Sales Trading and later that year created the Risk Arbitrage/Relative Value
trading desk and the Principal Strategies book of structured portfolio investments.
O’Kelly received a Bachelor of Business Studies from Dublin City University
in 1989. A member of New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House and
the American Ireland Fund (AIF), he has served on the chairman’s committee
for the annual AIF New York gala for seven years. O’Kelly lives in Manhattan
with his wife Lisa and their three sons.
 P.J. O’Rourke
“The funniest writer in America” talks to Chuck Leddy about
some serious issues.
P.J. O’Rourke, one of America’s most popular political satirists,
has built his career skewering the absurdities and hypocrisies of political
life. Time magazine has called him “the funniest writer in America,”
and he’s the bestselling author of a dozen books that blend his laugh-out-loud
humor with insightful political analysis.
O’Rourke, an Irish-American who traces his lineage back to County Roscommon,
is an equal opportunity quipster, aiming his barbs at everyone along the ideological
spectrum.
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys
to teenage boys,” gibes the 59-year-old O’Rourke. Submerged beneath
his jovial, cigar-chomping skepticism, one senses in O’Rourke a moralist
at work, a man who hopes politics will improve, but who’s seen enough
to know better. O’Rourke doesn’t believe politicians can save us,
despite their lofty promises. O’Rourke prefers self-reliance or, as he
explains it, “A little government and a little luck are necessary in life,
but only a fool trusts either of them.”
A study of Adam Smith’s 1776 classic The Wealth of Nations would seem
to contain zero comic potential. Smith, a Scotsman, helped invent “the
dismal science” of economics over two centuries ago, forwarding theories
about the superiority of free market capitalism in his 900-page tome. Yet O’Rourke’s
On the Wealth of Nations (Grove Atlantic, $21.95) is both a funny and insightful
look at Smith’s revolutionary ideas and how they’ve been interpreted
over time. O’Rourke’s book roams lightheartedly from taxation to
free trade to Barney (the beloved purple dinosaur) to pajama-clad bloggers.
Chuck Leddy spoke with O’Rourke about Adam Smith, and much more, during
a stop in San Francisco on his recent book tour.
Chuck Leddy: How has your Irish heritage influenced your sense of humor?
It’s had a huge influence. Growing up [in Ohio], the Irish I knew seemed
to be divided into the kidders or the hitters. And I had the good luck to come
from the kidders.
So all my family relationships were conducted in terms of kidding each other.
I never heard one O’Rourke say to another O’Rourke anything completely
in earnest. I guess we Irish have a limited repertoire of the ways we cope with
things. There’s laughter; there’s hitting; there’s drinking.
What preconceptions did you have about The Wealth of Nations and what
surprised you during your reading of it?
I’ve been writing about politics for a long time, about 35 years now,
and I’d had to think about economics as part of that, because a lot of
political questions are basically economic questions. I went into reading The
Wealth of Nations very much as a fan of free market capitalism, because I’d
spent a lot of time overseas in countries that didn’t have free markets.
I noticed that countries with free markets were much more prosperous, so free
markets seemed better for nations. What surprised me was that Smith underpinned
his belief in free markets on the moral grounds of individual liberties and
individual equality before the law. I always realized our system worked better,
but hadn’t also considered that it worked better on a moral or ethical
level.
Was there anything you discovered about Adam Smith that surprised
you?
There’s not an awful lot known about him as a person. He was a reticent
man, a lifelong bachelor who lived with his mother and his maiden aunt. He didn’t
keep a diary, didn’t write letters, or maintain a blog. But he seemed
like a very good man, sociable and well liked. He could also be absent-minded.
There’s an anecdote about him wandering into his garden on a Sunday morning
while he’s thinking through some idea. He was in his bathrobe and slippers,
wearing his nightcap. He got so lost in thought that he wandered outside the
garden gate and up the road, and he didn’t look up until he heard church
bells ringing. He’d walked fifteen miles away, and found himself surrounded
by a crowd all dressed up and on their way to church.
How would you apply Smith’s concept of the division of labor
to politicians?
Smith was concerned that the division of labor, someone doing the same thing
over and over again on a production line, would make people as stupid as a human
could possibly be. And we’ve seen this happen with politicians who go
around on campaigns saying the same things over and over again, kissing the
same babies over and over. But the good news is that this kind of specialization
among politicians keeps them out of the “real” economy where they
might do serious damage running a company or something like that.
How have Smith’s ideas been received in the developing world?
