Women of influence june 29

Women of Influence 2015

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Women of Influence 2015

Women Power “IT was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union…. Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.”

-- Susan B. Anthony

WOMEN OF INFLUENCE Founding Publisher NIALL O’DOWD Senior Editor DEBBIE McGOLDRICK Marketing Executives AISLING KEOGH AISLING McMAHON Creative Production Manager LEE DUSKWICK www.irishcentral.com

IT’S 2015, and it’s a good time to be a woman in America. Next year, one might even win the highest office in the world, the presidency of the United States.

It wasn’t always thus. Women didn’t even have the right to vote on a federal level until 1920 after passage of the 19th Amendment less than 100 years ago. And the glass ceiling that Hillary Clinton shattered but didn’t quite break through in 2008 certainly still exists in some quarters.

The Clinton Foundation says that “women are the world’s most underserved -- and undervalued -- resource.

At present, they make up 70 percent of the world’s poor and earn only 10 percent of its income, despite producing over half its food. Studies suggest that if women’s paid employment rates were raised to the same levels as men’s, per capita income in some of our fastest-growing economies would rise 20 percent by 2030.”

There’s no question the ladder to success has often been a steep climb for women, but we’ve got mighty strong legs and plenty of determination to make a mark no matter what we choose to do, as many of our honorees in our Women of Influence issue can confirm.

We’re proud to present, in conjunction with our sponsor Guinness, a group of Irish-born and Irish American women

who are using their talents to excel in many diverse fields.

They’re job creators, executives serving at the highest levels, champions of the arts and culture, charitable givers and much more.

And they’re hugely proud to be Irish, thriving in a land where many of their ancestors arrived looking to secure a better way of life for themselves.

One of our honorees, Deirdre O’Connor, put it best when she said, ““Key values ingrained in the Irish culture are hard work, building long term relationships, and sharing lessons learned with the next generation.”

There’s no doubt that the 28 members of our 2015 Women of Influence will inspire others to reach for the stars. We look forward to celebrating with them, and with Guinness, at an event in New York this week, and hope you enjoy reading their inspiring stories of success.

We’ve also included a fascinating feature on the Sisters of Charity, “the driving force that enabled the Irish newcomers to build new lives in America,” Turlough McConnell writes of the sisters who provided sustenance and comfort to the Irish who were considered outcasts in the New York of the 1800s.

As we know now, much our great city was built on the backs of Irish blood, sweat and tears – with women like Sister Angela Hughes playing an integral part.

Debbie McGoldrick Senior Editor Irish Voice

Women of Influence 2015

SAMANTHA BARRY SAMANTHA Barry is the senior director of social news at CNN. She is a worldrenowned social media expert with more than a decade of experience as a broadcast journalist.

In her position with CNN, Barry manages the social teams at all of the CNN bureaus and works closely with the CNN Digital leadership in their editorial strategy.

Barry joined CNN from BBC World News in London, where she served as a social media producer and journalist, focusing on using social media as a tool for both newsgathering and audience building.

Her work included extensive coverage of social media trends and developments, in addition to overall social and mobile strategy for the channel.

In her spare time, she worked as a social media and technology trainer for the U.S. State Department, the United States Institute of Peace and Internews.

Traveling throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa, she has trained editors and journalists across the globe on how to make social news content and incorporate social media platforms into the editorial process.

An Academy of Achievement 2012 delegate, Barry was recently named one of the Top 50 female innovators in digital journalism in the world.

A native of Ballincollig, Co. Cork, Barry has worked in over 25 countries, training in broadcasting, technology and social media.

She is based in New York but continues her extensive domestic and international travels.

RACHEL CONLAN RACHEL Conlan is the managing director of Havas LuxHub, a global consultancy that specializes in harnessing the power of creativity, technology and media to help the world’s top luxury and premium brands transform their businesses for the future.

This is one of a number of positions Conlan has held within Havas, the fifth largest communications network in the

world. As global growth director for Havas Creative Group, she had responsibility for driving organic growth as well as leveraging best new business practices throughout the 316 Havas worldwide offices around the globe.

As worldwide new business director of Havas Worldwide, Conlan strategized and developed a comprehensive global new business development and marketing plan for the network.

She was also part of the leadership team that drove the 2012 rebrand Euro RSCG Worldwide to Havas Worldwide globally. This set the standard for the transformation of the full Havas Group.

Prior to her tenure at Havas Worldwide, Conlan worked at Southern Wine & Spirits of New York as a marketing and sales manager developing initiatives and activation programs for their priority clients.

Prior to her move to New York, Conlan worked as a broadcast and digital producer with Tyrone Productions, one of Ireland’s leading entertainment production companies, globally renowned for having produced Riverdance.

Conlan is an active member of the AIF Young Leader’s Advisory Board. She also sits on the Junior Advisory Board for Self Help Africa.

A business graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Conlan lives in the West Chelsea section of Manhattan with her husband.

DEIRDRE CONNOLLY DEIRDRE Connolly is the executive producer of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen.

In 2009, she helped to launch the show and under her leadership, WWHL has gone on to become a late night and pop culture phenomenon hosting guests such as Oprah Winfrey, Cher, Liam Neeson, Jerry Seinfeld and Meryl Streep.

In addition to WWHL, Connolly is also the executive producer of Bravo’s Fashion Queens as well as many other Bravo specials and pilots.

Connolly’s prior experience includes being a producer of MTV’s flagship daily show Total Request Live in New York. She temporarily relocated to London to launch the English version of TRL for MTV UK. Originally from Hingham, Massachusetts, Connolly graduated from Boston College with a degree in political science.

