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Irish American Business Chamber & Network

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Ambassador’s Award Honoree Teleflex: Making a Serious Impact on Patient Lives

Liam J. Kelly

On March 1, the Irish American Business Chamber & Network will be hosting the 2019 Ambassador’s Awards Luncheon at Philadelphia’s Union League. Among the honorees is Teleflex, a global provider of medical technology products. recipient of the Ambassador Award. Accepting on behalf of Teleflex will be Liam J. Kelly, Teleflex president and CEO.

We recently spoke with Liam Kelly. Here’s what he had to say.

Irish Philly: Teleflex is a global provider of medical technology products and I’m wondering if you could give me some examples.

Liam Kelly: Teleflex has a number of divisions. We have a vascular division. There, our main product is a central venous catheter and a PICC catheter. And also a product called an EZ-IO. They all basically give vascular access to patient. If a patient has a heart attack, the one thing that they need is vascular access. We need to get fluid into the body and we provide a whole series of catheters that allow that to happen.

We also have an interventional access division. Our main products there focus on coronary disease states within the hospital. And that business is a business that has continued to save lives every day and we’re very proud of that fact.

February 28, 2019 by Jeff Meade

News, People

A Leader in Construction and an Environmental Lawyer: Reflections on Life and Giving

Sarah and Dan Keating

On March 1, the Irish American Business Chamber & Network will be hosting the 2019 Ambassador’s Awards Luncheon at Philadelphia’s Union League. Among the honorees are Daniel J. Keating, III, executive vice president, Gilbane Building Co., and Sarah P. Keating, Esq., principal owner and chief executive officer of Keating Environmental Management. They will receive the Taoiseach Award.

We recently spoke with Daniel Keating. Here’s what he had to say.

Irish Philly: Did you and Sarah have any idea you were in the running?

Daniel Keating, III: Actually, we did not have any idea we were in the running, but we’re certainly honored.

Irish Philly: I imagine you’re pretty pleased about that.

DK: Well, you know, it’s a wonderful group of guys and gals, and they all get along and a nice company to be involved with.

February 26, 2019 by Jeff Meade

News

Irish Business Chamber Honors Local Leaders

Irish Ambassador Michael Collins presents the award to Sister Marguerite O’Beirne on Neumann.

Earlier this month, The Irish American Business Chamber and Network honored Sister Marguerite O’Beirne, OSF, of Neumann University; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and philanthropists James and Frances Maguire at its annual Ambassador Awards, at the Bellevue Stratford in Center City Philadelphia. Outgoing Irish Ambassador Michael Collins presented the awards, given to local Irish leaders, at the luncheon.

View our photo essay here.

March 21, 2013 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish In Philadelphia This Week

Shannon and Matt Heaton

Less than a month away. That’s right. St. Paddy’s Day—and all the local St. Paddy’s day activities are less than a month away. In fact, this week many pubs are celebrating “St. Practice Day” to help folks get ready for March 17, commonly known among Irish bartenders as “amateur night.”

Well, there’s plenty to do to get yourself conditioned. On Friday night, for example, Tir Na Nog in Center City is hosting the Bogside Rogues for “The Great Guinness Toast,” an international more-or-less simultaneous quaffing of the brown stuff.

And the 19^th annual Greater Philadelphia Mid-Winter Scottish and Irish Festival gets underway in Valley Forge with a concert featuring the Scottish tribal drum group Albannach and The Dubliners, as well as locals Jamison and The Hooligans. This one runs all weekend and features everything from swordplay to whiskey tasting, with a whole lot of music and dance thrown in. There are people who need to practice for this event too. Not us—we’ll be there all weekend and you can see how we handle all things Celtic.

Direct from Boston, Irish duo Matt and Shannon Heaton will be making their magic at Trinity Episcopal Church in Swarthmore on Friday night.

And you have your choice of two great Irish plays – Terminus at the Zellerbach Theatre and The Lieutenant of Inishmore at Plays and Players. Better yet, go to both. If you buy tickets for two or more plays in Philadelphia’s Irish Theatre Festival, you get a 20 percent discount. Go to the Philadelphia Theater Alliance website to order.

