Networking—Irish Style

If you thought of the inaugural meeting of the new Irish Network-Philadelphia organization as a treasure hunt, last night at Tir na Nog in Center City I collected:

• Two members of the Celtic rock group Blackthorn
• A guy whose company makes a mobile beer table for pubs
• Six lawyers
• The director of disability services at Temple University
• Three old Dublin City University friends who came to the US on a lark because they could get green cards then wound up becoming Americans
• Four college students
• The creative director of a local theatre company
• A Center City business owner
• A house painter
• The guitarist from Solas
• The director of sweaters (yes, it’s a real job) at Anthropologie
• An occupational therapist from Dublin who was only there because she couldn’t get home, thanks to an Icelandic volcano

Of course, I’m pretty chatty, but even if you traded fewer business cards than I did, your world would still be expanded dramatically. And that’s the idea behind IN-Philadelphia, the latest in a string of networking organizations aimed at bringing together a varied group of people “from suits to boots” with a common bond: They’re Irish-born or of Irish descent.

IN-USA grew out of the collaborative efforts of the Irish government and American organizers who spun the group from the template set by Bill Godwin, who was then Midwest territory director for IDA Ireland, the agency responsible for industrial development and foreign investment in Ireland. IN Chicago launched in 2003 as way for Irish-born immigrants to share business contacts, experience, and drive business to one another.

Attorney and Wexford native Laurence Banville is chairman of the committee that added IN-Philadelphia to the Irish Network’s growing list of participating cities (New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC). In January, he met at the Irish Embassy in Washington with Irish officials and other IN groups and thought the concept could be a go in his new hometown.

While many of the other INs are heavy with professionals, Banville thought that welcoming “boots”—people in the trades—as well as “suits” would increase the group’s bandwidth.

“I thought we could bring together all sorts of individuals—landscapers, painters, lawyers, businessmen—to everyone’s benefit,” he says. After all, he points out, lawyers often need painters, and painters sometimes need lawyers. IN-USA is developing a national database of members that will “allow people in Philadelphia to expand outside of Philadelphia,” he says. A website will be up shortly that will let members link to other members all over the country.

Karen Boyce McCollum is a member of the IN-Philadelphia committee. “My favorite aspect of this group is our ‘from boots to suits’ motto,” she says. “This group is open to all people in Philadelphia with an Irish interest. People from all industries are welcome to be part–carpenters, lawyers, doctors, aspiring politicians, newly appointed software engineers, stay-at-home mothers, firefighters with an interest in the accordion, realtors, insurance agents with an interest in raising children, musicians, tour guides/radio hosts, future college graduates, teachers, roofers, etc. Diversity is a plus, especially when it comes to building a strong, well-rounded network.”

For Karen McCausland, IN-Philadelphia came just in time. The Tyrone native and director of sweaters for Philly-based Anthropologie has only been in Philadelphia for two weeks. Rosaleen McGill, a teaching assistant at The Caring Center and singer, introduced Karen to me as “my new friend.”

“This is such a good opportunity for me to meet people and make connections,” says McCausland, who has been an ex-pat—in places like Milan and Glasgow—for the last dozen years.

Noel Fleming, formerly from Dundalk, County Louth, now lives in Phoenixville. He’s a lawyer with Lundy & Flynn in Bala Cynwyd who joined the IN-Philadelphia committee to share his expertise. “I joined because of my friend, Kevin Kent, who is also on the committee. I’m not involved in a lot of Irish things at all—in fact, nothing—but I thought I could help because of the kind of law I practice. This is a nonprofit organization and I practice nonprofit tax exempt law. I wanted to help out.”

The next IN-Philadelphia event is on May 20 at Maggie O’Neill’s Pub, 1062 Pontiac Road in Drexel Hill.

If you ask Gordon Magee—and I did—the Irish Network is an idea whose time has come. The painting contractor from Belfast and Roxborough hasn’t gravitated toward other Irish organizations because, he says, “they seem to cater to an older clientele,” he says. “This was started by people more my age so I thought I’d give it a chance. I think it has a lot of potential.”

It does. I think I found a painter.