Her mother hails from Castlegregory, Co. Kerry where the family owns a home that Connolly visits every year.

On her father’s side, Connolly’s grandfather

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is from Moycullen, Co. Galway and her grandmother is from Curry, Co. Sligo.

“I’m not shy about giving constructive criticism. I’m in Andy’s ear telling him what to do. I have seconds to say, ‘Change this, do this, you’re sweating.’

It really toned my skills in terms of communicating,” Connolly says.

SHEILA MURPHY CRAWFORD SHEILA Murphy Crawford is the founder and director of the Murphy Irish Arts Center in Beachwood, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb.

She founded the center 37 years ago with 35 students, and completed this year with 200 students.

Murphy Crawford is a certified Irish dancing teacher and adjudicator with An Coimmisiun in Ireland since 1978.

She established the Murphy Irish Arts Association as a non-profit organization to support Irish cultural activities.

Murphy Crawford has developed the Murphy Irish dancers to a professional level and performed at national and world competitions 18 times, most recently winning the 2015 World Championship title in Montreal.

She lead her senior dance drama team to first place victory by creating, producing and choreographing a story about the Irish immigrants who lived in Cleveland in the 1800s.

A former high school English teacher, Murphy Crawford earned a BS from the University of Dayton, and a master’s in English from Cleveland State University.

Murphy Crawford traces her Irish ancestry to counties Cork and Westmeath.

In addition to holding many offices and chairmanships, she also served five terms as president of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians. In 1993 she was honored as Hibernian of the Year.

Murphy Crawford became the director of the Irish Cultural Garden after years of service in 1993 and is spearheading a refurbishing of the garden, a 250 acre site that honors the cultural achievements of over 30 nations with monuments, architectural design and landscaping.

In 2015 she was inducted into the North American Feis Commission’s Hall of Fame for her lifelong dedication and service to the Irish community and the world of Irish dance.

She has been married to Bob Crawford for 34 years.

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Women of Influence 2015

LEAH DOYLE LEAH Doyle is the director of spirits and entertainment for Esquire magazine.

In a recent issue the editors made this note: “The publishing masthead lists our esteemed colleague Leah Doyle as spirits and Florida manager. Esquire would simply like to acknowledge that this job at the magazine is, in fact, as much fun as it sounds.”

Doyle grew up in east Galway and attended the National University of Ireland Galway for both her undergraduate and MBA degrees.

She then moved to Dublin and began her career in publishing at Media Planet, where she worked across a number of European cities.

At age 24, Doyle moved to New York for the master’s in publishing program at New York University.

Over the course of the two-year program, she also worked in digital publishing across several titles at Condé Nast.

Doyle then joined the award-winning mixology start-up Liquor.com, working closely with insiders across the spirits industry on sales, strategy and planning for the next two years.

That, in turn, led her to Esquire in 2014, which she describes as her dream job.

TARYN DUFFY AS director of public affairs for the Rooney family, owners of Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway, Taryn Duffy oversees lobbying and political activities, and manages civic engagement and community relations.

She is also principal of TSD Strategies, Inc., a communications and public relations consulting firm.

Beginning her career as a litigation paralegal in California, Duffy returned to New York to work in a Midtown law firm.

In 1997 she entered the political arena working for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and then joined the team of Jeff Klein in his 2004 New York State Senate bid.

Duffy served as Klein’s chief of staff and campaign manager for several years.

As vice president at Mercury Public Affairs, a national public strategy firm, Duffy put her experience to work for clients in a variety of industries.

She has worked on dozens of political campaigns, and briefly departed the political world to serve as director of admissions for Mercy College before taking on her current position.

Active in numerous civic and professional organizations and an advocate for volunteer service and civic engagement, Duffy was a 2013 recipient of City & State magazine’s Above and Beyond Award, and a 2014 Bronx Chamber of Commerce Irish Heritage honoree for distinguished service.

Duffy is passionate about mentoring young women in business and recently served as a panelist for the Workforce Development Institute’s Women in Leadership: Securing a Seat at the Table.

Duffy has a strong Irish family background and takes pride in her heritage. Her family -- Duffy, Sullivan, Browne, and Walsh -- immigrated to the United States in the 1930s.

EMMA GILES EMMA Giles is director of beer at Diageo North America.

She is responsible for the Irish beer portfolio including Guinness, Smithwick’s, Harp and Kilkenny as well as Red Stripe.

At Diageo Giles oversees the ambitious brand vision and strategy to cast the Guinness legend forward as a brewer, embracing its heritage and continuing innovation.

Before joining Diageo, Giles worked at Heineken for 14 years in a variety of roles.

She started her career working on an Irish brand, Murphy’s stout in the Canary Islands, as part of the Enterprise Ireland EOP program.

She continued on an international career with positions in Amsterdam and then Barbados.

Moving to Puerto Rico in 2006, she was promoted in a number of regional marketing and sales roles. Her last position prior to joining Diageo was the Heineken brand director for Caribbean, Central America and Canada.

She was responsible for the brand vision and strategy development of the Heineken brand in 47 markets, contributing to the growth and success of the brand.

Giles hails from Dublin. She earned a BA in Spanish and sociology from Trinity College Dublin, and received her

postgraduate MSc in marketing from the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT).

She lives in New York and misses the Caribbean weather in the winter.

MEG GRIFFIN MEG Griffin has been a rock and roll deejay for four decades, and can currently be heard on Sirius XM satellite radio.

