Irish America magazine celebrated the 15th Anniversary Wall Street 50 on September 20, 2012 with co-host Teneo, a global consulting firm and investment bank. The annual event recognizes the best and brightest Irish and Irish-American leaders in finance. Click here to see all of the honorees and photos from the event.
In addition to his fellow honorees, the event recognized the outstanding achievements of Adrian Jones, who delivered the 2012 Keynote Address. Mr. Jones is a managing director of the Principal Investment Area of the Merchant Banking Division in New York, where he is co-head of the Americas Equity business and a member of the Global Investment Committee. He served in the Irish Army from 1981 to 1989, earning the rank of Lieutenant, and spent seven months on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon as part of Ireland’s commitment to the UN.
Mr. Jones has demonstrated leadership and commitment in both his professional and philanthropic life. He serves on the boards of Autism Speaks, the Galway University Foundation, and the American Ireland Fund. In collaboration with all three, earlier this year he helped to spearhead Ireland’s first international conference on autism, at NUI Galway. He has also been a key participant in the Global Irish Economic Forum and the Global Irish Network.
Publisher Niall O’Dowd and Editor-in-Chief Patricia Harty, Co-Founders of the magazine, presented Mr. Jones with the Keynote Speaker award – a House of Waterford Crystal King’s Bowl. His speech touched upon how far Ireland has come, how far it has still to go, and how those in the room and the Irish diaspora could help. He also communicated how much Ireland values its emigrants and descendants of emigrants: “You may not have met [your relatives in Ireland] before, but they have heard of you, they know you, and – believe me – they are proud.”
Patricia Harty said “Adrian Jones exemplifies the best of the Irish on Wall Street, successful but never forgetting his roots or the need to give back. Our Wall Street 50 embody the best of the Irish experience in America – committed, hardworking and deeply proud of their heritage.”
Niall O’Dowd announced that Quinnipiac University’s Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of visual art, artifacts and printed materials relating to the Irish Famine, will officially open in Hamden, CT on September 28 and Irish Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport Leo Varadkar will officiate the ceremony. The museum will open to the public on October 11.
Joe Byrne of Tourism Ireland spoke about The Gathering: 2013, the upcoming year-long tourism initiative that will draw the diaspora back home to Ireland for a flurry of festivals and events throughout the country.
Attendees included Consul General Noel Kilkenny; Loretta Brennan Glucksman and Kieran McLoughlin of the American Ireland Fund and Julie Menin, New York City political figure and host of NBC cable talk show Give and Take.
The 2012 Wall Street 50 list, published in the October/November issue of Irish America, recognizes an impressive range of honorees. With 16 female honorees, two of whom are also in Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, the 2012 list celebrates more women in finance than ever before – twice as many as the 2011 list. 28% of the honorees are born in Ireland, and 28% are second-generation Irish-Americans. The top counties of origin are Cork, Dublin, Roscommon, Mayo and Tipperary, and the most mentioned colleges and universities include Boston College, the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, St. John’s University and Trinity College Dublin.
See photos from the 2012 Wall Street 50 awards dinner
Leave a Reply