Brian P. Burns
Chairman &President
BF Enterprises, Inc.
Revenue: N/A
Employees: N/A
Brian Burns is the chairman and president of BF Enterprises, Inc., a publicly-owned real estate holding and development company. A nationally prominent business executive and attorney, he has been the moving force behind some 40 corporate mergers. He is presently a director of the Kendall-Jackson Winery.
An equally renowned philanthropist and art collector, Bums is a director of The American Ireland Fund and the founder and principal benefactor of the Bums Library of Rare Books at Boston College. In 1990, the Bums foundation endowed the library with a Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies chair. The Burns’ collection of Irish art, displayed in 1996 at Boston College, is almost unequaled. His Irish art collection was the subject of a major exhibition for several months in 1997 at the Yale Center of British Art in New Haven, Connecticut.
Burns was also a principal benefactor of the Irish Famine Memorial in Cambridge, Massachusetts — the first of its kind in the States. He currently serves on the Irish Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Board and as vice chairman of the Irish American Fulbright Commission. He is also a member of the Trinity College Foundation Board in Dublin.
Burns traces his roots to County Kerry. His wife, Eileen, is a member of the advisory board to the National Gallery of Ireland.
Judith Campbell
Chief Information Officer
New York Life Insurance Company
Revenue: $20 billion
Employees: 7,400
Judith Campbell is the chief information officer of New York Life Insurance Company. Based in the company’s Manhattan headquarters, she leads New York Life’s information technology group, which is responsible for setting the strategic technology direction for the company. At New York Life, Campbell has directed the Year 2000 initiative, the largest and most complex technology project in the 153-year history of the company; defined a legacy migration strategy to manage rising customer demand while containing costs; and developed and constructed an Internet-based architecture for the enterprise on which to build New York Life’s future technology.
Prior to joining New York Life in 1997, she served as senior vice president of the consumer banking division at PNC Bank, and senior vice president and director of business services at Midlantic Corporation where she played a major role in returning the $13-billion-asset bank to profitability after extensive losses in 1991. A member of New York Life’s executive management committee, she participates in determining the overall business direction of the company.
Campbell holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. A fifth-generation Irish American, she is a member of the New York Irish History Round-table, the Irish American Partnership and the Irish Family History Forum. She also serves on the boards of Express Scripts Inc., Brylane Inc., Integrion Inc., and the board of visitors of Drew University. She has two daughters.
Ed Carroll
Executive Vice President
Bravo Networks
Revenue: N/A
Employees: 57
Under Ed Carroll’s supervision, Bravo Networks has grown to become one of cable television’s most innovative networks with distribution exceeding 40 million households across the country.
Carroll is the executive vice president and general manager responsible for overseeing all facets of operations including programming, marketing and advertising sales for Bravo, the Film and Arts Network and the Independent Film Channel (IFC). In 1994, he played an instrumental role in the launch of the Independent Film Channel (IFC), cable television’s first network completely dedicated to independent film.
Carroll has more than 13 years’ experience in me cable television industry. He joined Rainbow Media, the parent company of Bravo Networks, in 1987 and worked as a publicist for American Movie Classics (AMC) and Bravo. He came to Bravo in 1992 when he was promoted to director of marketing. He was appointed vice president and general manager of Bravo and IFC in 1998. That same year, Bravo and IFC won the prestigious Peabody Award.
A third-generation Irish American, Carroll was born in Syosset, New York and earned his undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He is a frequent lecturer at New York University’s Stem School of Business Administration.
Carroll is married with two children. He traces his Irish roots back to County Cork.
Charles M. Cawley
Chairman &CEO
MBNA America Bank, N.A.
Revenue: $5.2 billion
Employees: 20,000 plus
Charles Cawley, chairman and chief executive officer of MBNA America Bank, N.A., and president of MBNA Corp., has more than 30 years experience in the financial services industry and was part of the team that established MBNA in 1982.
The largest independent credit-card lender in the world with more than $60 billion in assets, MBNA has operations in the U.S., the UK and Canada, as well as a sales office at St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. In its Irish offices, MBNA employs more than 200 people who are responsible for marketing, activation, collections and insurance activities.
Thirty-seven Irish organizations recommend MBNA products to their members, including the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland and the Law Society of Ireland. MBNA markets to Irish Americans in the U.S. from its operation in Dublin.
A second-generation Irish American whose family came from County Sligo, Cawley is proud of his Irish heritage. He told Irish America, “I see in many of my family members and Irish friends the special qualities of friendliness, hard work, strong will and humor that are typical of the Irish.” He is married with two children.♦
Article copyright Irish America Inc.
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