A bona-fide radio legend and one of a handful of deejays celebrated in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “Megless,” as she’s known, actually went to school to be a veterinarian, but after getting a gig at a college radio station she was hooked.

A native New Yorker, born in Greenwich Village, Griffin grew up in suburban White Plains. She is the granddaughter of “Radio Bill Griffin,” so named because he sang live on New York radio in the years before recorded music took over the airwaves.

As a teenager, Griffin worked as a veterinarian’s assistant by day while hanging at Max’s Kansas City by night to catch some of the New York Dolls’ earliest performances.

She enrolled at the State University of New York in Cobleskill to study pre-vet medicine, and the SUNY campus station, WCOB, became the springboard for her long and vital career.

Griffin’s first job in FM rock radio was on WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where she worked with a tall, longhaired newcomer named Howard Stern, who remains a friend to this day.

She’s been on the airwaves at a variety of stations in the New York area ever since, including WXRK, WPIX, WNEW, WLIR and WBAI. Over the years, Griffin has in-terviewed Patti Smith, Tom Waits, James Brown, the Buzzcocks, Elvis Costello, Dr. John, Steve Earle, Aretha Franklin, Emmylou Harris, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Pete Townshend and Rufus Wainwright.

Griffin takes pride in the character and accomplishments of her son Knoah.

DID YOU KNOW? Every 90 seconds, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth.

Most of these deaths are preventable, but due to genderbased discrimination many women are not given the proper education or care they need.

Women of Influence 2015

MAEVE HIGGINS MAEVE Higgins is a comedian and writer from Cobh, Co. Cork who moved to New York in 2014 “in the hope of winning Tinder,” she says.

Higgins has written for The Irish Times about her dream life and ideal world, and made her own comedy/ cookery series for RTE with her sister Lilly called Fancy Vittles. She’s also appeared on the popular RTE show Naked Camera.

Higgins’ first book, a collection of essays entitled We Have a Good Time...Don’t We? was published by Hachette in 2012 and nominated for Best Newcomer in the Irish Book Awards.

Higgins started in comedy in 2005 and has written and performed at many festivals and shows.

She began her comedy career on Irish radio station Today FM after auditioning on The Ray D’Arcy Show in February 2004.

In her 2006 debut show, Ha Ha Yum, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Higgins did stand-up while her sister Lilly made cakes.

The show went on to a season in Dublin’s prestigious Andrews Lane Theatre, followed by a sold-out stand-up tour around Ireland. In 2008, the show was invited to Melbourne for their comedy festival.

Higgins is still looking to win at Tinder, but she is making her mark on the U.S. comedy scene, winning hearts and laughs with appearances on stage and TV.

ANNE KAVANAGH ANNE Kavanagh is the co-founder and CEO of MatchPad. com, a web app that provides roommate and apartment seekers tomorrow’s way of finding the best roommate right now, in a more efficient and safe manner.

MatchPad launched in September 2014 and since has gained so much great traction that it has been recognized in major publications such as Inc magazine, Crain’s New York, Time Out and The New York Times.

Since launch the company has had over 10,000 users sign up and use the platform.

Prior to MatchPad, Kavanagh spent six years in business development for various national publishers in Ireland, including the Irish Independent, before taking the leap into her first start up in 2011 in New York.

Kavanagh is originally from Dublin but grew up in Tallow, a small town in West Waterford where her mother’s family has been rooted for generations.

GALVEA KELLY GALVEA Kelly heads up global content strategy for Maybelline New York, the number one cosmetics company in the world.

Owned by cosmetics giant L’Oreal, Maybelline is the official makeup sponsor for Fashion Weeks across the globe.

Recruited by L’Oreal’s executive management, Kelly spearheads digital storytelling across all consumer touch points and has revolutionized the way Maybelline uses data analytics across 129 markets.

Kelly was originally brought to the U.S.

by Revlon to set up a global digital and social media department for a portfolio of brands that includes Revlon, Almay and Mitchum.

Kelly has partnered with tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Yahoo and Microsoft, and works with some of the world’s most influential celebrities including Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Olivia Wilde, Kate Hudson and Goldie Hawn, Adriana Lima, Gigi Hadid, Jourdan Dunn and Christy Turlington.

MICHELLE McCARTHY MICHELLE McCarthy is manager of marketing and promotions at Madison Square Garden Entertainment.

Originally from Youghal, Co. Cork, she earned a BA in music at Waterford Institute of Technology. She went on to graduate at the top of her class at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology upon completing a BA in business and arts

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management.

Since then she studied digital marketing at Dublin’s Digital Marketing Institute and Music Publishing at Berklee College of Music.

In her job with Madison Square Garden, McCarthy promotes shows at the world’s most famous arena, and also at Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre and The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

McCarthy also runs her own company, Corkscrew Music, managing PR and marketing campaigns for established and emerging Irish and international music acts.

She was formerly the marketing manager for the RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin, and also worked for Live Nation in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a marketing and promotions assistant.

AISLING McDONAGH AISLING McDonagh has spent a number of years in the advertising world, beginning with Excite@Home in 1999, Yahoo!

International, Rodale Inc, BuzzMedia, Refinery29 and Hearst Digital Media.

A native of Chicago, where she was born to Irish parents from Dublin, McDonagh retains a fond love for Ireland, having spent most of her childhood summers at their family home in Wicklow.

Outside of media, McDonagh devotes her time to mentoring other young women as well as fundraising for a variety of charities, including the American Ireland Fund. She was honored with the Sales Person of the Year from Rodale Inc. McDonagh earned a BA from William Smith College. She resides in Manhattan.

