Stella O'Leary (President)

Stella O'Leary graduated from University College, Dublin, Ireland with degrees in Arts and Library Science. With the award of an UNESCO scholarship, she traveled to America to archive a collection of rare Irish books and manuscripts at the Catholic University of America. With a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she co-authored Classical Scholarship-An Annotated Bibliography published in 1985.

In 1996, she founded Irish American Democrats, a Political Action Committee, to support the re-election of President Clinton. The purpose of the PAC was to ensure that the Irish peace process, under the direction of Senator George Mitchell, would continue until a settlement was reached. That peace process concluded in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement which is a model of how ethnic conflicts should be reconciled.
   















Brian O'Dwyer New York

Brian O’Dwyer serves as a partner of O’Dwyer & Bernstien, a law firm in New York City. The law firm which concentrates in Labor Law, Employee Benefit Law, Immigrants Rights, Personal Injury and Government Representation. He regularly appears on Local and National TV as a commentator on legal matters.

Brian O’Dwyer was a founder of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, the largest Irish Immigrant Center in the United States. In over its ten years in existence the center has helped literally thousands of Irish men and women as they have immigrated to New York City. The center also serves as a focal point for the advocacy of Irish Immigrant causes. In recognition of his work at the Center he has been awarded innumerable awards including, Citation in Irish America’s Top 100, the New York City Council Spirit of New York Award and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He was awarded papal honors when Edward Cardinal Egan of New York named him Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher.

Mr. O’Dwyer was National Chairman of Irish Americans for Clinton Gore in 1992 and Chairman of Irish Americans for Gore in 2000. He was part of the delegation that accompanied President Clinton on each of his three trips to Ireland and served as an adviser to the White House on Irish issues. He was appointed by President Clinton, as a Commissioner of the Presidents Commission on White House Fellowships. In January 2001 he was awarded the Directors Citation for exemplary public service by the White House Director of the Office of Personnel, citing his work on the commission.

In 2006 he was designated as one of New York’s “Super Lawyers” (top 5% of all lawyers in Manhattan.)
 





Dennis Gallagher Denver Colorado

Dennis Gallagher, currently elected city auditor for Denver, Colorado has served in the Colorado  House, Senate, and Denver City Council. He served for 16 years on the Colorado Legislative Audit Committee during his 20 years in the Senate.  He serves on the advisory committee for the Denver American Ireland Fund events. Dennis is vice chair of the James Joyce Reading and Marching Society of Greater Metropolitan Denver.He was grand marshall of last year's St. Patrick's Parade in Denver.  He takes students from Denver's Regis University to Ireland for  two weeks every summer. He gives lots of historic neighborhood and cemetery tours, and always carries voter registration applications. His ancestors came from Cork and Tipperary on his mom's side and Sligo and Galway on his dad's side

















Brendan Boyle Philadelphia PA
Rep. Brendan F. Boyle
170th Legislative District
Philadelphia and Montgomery counties

State Rep. Brendan F. Boyle, D-Phila./Montgomery, was elected to the House in November 2008. The son of an Irish immigrant, Boyle was born and raised in the city of Philadelphia.

He currently resides in Northeast Philadelphia with his wife Jennifer, an elementary school teacher.

Boyle is the first in his family to attend college. He went to the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a bachelor's degree in government and completed the Hesburgh Program in Public Service. While at Notre Dame, Boyle worked as a sportscaster, announcing Notre Dame football and basketball games on 640 WVFI-AM in South Bend, Ind.

Boyle later attended graduate school at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, earning a master's degree in public policy.

The Philadelphia Daily News recognized Boyle's early promise as a lawmaker, naming him one of politics' top 10 rising stars in August 2008. Boyle's legislative priorities include affordable education, universal health care for children and adults, crime reduction, sustainable growth and government reform.





Bruce Morrison Maryland

Bruce A. Morrison is Chairman of the Morrison Public Affairs Group (MPAG), which he founded in 2001 to conduct and supervise a broad practice involving strategic advice and representation for both domestic and international clients. From 1983 to 1991, Mr. Morrison represented the Third District of Connecticut (New Haven) in the U.S. House of Representatives. He also served on the Judiciary Committee, where he specialized in immigration. His 1990 legislation created the "Morrison visa" program under which almost 50,000 Irish men and women received green cards in the early 1990s. Since 1991, Mr. Morrison has traveled frequently to Northern Ireland and has been involved in many aspects of the Peace Process. In 1992, he advised Bill Clinton, while a Presidential candidate, on issues related to Northern Ireland. He continued to provide advice and information to the Clinton White House from 1993 to 2001, including assistance on negotiations leading to IRA cessations in 1994 and 1997. In 1992 and 1996, he was Co-Chairman of Irish-Americans for Clinton-Gore.







