Irish Echo "40 Under 40" honoree Orla Treacy and her fiance, Ryan Bailey.
Three up-and-coming Philadelphia area professionals were named to the Irish Echo’s annual “40 Under 40” list, which recognizes the achievements and potential of Irish and Irish-Americans under 40.
Honored at ceremonies last week were a lawyer and Irish community leader from Wexford, an immigration activist and a champion ladies Gaelic footballer who is working to reduce gun violence in Pennsylvania.
Here are our local heroes:
Laurence Banville, an attorney who was born in Wexford, Ireland, is general counsel and partner in the firm Alliance Equals LLC in Philadelphia, president of Irish Network-Philadelphia, and sits on the board of Irish Network USA. He has also been named to the Irish Legal 100, an annual publication that recognized Irish and Irish-American lawyers.
Mairead Conley is the reigning Philadelphia and Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee. She is also deputy director of community programming at the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia, treasurer for Irish Network-Philadelphia, and active in the Reform Immigration for America campaign. She is a member of the selection committee of the Inspirational Irish Women awards, a joint program of the Irish Center and the Irish Immigration Center. Conley also received the Young Irish American Leader of the Year Award.
Orla Treacy is operations director of CeaseFirePA, Pennsylvania’s leading gun violence prevention organization dedicating to reducing and preventing gun violence through education and advocacy at the community level. A graduate of Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Flourtown and the University of Pennsylvania, she is also a found member of the Mairead Farrell Ladies Gaelic football team in Philadelphia, which recently won the Ladies Senior Division in the North American Championship in Chicago.
Treacy’s escort for the award ceremony, held at Rosie O’Grady’s in Bayonne, NJ, was her boyfriend, Ryan Bailey. The next day, Orla tells us, Bailey popped the question and became her fiancé. Double congratulations!
Other Philadelphians honored in past years included Sarah Conaghan, director of the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Centre; Siobhan Lyons, executive director of the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia; Karen Boyce McCollum, a singer and associate director for corporate communications at Cephalon, a pharmaceutical company; and Theresa Flanagan Murtagh, a musician, attorney, and former president of the Donegal Association of Philadelphia.
View some photos from the event.