DID YOU KNOW? In Russia, there are nine million more women than men.

Ancient Irish laws, called the Brehon Laws, provided women full equality with men. They could inherit property or bequeath their own; they could marry or divorce the man of their choosing; even the right of a woman to experience satisfaction in marriage was enshrined in its legal framework.

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Women of Influence 2015

VICTORIA MCDOWELL VICTORIA McDowell is the president/CEO of the Presidents’ Forum of the Distilled Spirits Industry.

The forum is a group of leading companies with common interests in manufacturing, importing, and marketing distilled spirits products in the United States and around the world.

Prior to joining the forum, McDowell served as the deputy administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the U.S. Treasury Department.

In this role, she oversaw all headquarters’ and field operations’ functions associated with TTB’s excise tax collection ($22 billion annually) and consumer protection responsibilities related to the alcohol and tobacco industries.

She also served on the U.S. government-wide taskforce on food safety.

McDowell has several years’ experience directing international programs and consulting to foreign governments on excise taxes and financial management.

She co-authored a guidebook on the successful introduction of a specific excise tax on alcohol beverages and has lectured on beverage alcohol regulation.

McDowell received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Pennsylvania State University.

Genealogical research revealed that one of McDowell’s ancestors is Lewis Desmynieres (1621–1689), who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1669-1670. His daughter, Judith, married George Blackall, and their daughter, Eleanor, married Henry Ball. Their son Thomas Ball was paymaster in Colonel Hartley’s Regiment in the Revolutionary War and his son, Blackall William Ball kept a journal for George Washington in their march to Yorktown.

The journal is at the Rockefeller Library in Williamsburg, Virginia.

McDowell’s ancestors on her paternal side were from Co. Roscommon.

NAOMI McMAHON NAOMI McMahon was vice president of business development at Sony Music’s advertising and creative agency, Arcade Creative Group, responsible for global agency growth, strategic partnerships and integrated marketing campaigns for a broad

range of recording artists and Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining Sony Music, McMahon was executive director, New York at the VIA Agency, a national independent advertising agency. She established and managed VIA’s New York office, overseeing regional business development, marketing and special events.

McMahon moved from Dublin to New York in 2005 to join Enterprise Ireland’s Americas team as senior marketing executive of software services and emerging sectors, working closely with a portfolio of leading Irish technology entrepreneurs and fashion designers to develop their U.S. export strategies and go-tomarket plans.

McMahon began her career at HarleyDavidson Motor Company in Wisconsin as part of the global marketing team responsible for the company’s 100th anniversary celebrations.

McMahon earned a MA in business and strategic management from Trinity College Dublin. She has served as chair of Trinity College Dublin’s New York Alumni Association, and chair of the New York Pan-Alumni Association.

In 2007, she received an Individual Merit Award from Enterprise Ireland for Innovation, Exceptional Performance and Client Service.

Born and raised in Dublin, McMahon currently resides in Manhattan.

MARGARET MOLLOY MARGARET Molloy is the global chief marketing officer (CMO) at Siegel+Gale, a leading global strategic branding firm, where she is responsible for all marketing and business development.

Known as “the simplicity company,” Siegel+Gale helps clients define, design and deliver brand experiences that are unexpectedly clear and remarkably fresh.

An award-winning marketer, Molloy has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, The Economist, Lean Back, Wired and many more leading business publications.

A captivating speaker, she is renowned for her skill at convening and moderating provocative panels with marketing thought leaders. She is consistently recognized as one the most influential CMOs on Twitter (@ MargaretMolloy) and top profiles on LinkedIn. Growing up the eldest of six children on a dairy farm in Co. Offaly, Molloy learned the value of hard work. She also came to understand the relationship between keeping promises, producing high-quality products and earning -- and maintaining -- an outstanding reputation. Much later she learned that these are the attributes of a successful brand.

Over the past 15 years Molloy has developed a deep understanding for how to build great

brands. By thinking strategically and delivering operationally, she executes innovative, breakthrough marketing campaigns that grow client satisfaction, firm profits and team pride.

Among her many roles, Molloy served as senior vice president at Gerson Lehrman Group, the world’s leading expert network; led marketing organizations at Siebel Systems; and served as vice president of marketing at Telecom Ireland U.S. (eircom).

Molloy is active in the New York Irish philanthropic community. She recently joined the advisory board of the New York Irish Center and is a supporter of the Origin Theatre Company.

Molloy earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and received her undergraduate degrees from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland and La Universidad de Valladolid in Spain.

She lives in Manhattan with her husband, economist Jim O’Sullivan, and their sons, Finn and Emmet.

CATRIONA NI AOLAIN CATRIONA Ni Aolain is director of photography for the PEOPLE magazine brand across digital and print platforms.

PEOPLE is the top magazine media brand in the U.S. Before joining PEOPLE, Ni Aolain worked in all aspects of magazine photography. For the past 12 years she created stories with some of the industry’s top photographers while developing new talent, as well as managing staff and budgets.

She most recently served for two years as director of photography at Men’s Journal.

Prior to that, Ni Aolain held a similar role at ESPN The Magazine for six years, where she was responsible for the visual identity of the magazine, as well as for conceptualizing feature stories for the magazine and other ESPN The Magazine branded media.

Under her direction, ESPN The Magazine was the recipient of the 2011 National Magazine Award for Feature Photography.

Early in her career Ni Aolain was a senior photo editor at Esquire and associate photo editor at Premiere, where she was promoted to photo director in 2003. She began her career as an agent and producer at Bill Charles Represents.