The truths that Smith was writing about, that free market economies work better
than top-down or socialist economies, have been a long time coming into the
developing world. We’ve seen it just in the last ten years in China, for
example, and now in India. Even in Smith’s own time, free markets didn’t
come without pain. There was a Marxist reaction against the “dark Satanic
mills” of the Industrial Revolution. In many ways, ordinary working people
got over the pain quickly, and realized that they were living far better lives
than they’d had as farm laborers. But intellectuals, people like Marx,
never got over it. Many developing nations became independent in the postwar
era of the 1950s and ’60s when left-wing thinking was predominant, and
that influenced their governments in all the wrong ways.
What was Smith’s attitude toward colonialism?
He didn’t like it at all. He was very opposed to the British fighting
against American independence. He felt that America should be freely and fully
integrated into Great Britain, given full rights. He was also in favor of allowing
the Irish to be granted full rights – political rights and religious rights
– so that they could be fully integrated into Great Britain. If that had
been done in Smith’s era, a great deal of tragedy, such as the Irish Potato
Famine, as well as the Irish political trouble that’s come down to us
today, might well have been avoided. By the time the British were finally willing
to consider giving the Irish political rights, it was too late and too much
justifiable anger had been built up.
What might Smith, or you, say to those skeptical of free markets for
promoting excessive economic inequality?
Smith is not an apologist for free markets. He’s perfectly aware that
they create inequality. But he’s also aware that coercive market structures
create lots of inequalities. It’s much better to be poor and under your
own control than to be poor at the point of a gun, which was how things were
under the old Communist regimes. At least if you’re on your own, you’ve
got some chance in life, but when you’re locked up in a gulag you have
no chance. Smith understood that for all its problems, a free market system
was needed to make all people equal before the law.
What might Smith think of today’s Digital Revolution?
It’s funny; Smith didn’t recognize the coming of the Industrial
Revolution in his own time, even though he was a friend of James Watt, the man
who invented the steam engine that powered that Revolution. We should be cautious
about the predictions we make these days about the Digital Revolution, lest
we be equally wrong. Every time some change comes along in society, the pundits
all think it’s going to alter human nature. And human nature don’t
alter [sic]. The bloggers today face the same problem the 1960s had, when everyone
thought they could change the world. The problem with blogging is that there’s
no quality control, just as there was no quality control of ideas in the 1960s.
How would you describe the current “state of the Union”
from a political satirist’s viewpoint?
I’m trying to cope with the horrors of life through satire. As a satirist
today, it’s definitely a target-rich environment. What’s good for
me professionally is bad for the country. As a citizen, and a father, I wish
there were far less for me to make fun of out there. But as a writer, I’m
glad.
How did you change from a left-leaning 1960s hippie to someone who
today champions Adam Smith?
Well, I grew up. I probably would have grown up sooner if it hadn’t been
for all the inducements of the 1960s allowing me to remain a child. I grew up
in a normal, middle-class American family, but like a lot of people back then,
I temporarily went crazy. But the drugs wore off. I had a beer, and snapped
out of it. There’s nothing like getting a job to change you. I got a job
in 1971 and made $150 a week. When my first paycheck came, and they’d
taken half my pay in taxes, I thought, jeez, I’ve been fighting for socialism,
and we’ve had it all along. But it’s easy for me now to see the
temptations of leftist ideologies. Life is difficult, and we want to believe
something will make everything alright, whether that something is an idea, a
politician, or love. We’re always looking for some easy way out, but by
the time you’re my age, you realize there ain’t one.
 James
P. O’Shaughnessy
Bear Stearns Asset Management
As the Director of Systematic Equity and a Senior Managing Director of Bear
Stearns Asset Management, James O’Shaughnessy oversees the management
of over $12 billion in separately managed accounts and mutual funds for individual
investors and institutions.
A pioneer in quantitative equity analysis, dubbed a “statistical guru”
and “legendary investor” by Barron’s, James has established
himself as a leading financial expert. He has written several books including
Invest Like the Best, What Works on Wall Street, How to Retire Rich, and his
most recent, Predicting the Markets of Tomorrow, published by Portfolio Books.
O’Shaughnessy is a fourth-generation Irish-American who takes great
pride in his Irish heritage. “The Irish have done so much for the world
and I’m delighted that Ireland is enjoying such great success,”
he says. He graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Minnesota,
and studied international economics and business diplomacy at the School of
Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut
with his wife Melissa and their three children, and is a member of the Irish
American Cultural Institute.
 Dennis
Purcell
Declan O’Kelly talks to the Senior Managing Director of Aisling Capital,
whose vision has seen him rise to the top of his field.