Eileen Heaphy Connecticut


Eileen Heaphy was born and raised in Ansonia, CT.  After graduating from college, she moved to Washington DC and began working at the National Security Agency while studying for her MA at night.  She subsequently joined the State Department and worked as an American diplomat both in Washington and abroad until her retirement in 1999. Foreign assignments included Costa Rica, Mexico, Denmark and Spain.  She speaks Spanish, Danish and some French. She moved to Stamford in March 2000 to lead the Stamford-based World Affairs Forum until she "retired" again in 2007 to dedicate more time to community and political affairs.  

She was elected to the Board of Representatives four years ago with the second highest vote of all candidates on the District 8 list.  She is grateful for the Democratic Party's nomination for reelection, and she look forward to serving her constituents again for another four years. 

 


























Joseph Cryan
Joseph Cryan is the son of the late John Cryan, a native of County Roscommon, Ireland and Mary Cryan, whose parents both immigrated to the United States from County Donegal, Ireland. Born in 1961, Joe was raised in the Vailsburg section of Newark where he attended Sacred Heart Grammar School and the Seton Hall Preparatory High School of South Orange, NJ. Joe graduated summa cum laude from Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic college located in Belmont, North Carolina, with a BA in Business Administration in 1983.

Joe relocated back to New Jersey and began a business career with ITT Avionics in Clifton, NJ. Starting at an entry-level position, Joe moved up the corporate ladder quickly, and when he left in 1993 he was Operations Manager with over 100 people in his charge, and a program budget in excess of 300 million dollars. In 1993, Joe joined his family’s business by owning and operating Cryan’s Restaurant in Metuchen. In 2003, Joe left the restaurant business to serve as Undersheriff in the County of Union, a position he still holds today.

The Cryan family has been long involved in Irish activities, both in organizations and in their businesses. Joe is the standard bearer of the John F. Cryan Association; Joe is also a co-founder and first president of the Irish-American Society of Union. He is also a vice-president of the Brian Boru Association, a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 4504, and many other organizations. Joe has received numerous awards form various civic organizations, including the Irishman of the Year award from the Rahway Division of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians Division 3, The Dedicated Service Award to the Irish Community, from the Union County Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick. Most recently, Joe has been named Legislator of the Year by both the ARC of New Jersey, the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, the Court Appointed Special Advocates, and New Jersey Apartment Association. He has also received praise for his leadership and public service from the Families and Community Together program and the New Jersey Law Enforcement Officers Association.

In 1997, Joe served as the first chairman of the Union County Saint Patrick’s Day Parade an annual event in Union County that draws as many as 50,000 spectators. Today Joe remains an active member of the Union Parade Committee. Joe was also selected as Grand Marshal for the 2001 Woodbridge Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.

Politics has also been a part of Joe’s life. In 1996, Joe was elected as the Township of Union’s Democratic Municipal Chairman. He has been successful and today all elected Township Committee Officials are Democratic. Joe is in his third term in the New Jersey State Assembly where as Deputy Majority Leader he serves as Chair of the Assembly Education Committee and as a member of the Assembly Budget Committee.

In February 2006, Joe was elected Chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee after serving as its Vice Chair since 2002.

Joe resides in Union with his two children, John and Megan.










Nancy Grandquist Louisiana

Nancy Campbell Grandquist Fields is a home builder by trade and a veteran community banker by profession who has evaluated proposals to the U.S Department of Treasury/CDFI Fund New Market Tax Credit program (created under President Clinton's Administration),on a contractual basis, for the past 5 years. As an Irish American Democrat she has dedicated the past 30 years to helping underserved Americans (African, Cajun, Creole,French, Hispanic, Irish and Native ), in six middle America states, access grants and subsidized loans for affordable housing and community reinvestment. She worked on Senator Kennedy's campaign for President in 1980, participated in President Carter's Friendship Force to Ireland in 1978,was a recipient of a President Clinton medal as vp of a FHLBank in 1995, was a campaign volunteer for Secretary of State Clinton's Senatorial and Presidential campaigns and a campaign volunteer for President Obama. In 2008, she spent 5 weeks in Ireland (Galway, Belfast, Dublin)with a group from Louisiana State University studying the history of the conflict in Ireland and mass communications in a global economy.

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