Ni Aolain has received awards from American Photography, the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), the Society of Publication Designers (SPD), the Art Directors Club and more.

A native of Connemara, Go. Galway, Ni Aolain graduated from the National University of Ireland (Maynooth) where she earned a BA degree in anthropology and studied Gaelic.

She lives in New York with her husband and two sons.

Women of Influence 2015

BETH O’BRIEN BETH O’Brien is the president and chief executive officer of Colony American Finance, a leading provider of non-recourse mortgage financing for owners of single family rental portfolios and small multi-family assets and acquisition lines for single family investors.

Prior to joining Colony, O’Brien was an executive vice president at Auction. com where she ran Residential Capital Markets, and was a founder and president of AuctionFinance.com where she ran the financing strategy.

In that capacity she managed over $2 billion of single family and multi-family loan sales and founded a proprietary private money lender geared at the investor market.

O’Brien also held prior positions in RMBS Trading and Securitization at Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. and in the Whitehall Funds at Goldman Sachs & Co. where among other positions she was chief administrative officer of the funds and secretary to the Investment Committee.

O’Brien started her career as a lawyer at Latham & Watkins. Combined she has over 20 years of experience in almost every aspect of the mortgage market as both a principal and an advisor.

She was named a Housing Wire Magazine 2014 Women of Influence in Housing.

O’Brien holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University Law Center and lives in New York with her husband and two children.

She traces her Irish ancestry to Co. Roscommon through her recently deceased father Vincent, an attorney and member of the Irish Voice Irish Legal 100.

SUSAN O’BRIEN SUSAN O’Brien is the founder and CEO of Smigin, an app for people who travel but don’t speak the local language.

Having lived and worked in eight countries, O’Brien realized that there was nothing on the market that helped users with simple, everyday conversation as most products focused heavily on grammar and structure.

New York City-based Smigin (www.smigin. com) is an iOS app that allows users to

build useful everyday phrases, with the grammar already built in.

The app is currently available in five languages, with plans to launch on Android and add Asian languages in 2015.

Prior to founding Smigin, O’Brien has held executive positions in both public and private companies in the U.S. and Europe.

An experienced, action-oriented executive with a proven track record of building brands that significantly elevate businesses and drive revenue, she has built teams to support and drive product development and revenue growth for both challenger/ undervalued and leading brands.

With 15 years of sales and marketing experience in over 30 countries globally, O’Brien has an innate knowledge of global sales strategies and the nuances of doing business globally.

O’Brien is the co-chair of the Irish International Business Network New York.

DEIRDRE O’CONNOR DEIRDRE O’Connor is a managing director at a capital management firm, one of the largest alternative asset managers in the world.

Previously, she was a managing director in the Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs, and the controller of Goldman Sachs Investment Strategies, responsible for $150 billion in assets under management.

A fellow at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a member of the Chartered Global Management Accountants, O’Connor is on the board of the Women’s Bond Club and is also a board member of GOAL USA. She studied accounting at the Cork Institute of Technology.

Born in Cobh, Co. Cork, O’Connor lives in New York City with her husband, Feargall Kenny, and their three children, Cliona, Colin, and Ava. She is “extremely proud of her Irish heritage,” and calls it “the foundation upon which I approach life and work.

“Key values ingrained in the Irish culture are hard work, building long term relationships, and sharing lessons learned with the next generation.”

DID YOU KNOW? As First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt allowed only female journalists at her press conferences, ensuring that newspapers would have to hire women.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2015 WOMEN OF INFLUENCE AND TO ALL THE WOMEN OF THE WORLD WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

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Women of Influence 2015

NANCY O’NEIL NANCY O’Neil is a partner at the global legal practice of Hogan Lovells based in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

She has over 30 years of experience advising institutional and individual clients on the tax planning for complex international transactions and for their domestic and international business activities.

O’Neil has represented some of the largest multinational companies, private equity funds and global investors in structuring cross-border investment activities.

She also provides tax advice to colleges and universities and other charitable organizations of all sizes.

O’Neil received a JD, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a BS from the Commerce School at the University of Virginia.

O’Neil lives in Baltimore with her husband, Thomas F. O’Neil III, a member of the Irish Voice Irish Legal 100.

They have two children, Caley and McGee. O’Neill’s maternal grandfather, Patrick Reynolds, was born and raised in Mohill, County Leitrim. The home he helped build still stands there.

Her maternal grandmother, Bessie Normandy (originally Normanly), was from Curry, Co. Sligo.

Patrick and Bessie each immigrated separately to New Haven, Connecticut early in the 20th century.

Patrick and Bessie first met at an Irish dance, later married and raised six children together.

NICOLA PARISH NICOLA Parish founded her own PR company, Parish Public Relations, in 2003.

Parish PR has grown exponentially over the last few years with offices in New York City and Los Angeles. Parish runs events on both coasts, with specific focus on film premieres.

Her clients include major motion pictures studios including Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount,

Focus Features, Lionsgate, the Weinstein Company, 20th Century Fox, Netflix, Starz, CBS Films, Open Road Films and more.

Parish also works on many non-profit events each year for organizations including LA Family Housing and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

She has worked on countless premieres in New York City and Los Angeles, including all of the Harr y Potter films, all the Spiderman, Superman and Batman films, Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Frozen, Captain American, Star Trek and many more.

Born in Dublin, Parish moved to New York at 18.

She began her career in the fashion industry, running a very successful accessories design firm, after which she transitioned into public relations.

Parish is on the advisory board of the non-profit organization Self Help Africa.

She resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn with her husband and two girls.