Dennis Purcell never had a mind to go into the life science industry, but the
businessman, who has a BS in accounting and economics from the University of
Delaware and an MBA from Harvard, was inspired to head in that direction more
by accident than design.
“About 15 years ago, I was in general investment banking and I had a tumor
in my arm. I started to see the health care industry up close and personal.
That really got me interested in bio-technology, and what was happening in bio-technology,
so I started to refocus my career there,” he told Irish America over the
phone. For someone who enjoyed a record-breaking college basketball career (Purcell
holds the free throw completion record (84 percent) at the University of Delaware.
In the 1974-75 season he made 94 percent of his free throws), such an injury
must have been devastating, but Purcell made it the starting block for a hugely
successful career.
Following surgery and a full recovery, he refocused with gusto. After working
as Managing Director in the Healthcare Group at PaineWebber, Inc., Purcell joined
Hambrecht & Quist. Under his leadership, H&Q was the leading underwriter
of life sciences securities from 1995 through 1998, with over $10 billion investment
in the area.
The unwavering belief Purcell showed by investing resources into the life science
industry led Genetic Engineering News to induct him into their Biotech Hall
of Fame in 1998 – the first investment banker to be bestowed the honor.
The following year he was named to the biotechnology All Stars list by Forbes.
In 2000, Purcell became senior managing director of Aisling Capital, an equity
firm that invests in biopharmaceutical and life science products. Perseus-Soros
was the fund’s old name. Combined with existing $450 million in the Perseus-Soros
fund, Purcell and Aisling Capital went out and raised $550 million from limited
partners, state pension funds and college endowments. With the one-billion-dollar
war chest in place, Aisling Capital looked to invest.
“A typical investment is between 15 and 20 million dollars. If we see
promising technology with promising management teams, we will invest and sit
on the board, and advise not only on future financing but also on the strategy
of the company.”
Purcell explains the reason for the company’s name change. “People
were asking what was behind our success, and I said, ‘Well, we have pretty
good vision.’ We looked up different meanings for the word vision, and
came across the Irish word Aisling.” (There is an increasing trend among
U.S. companies to incorporate Gaelic names and terms in their titles: Aisling
Capital, Aon Corporation (Aon is Gaelic for One), Shamrock Acquisitions and
Mayo Group, to name but a few.)
Purcell is a second-generation Irish-American, whose four grandparents came
from Ireland. His mother’s parents immigrated from Strabane, County Tyrone,
and his father’s from Callan, County Kilkenny. Growing up in Philadelphia,
Purcell was used to hearing about the land of his grandparents. “The influence
was very strong and still is to this day. A lot of it had to do with family
and history. We have a very large family and the Irish influence was very pervasive,”
he says.
Purcell is married to Leslie, and they have four children whose names reveal
more than a hint of this proud family heritage. Colleen, the oldest at 21, is
a senior at Yale in Pre-med, and Elizabeth, 19, is a sophomore in government
studies at Harvard. Denny is 16 and Margaret is 12.
Being such a respected leader in his field, Purcell spends between 10-20 percent
of his time giving talks to venture capitalists and meeting with organizations
from all over the globe, advising on financing and strategy for biopharmaceutical
and life science products. This has led him to give talks to Irish venture capitalists,
and signs are that Ireland is trying to improve and develop its biotech industry
and is catching up fast with the rest of the world.
“Ireland is becoming much more important recently and I have spent some
time with the Irish venture capitalists and organizations like Biolink USA/
Ireland, both of whom are working hard to try and find the components necessary
to have a successful industry. What the Irish industry is trying to do is to
build up a critical mass of companies, management teams, and capital,”
said Purcell.
“To have a successful industry you need to have this critical mass and
infrastructure. One of the positives about Ireland right now is that so many
of the large pharmaceutical companies are there.
“Another big positive is that an education system is in place, because
a lot of these companies are the ones that co-develop the products and help
the biotech industry.
“So there is a good start with the university system, and a good start
with the pharmaceutical companies located there. What Ireland now needs to develope
is that critical mass of management team and capital.”
Working in an industry whose very core product can help improve and extend life,
there are companies that Aisling Capital have invested in that have special
meaning to Purcell. One of those companies is a U.K. company called Bioenvision.
“The company was overlooked, we funded it and just last year we achieved
an approval in a cancer drug for pediatric leukemia. It is the first improvement
in the treatment for pediatric leukemia in over a decade, so we are pretty proud
that we were able to help fund this company.”
Other companies he has high hopes for include Armgo, which has a new treatment
for heart failure, and Sempra, which has new novel treatments for anti-infectives.
