IrishAmerica250.org

National Committee Members

We are in the process of building a national leadership team and are very pleased with the enormous and positive response. While we are still a committee in formation, listed below are some of those who have joined:

• Alice McDermott, award-winning novelist and playwright
• Terence Winch,  winner of the American Book Award (1985) and co-editor of The Best American Poetry of 2025
• Micheal O’Siadhail, ” The Five Quintets cements his status as arguably Ireland’s greatest living poet”
• Niall O’Dowd, founder and publisher of Irish America, Irish Central, and author
• Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, Harvard Kennedy School
• Larry McCarthy, immediate past president of the GAA
• Marty Meehan, Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts system
• Dennis M. Lucey, VP AKIMA and Co-Chair of the American Ireland Fund National Gala
• Sean Pender, President of the AOH
• Catriona Frotrell, President and CEO, Ireland Fund
• John Fitzpatrick, President and CEO of the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group
• Susan Davis, President of Susan Davis International, Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the GFA
• Mary Sugrue, President and CEO, Irish American Partnership
• Former Ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley
• Former Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin
• John Feehery, recently appointed by the Trump Administration to be the alternate observer to the International Fund for Ireland
• Susan O’Neill, American Ireland Fund
• Theresa Flanagan Murtagh, President of the Friendly Sons and Daughters of Saint Patrick (1771), Philadelphia
• John Connorton, National Committee on American Foreign Policy
• Tom P. O’Neill III, O’Neill and Associates, Boston
• James Normile, Chairman of the American Irish Historical Society 
• Prof. Martin Flaherty, Fordham Law School and Princeton University
• John Feerick, former Dean of Fordham Law School
• Ambassador Susan Eliot, National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCTAF)
• Prof. Kimberly Cowell Meyers, Vice Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the GFA
• Ted Smyth, President Advisory Board, Glucksman Ireland House for Irish Studies, NYU
• Dr. Niamh Hamill, Institute for Studies Abroad, Donegal
• Duncan Morrow, Ulster University
• Dennis Browlee, Founder and Chairman of the African American Irish Diaspora Network
• Stella O’Leary, former U.S. representative to the IFI
• Artist and scholar Prof. Emeritus James W. Flannery, Emory University
• Brendan Fay, founder of the Lavender & Green Alliance
• Turlough McConnell, McConnell Communications
• Carol Wheeler, Founder of the Washington Ireland Program
• Dan Dennehy, Council for American Irish Relations
• James P. Tierney, historian, Fighting Irish 69th Division
• Bob Arnold, Jr., U.S.S. Patrick Gallagher, Commissioning Committee
• Tom Elmore, author, South Carolina Humanities
• Marilyn Madigan, Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians
• Kevin Charles Murray, Frost Brown Todd, Senior Partner, Indianapolis 
• Keith Carney, President FedNet. Washington D.C. 
• Chris Moser, Professor Emeritus, Georgia State University, expert on the history of the Scots Irish 
• Martina Curtin, President of the Irish Cultural Center of Greater Boston
• Michael Quinlin, Co-Founder Boston Irish Tourism Association (BITA)
• Mark H. Tuohey, advisor to the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland. 

Founders and Directors

Irish America 250 is a pro bono initiative dedicated to honoring and celebrating the enduring legacy of Irish contributions to American history and culture. The project is made possible through the generous donation of time, expertise, and resources by its Directors, who serve without compensation in support of this mission.

• Kevin Sullivan, CEO and Chair
• Susan Davis, Counselor
• Prof. Darragh Gannon, Georgetown University Global Irish Studies, Lead Historian
• Sean O’Dowd, Treasurer
• Noreen Bowden, Communications Director
• James Gaffey, The South and the Scots Irish
• Hilary Beirne, Greater New York, Irish US Relations
• Bobby Cunningham, Congressional Relations
• Morgan O’Sullivan, Vice Chair
• Chris Isleib, Retired Navy Captain: Liaison to U.S. Armed Forces and America 250 Commission 
• Ruadhán Byron, Marketing Director 
• Robert Leigh, Lead Graphic Designer