RACHEL QUIGLEY RACHEL Quigley is the online managing editor for Bauer Media Group’s Entertainment Group.

A native of Co. Tyrone, she moved to the U.S. in 2011 to fulfill her lifelong dream of working as a journalist in New York City.

Quigley worked as a showbiz reporter for the Daily Mail newspaper in London before being selected as part of a small team to set up the Mail Online in America.

Quickly working her way into a senior reporter position, she played a vital role in turning the Daily Mail’s U.S. arm into the powerhouse it is today.

In 2013, Quigley joined Bauer Media as digital news director.

Within a year she had grown the traffic of entertainment websites, InTouch, Life&Style and Closer from two million to 22 million. In 2014, Life&Style was named the fastest-growing magazine website by the MPA, with InTouch ranking fifth.

Due to this rapid growth, Bauer’s digital arm was able to branch off and form Bauer Xcel, where Quigley acts as managing editor, running a team of up to 15 while working with the publishing giant’s global titles.

Before joining the corporate world Quigley combined her love of writing and travel, moving to Japan in 2005 where she taught English and wrote for an ex-pat magazine.

Following this, she spent time in India working at a newspaper before setting off

to travel the world.

During her three years of globetrotting, she wrote a popular weekly column for her local newspaper back home, detailing her adventures.

Quigley received a degree in English and film studies from Queens University Belfast and completed her education at Cardiff University with a post-graduate diploma in newspaper journalism.

ROCKAWAY W.I.S.H. ROCKAWAY W.I.S.H. (RockawayWish. org) is a New York State not for-profit organization based in Rockaway Beach, New York.

W.I.S.H. stands for Women Inspired to Share and Help.

In 2006 a group of childhood friends who were born and raised in the heavily Irish Rockaway community decided it was important to give back to their local community in a direct, positive and meaningful way.

Since then, W.I.S.H. has been at the forefront of local volunteer efforts, aiding their neighbors in times of need.

In addition to the wonderful charitable works they perform all year, their strength and compassion was truly placed on display in response to Hurricane Sandy.

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy decimated their hometown of Rockaway Beach.

Their presence in the neighborhood became more crucial than ever before, and they did not hesitate to rise to the challenges that the community was facing.

The Rockaway W.I.S.H. Mission after Hurricane Sandy is to provide monetary relief to victims during the recovery and rebuild phases of the disaster, in addition to their normal ongoing charitable events and deeds throughout the year.

DID YOU KNOW? The word “woman” is believed to have derived from the Middle English term wyfman, broken down simply as the wife (wyf) of man. In Old English, women were described simply as wyf, while the term man was used to describe a human person, regardless of gender.

603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not yet considered a crime.

Women of Influence 2015

LESLEY CAHILL ROY LESLEY Cahill Roy is a talent and media consultant at her own company, LCR Talent in New York.

Cahill Roy moved to New York in 1993 after winning a green card in the Morrison visa lottery. She leveraged her degree from the National Academy of Dance in Dublin into a job at NBC’s member’s health club at Rockefeller Center and her entry into the land of the business of television production.

Blessed with a keen eye for opportunity and ability to leverage her personal network, Cahill Roy began her career at the Late Show with David Letterman in 1994.

She booked a variety of entertainment on the show for seven years. One of the highlights during her tenure was being the driving force behind booking Riverdance in 2002 and introducing Letterman’s audience to the cultural explosion of Irish heritage.

A move in 2001 to CBS News and The Early Show for two years was followed by eight years at a talent booking company called CTB as chief of staff and vice president.

Cahill Roy managed a team of talent bookers for a large variety of outlets including the People’s Choice Awards, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Discovery Networks, A&E Biography, Lifetime, Bravo, MTV, Alexa Chung, NFL Network, CBS News, Oprah, Dame Edna and more.

In 2011 LCR Talent was incorporated. The company is a talent producing, booking and consulting firm for TV, awards shows, digital programming, live events and series including the former Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the Webby Awards, Yahoo News with Katie Couric and more.

Since inception the company has seen its revenue turnover increase over 80 percent annually.

With no dollars spent on marketing or advertising the success has been achieved on that most critical component: word of mouth.

CHERYL SHEA NYPD Sergeant Cheryl C. Shea, who graduated first in her class of 1,097 at the Police Academy, joined the NYPD in 2007.

In her current role in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Training, she is part of a team that coordinates a comprehensive sixmonth field training program for probationary

police officers, a Herculean task that involves over 700 field training officers and more than 300 community partners.

Her role includes the development and implementation of pilot programs, and the implementation of the NYPD’s reengineering efforts as they pertain to the Training Bureau.

She is also a trusted advisor charged with briefing the deputy commissioner and commanding officer.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, where she won national awards for her athletic prowess on the soccer pitch, Shea went on to earn a master’s degree in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. She entered the New York City Police Academy in 2007, and at graduation accomplished the rare feat of winning both the Mayor’s Award for academic achievement and the Chief of Department Award, given to the academy’s fittest cadet.

Upon entering the NYPD, she chose the Bronx’s high-crime 46th Precinct, where she set about making an impressive 144 arrests in her first 18 months on the job.

Thus began a swift upward trajectory of Shea’s career. After a two-year stint as a patrol officer in the 46th Precinct, she was recruited

by NYPD’s Office of Management, Analysis and Planning (OMAP), whereupon her duties expanded to include an assignment to Special Projects, where she was the only female in a unit made up of Ivy League graduates and valedictorians. As part of her role, she developed policies and guidelines on several topics, including use-of-force guidelines for uniformed officers in the performance of duty.