Earlier this year, Aisling Capital invested in The Natural Dentist – a
company that looks at how the way oral health can affect systemic health.
“Part of our fund is going to that health and wellness space. We look
for companies where life science meets lifestyle, and this [The Natural Dentist]
has actual clinical data behind it. This is a very big area for the pharmaceutical
industry.”
With 400 million people being treated by biotech drugs, Aisling Capital is determined
that if the right people with the right idea are looking for the right leadership
and investment, someone at Aisling Capital is likely to be involved.
As Purcell puts it, “That’s our job.”
 Brian A.
Ruane
The Bank of New York Mellon
Brian A. Ruane is Executive Vice President and Head of Financial Institutions
at The Bank of New York Mellon. He is responsible for relationships and business
development for Broker/Dealers, Banks and Hedge Funds globally. Ruane also sits
on the Board of Directors of Pershing LLC, the Bank’s NYSE Broker/Dealer.
Brian attended Colaiste Eanna in Dublin, Ireland graduating in 1982. In 1989,
he graduated from The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants in
the U.K. and Ireland.
In 1995, Brian received his MBA in International Banking & Finance from
The Zarb School of Business, New York, and in 2004, he was asked to sit on The
Federal Reserve’s Working Committee on The Future of the U.S. Treasury
Market.
Ruane is a first-generation Irish-American whose father comes from Crossmolina,
County Mayo and whose mother comes from Drumhaldry, County Longford. He and
his wife Anna Lynch, who is from Dublin, live in New York with their four children.
Ruane sits on the advisory boards of the UCD Michael Smurfit School of
Business, Dublin, and the Zarb School of Business, New York.
 Arthur F.
Ryan
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Arthur Ryan is Chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc., one of the largest
diversified financial institutions in the world.
When Ryan took the position in 1994, he became the first Chairman and
CEO in the company’s history to be elected from outside the company.
Prior to joining Prudential Financial, Ryan was President and COO of Chase Manhattan
Bank, where he had a 22-year career. Ryan was named chairman of the American
Council of Life Insurers in October 2003 and is co-chair of the New Jersey Performing
Arts Center.
Ryan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the board of trustees
of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He is also
the co-chair of the board of Achieve, Inc., an organization created by U.S.
governors and business leaders to promote high academic standards for public
schools in the U.S.
Ryan, who graduated from Providence College with a degree in mathematics,
is a second-generation Irish-American whose family hails from County Tipperary.
He is married with four children.
 Thomas
Ryan
ING Capital
Thomas Ryan is Managing Director and Regional Head of the Americas for the Financial
Engineering Group at ING Capital based in New York. He is the youngest managing
director in ING Capital and under his leadership the group has grown to be the
largest revenue-generator for ING Capital in the region.
Ryan joined ING 11 years ago after a short period at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin.
He started with the structured leasing unit of ING in Dublin, followed by a
period in the Financial Engineering Group at the head office of ING Group in
Amsterdam. He moved to New York in November of 2001 to help develop the Financial
Engineering business for the U.S. and was made regional head of the group in
2003.
Ryan has a degree in Business Studies from the University of Limerick and received
a master’s of science in Economics from the Center for Economic Research
in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Since coming to New York as a student many years
ago, Ryan is fulfilling a dream by working in the finance sector with ING. He
is a member of The American Ireland Fund, the advisory committee of the SDLP
USA and the University of Limerick Foundation.
 Sharon T.
Sager
UBS Financial Services
Sharon Sager, Senior Vice President, Investments, is a Private Wealth Advisor
at UBS Financial Services Inc. A 24-year veteran of the financial securities
industry, Sharon previously worked in the textile industry, having graduated
from the College of Mount St. Vincent, Riverdale, New York, with a bachelor’s
degree in fine arts. Later, she obtained the Certified Investment Analyst (CIMA)
degree at the Wharton School from the Investment Management Consultants Association.
In 1983, she began her financial career at Kidder Peabody & Co., which merged
with Paine Webber in 1995 and UBS in 2000.
Sager is a member of the board of directors of C-CAP (Careers Through Culinary
Arts Program), former co-chairman of the Board of Directors of the Women’s
Venture Fund, a not-for-profit micro lender, and in the President’s Circle
of the James Beard Foundation. In 2006 and 2007, Sager was named one of Barron’s
Top 100 Women Financial Advisors.
She is a second-generation Irish-American and, true to her roots, she holds
membership in the Irish Georgian Society and the New York Irish History Roundtable.
Her father’s family is from County Galway, while her mother’s, the
Carrolls, hail from County Cork.
|
