Peace Corps Leader

Director of the Peace Corps and former director of communications at the Clinton White House, Mark Gearan worked to positively influence Irish affairs within the administration. He was instrumental in events which helped lead to the Northern ceasefires in 1994, and was a member of the delegation which traveled to Ireland with the President last December. “It was quite a thrill for me any my family,” Gearan, the grandson of immigrants from County Mayo, said. 

Gearan worked as assistant to President Clinton, and also served as Deputy Chief of Staff. A former reporter, Gearan holds a degree in government from Harvard University, and entered politics upon graduation in 1978. He worked as a congressional aide for Representative Berkley Bendell before becoming the director of the Massachusetts Office of Federal Relations for then-Governor Michael Dukakis. 

In 1989, Gearan was selected to become executive director of the Democratic Governors’ Association, which led to his subsequent affiliation with the President. 

Gearan and his wife, Mary Herlihy, who still works in the White House, have one daughter.