In 2011 Marie Claire magazine tapped her as the nation’s “Top Crime Fighter” for its annual Women at the Top list, which recognizes the nation’s most inspirational innovators and game-changers. She rose to the rank of detective in 2011 and was promoted to sergeant in 2013.

Shea’s great-grandmother Delia Rogers emigrated from Co. Cork in 1896 at the age of 18.

Delia met and married Charles Conway, also from Cork, in 1898. They settled in the Upper East Side, eventually buying an apartment in Carnegie Hill that remains in the family to this day.

ORLA TINSLEY ORLA Tinsley is an Irish campaigner, journalist and author who has cystic fibrosis.

In 2005 she began campaigning for better healthcare services for people with cystic fibrosis in Ireland after an independent audit found people with cystic fibrosis were being treated in dangerous conditions.

In 2008 Tinsley received the Rehab National Young Person of The Year Award for her

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campaign work and journalism in The Irish Times.

She has received numerous awards for her work, including Woman of the Year from Irish Tatler magazine and Young Medical Journalist of the Year.

In 2011 Tinsley’s memoir, Salty Baby, was published in Ireland where it immediately entered the bestseller lists.

In 2012 the Cystic Fibrosis Unit at St. Vincent’s Hospital finally opened providing gold standard healthcare services, and through fundraising and a strong community spirit similar services are now being built around the country.

In 2014 Tinsley was awarded a scholarship to study creative writing at Columbia University in New York City where she now lives.

KRISTIN TRAHAN WINFORD KRISTIN Trahan Winford is chief operating officer of Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC, a leading financial advisory services firm.

She has extensive experience providing strategic operations, risk controls and governance, and performance improvement services to internal and external clients.

With a strong background in professional services and global technology firms, Trahan Winford has a proven track record operationalizing ethics and core values to realize strategic business objectives, ensure profitable growth and build destination employers.

Currently, she leads all aspects of Mesirow Financial Consulting’s business unit operations.

She focuses specifically on the people management and operating strategy of the firm, including strategic planning and budgeting, finance and accounting, risk management, internal controls, marketing and communications, compensation strategy, human capital acquisition and development, organizational design and effectiveness, information technology and administrative operations.

Her experience also includes leading sensitive internal investigations in the areas of breach of fiduciary duty, malfeasance, and fraud for global financial services firms.

Trahan Winford was national operations director for the national Corporate Recovery and Transaction Services practices at KPMG LLP prior to joining Mesirow Financial Consulting.

Trahan Winford earned a BA from Southern Methodist University, an MBA from Arizona State University, and an Ed.D from Creighton University.

She traces her Irish ancestry – Moylans, Comerfords, Hogans and Hyneses – to Co. Clare.

Women of Influence 2015

HOW THE NUNS OF NY TAMED THE GANGS OF NY

By Turlough McConnell

T

HE assimilation of Irish Catholic immigrants into American society was a turbulent process in New York City before, during and after the Famine.

In 1835, more than 30,000 Irish arrived annually on the waterfront, and during the Famine years, from 1845 to 1855, the influx of victims escaping Ireland’s Great Hunger caused the city population to grow from 371,000 to 630,000.

The impoverished immigrants who flooded New York disrupted the dominance of the AngloProtestant elite, who responded with nativist backlash that intensified as immigration swelled.

The champion of the Irish immigrants was Archbishop John Hughes, who emigrated from Ulster a generation earlier.

The visionary Hughes saw the Catholic Church as a civic institution to promote Irish assimilation through the strengthening of democratic ideals.

However, the transformation of New York City as a haven for immigrants needed an infrastructure, which was built through the strength, the courage, and the unwavering commitment of the Sisters of Charity of New York, who were the driving force that enabled the Irish

newcomers to build new lives in America.

Transforming New York into a safe place for this immigrant population was a monumental task that would require schools, orphanages and hospitals.

The city at that time was concentrated in Lower Manhattan. Areas such as Five Points, near City Hall, overflowed with impoverished Irish and exploded with crime and prostitution; it was home to 17 brothels and countless saloons.

Hughes called Five Points’ predominantly Irish residents “the poorest and most wretched population that can be found in the world -- the scattered debris of the Irish nation.”

In 1842 the English author Charles Dickens, another authority on urban poverty, described Five Points as “loathsome, drooping, and decayed”; the Londoner had to be accompanied by two policemen to ensure his safety when he visited America’s first notorious slum.

Thousands of abandoned and orphaned children of Irish parents roamed, or prowled, the city’s streets. Violent Irish gangs, with names like the Forty Thieves, the B’boys, the Roach Guards, and the Chichesters, wreaked havoc on their neighborhoods.

And how they rioted. The

Nuns of the Battlefield is a public artwork in Washington, D.C. made in 1924 by Irish-born artist Jerome Connor. Over 600 nuns nursed both armies during the American Civil War.

anti-abolitionist riots of 1834 took place over four sweltering summer nights in July. Then, in 1849, came the Astor Street Riots, which began over anger at who could play Macbeth better, the American actor Edwin Forrest or the Englishman William Charles Maccready.

The outcome of that riot left 25 citizens dead.

Later, in 1857, came the Dead Rabbits Riot on Bayard Street in the Five Points, a full-fledged riot in which an estimated 800 to 1,000 gang members took advantage of New York’s disorganized police force.

The anger of these immigrants seemed ready at any moment to ignite an firestorm of rage.

The notorious Civil War Draft Riots followed in 1863 when over 1,000 people were killed in three days.

That riot is still on record as America’s worst.

The Sisters of Charity prevailed in this atmosphere of urban terror. The nuns had been a presence in New York since 1817, when their founder, Mother Elizabeth Seton, sent the first sisters from the motherhouse in Emmitsburg, Maryland, to staff the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, later known as St. Patrick’s Orphanage to care for the stream of destitute and impoverished children.

The situation grew increasingly dire, and by

In 1817 Sisters Elizabeth Boyle, Rose White and Cecilia O’Conway established St. Patrick’s Asylum on Prince Street in lower Manhattan. This oil painting by foremost church artist Italian Pietro Gagliardi hangs in Le Gras Hall on the grounds of Mount St. Vincent. It was presented to the congregation in 1873 by John Kelly, a prominent New York politician who attended St. Patrick’s School in the 1830s.

1846 the sisters made the difficult decision to break from their order in Maryland and start a new congregation so they could concentrate their efforts on this desperate local population.

In choosing to break with their order these women had everything to lose and nothing to gain, but they knew how much was at stake.

One of those nuns, Sister Mary Angela, was Hughes’ younger sister who entered the Emmitsburg novitiate in 1825, was sent on missions to Cincinnati and St. Louis before joining her brother in New York in 1846 to direct St. Joseph’s Half Orphan Asylum for children. (A half orphan was a child who had lost one parent.)

Following the decision to form their own congregation in1846, and spurred by the desperate needs of the Famine Irish, Sister Angela and the Sisters of Charity created a lasting social infrastructure that continues to this day. They created the first social service “safety net” before welfare or public assistance existed.

By 1850 the city’s Catholics had become so numerous that Pope Pius IX made New

York an archdiocese and Hughes its first archbishop.

A few years later, Hughes conceived a plan to build a great cathedral, three miles out of town, on Fifth Avenue, to serve as a spiritual home and a haven for his beloved Irish America. He died in 1864 before his vision was realized.

His sister, who successfully ran orphanages, schools, and with three other sisters began St. Vincent’s Hospital died two years later. She had been elected superior of the congregation in 1855, and ably oversaw the construction of the motherhouse, known today as Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale.

Though it ceased operating as a school in 2010, St. Patrick’s School at 32 Prince Street stands as a monument to the work of the Sisters.

Over the years those classrooms served thousands of students; one of those boys was director Martin Scorsese, whose 2002 film, The Gangs of New York, based on Herbert Asbury’s 1928 book, tells a violent tale of gang warfare during those early New York days.

According to city historian William J. Stern

Women of Influence 2015

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St. Vincent’s Hospital Park in the West Village is the setting for the New York City AIDS Memorial. The site is located next to the former St. Vincent’s Hospital, one of the first hospitals in the nation to offer HIV treatment.

in his brilliant 2003 essay “What Gangs of New York Misses,” it ignored the real drama of the moment -- the transformation of the city’s Irish underclass into mainstream citizens.

Though the film’s historical accuracy may be arguable, the storytelling expertise of the director cannot be contested. He is remembered as a storyteller in his student days as well.

“Martin loved to tell stories,” his eighth-grade teacher, Sister Marita Regina Bronner, told me recently.

This lively woman, aged 91, is now retired at St. Patrick’s Villa in Nanuet.

“In my English class Martin Scorsese was forever jumping up and asking if the class could act out the stories that we read.

I told him to sit down.

‘Martin, the other children

must first learn to read before they can act.’”

That the sisters made an enduring impact on the landscape of New York is unquestioned. Their efforts, motivated by compassion, empowered generations of Irish immigrants to survive and thrive in a nation dedicated to tolerance.

Yet the nation that eventually embraced them remained intolerant.

At the time when the sisters made official their decision to form their own congregation, Congressman Daniel Gott from New York gave an impassioned speech to the House of Representatives against the proposed emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia. He described the actions of abolitionists in the North as “impertinent interference with the slaves.”

Though his speech expressed the sentiments of few New Yorkers, it joined a chorus of intransigent Southerners determined to preserve a lifestyle held in place by oppression and cruelty.

Irish Americans, who struggled for freedom a decade earlier, served their Union as enlisted soldiers in the American Civil War. Many made the ultimate sacrifice for a nation that was still reluctant to accept them.

And yet, the Sisters of Charity, the women behind the story, continue the work of serving underserved populations, those immigrants and minorities determined to get ahead in America.

Though their numbers have fallen greatly in recent decades, the sisters who remain today in New York and as far away as Guatemala are fiercely committed to education, health care, child care and social justice.

Their work and their struggle deserve as prominent a place in the history books as the wars that claim the lives of those immigrants and their children.

In 1869 Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon opened the New York foundling for abandoned children on East Twelfth Street.

Photographed here by social reformer Jacob Riis.

(Turlough McConnell is curator/producer of the exhibition, A Monumental Legacy: Archbishop John J. Hughes and the Building of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Originally shown at the Consulate of Ireland New York in 2014, panels from the exhibition are on view at the gallery of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, 345 Mulberry Street, New York.

The Archbishop Hughes Commemorative Committee, a collaboration of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and Ancient Order of Hibernians, is pleased to announce that a lasting memorial has been commissioned to honor and perpetuate the life and legacy of Archbishop John J. Hughes -- Ireland’s greatest immigrant of the 19th century and unsung American hero.

The memorial will be unveiled at a ceremony celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in November of 2015 by His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan. For more information see www.archbishophughes.com)

The Five Points neighborhood.

CELEBRATING THE IRISH VOICE WOMEN OF INFLUENCE