On Sunday, Dr. William Watson, director of the Duffy’s Cut Project in Malvern, where the bodies of 19^th century Irish immigrants have been unearthed, will be speaking at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Glenside.

At 12:30 PM on Sunday, Irish Network-Philadelphia is holding a public meeting at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby to discuss future events. Tea, coffee and sandwiches will be provided. If you’re not a member of this networking group, here’s your chance to join and. . .network.

There are still a few spaces in a one-day course at Temple University-Fort Washington on Celtic Christianity, which will be held on Wednesday evening. Dr. Ken Ostrand will take you from Irish Christianity before Saint Patrick to today, and introduce you to a variety of Irish saints (some with amazing powers).

Big day next Friday. The Irish American Business Chamber and Network Ambassador’s Awards Luncheon will honor Aramark Corp, the Rev. Timothy R. Lannon, outgoing president of St. Joseph’s University, and businessman James Hasson and his wife, Sarah. The event will take place at the Crystal Tea Room at 100 East Penn Square in Center City. Irish Ambassador to the US, Michael Collins, will make the presentations.

Later that evening, Collins along with Consul General Noel Kilkenny will be attending a fundraiser for the Duffy’s Cut Project. Money raised at the event, which will feature the music of Paul Moore and Friends, will be used to cover the costs of continued DNA tests on the remains found at the archeological site and to erect a memorial to the dead at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in East Falls.

The details for all these events and more are on our amazing calendar. If you have an event you want to publicize, you can add it to our calendar yourself or email me at denise.foley@comcast.net.

February 17, 2011 by Denise Foley

News

Irish American Business Chamber and Network Announces 2011 Awards

Timothy R. Lannon

Aramark, which is headquartered in Philadelphia but provides food services, facilities management and career apparel in 22 countries, including Ireland, is this year’s recipient of the Irish American Business Chamber and Network’s annual Ambassador’s Award.

The Irish Ambassador to the United States, Michael Collins, will present the award to Joan O’Shaughnessy, CEO of Aramark Ireland, which was a 2010 finalist in the Chambers Ireland’s Corporate Responsibility Award, at a luncheon on Friday, February 25, at the Crystal Team Room at the Wanamaker Building in Philadelphia.

Aramark Ireland employs more than 4,000 people and provides contract catering, facilities management and property management services to more than 400 operations in Ireland. Under Ms. O’Shaughnessy’s leadership, Aramark Ireland serves more than a quarter million customers daily.

Also being honored at the luncheon will be Timothy R. Lannon, president of St. Joseph’s University who will become president of Creighton University in Nebraska—his alma mater—in July. Father Lannon began his term as St. Joseph’s president in 2003, after a stint at Marquette University. A Jesuit, he holds three master’s degrees, a doctor in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard and a professional diploma from Fordham. He will receive the annual Taoiseach award, given to people of Irish descent who exemplify leadership and compassion. Last year’s recipient was WaWa’s cultural ambassador Harry J. McHugh.

The Uachtaran or “President’s” award this year goes to James Hasson, president of Hypex, an international provider of custom engineered solutions headquartered in Southampton, PA, and his wife, Sarah, a prominent leader in many non-profit organizations in the area.

For more information about the event, contact Alanna Barry McCloskey at abarry@iabcn.org or irish_event@iabcn.org .

January 7, 2011 by Denise Foley

News

Local Irish Business Leaders Honored

John and Joan Mullen accept the Taoiseach's Award from Irish Ambassador Michael Collins.

Irish American Chamber and Business Network honored John and Joan Mullen, founders of Apple Leisure Travel and Apple Vacations, for their contributions not only to Philadelphia’s business community but the community at large at a luncheon at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia on Friday, February 27.

The Mullens received the Taoiseach Award from Irish Ambassador Michael Collins. Collins was also on hand to honor ICON, a clinical research company founded in Ireland with satellite offices in the Philadelphia area and in Delaware.

March 5, 2009 by Denise Foley

News, People

Philadelphia Says Goodbye to the Irish Ambassador

Chamber president Bill McLaughlin, left, Irish Ambassador Noel Fahy, and Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali at the farewell luncheon for the ambassador at the Union League.

One thing he discovered about Americans in his five years as Irish ambassador to the United States, Noel Fahy told a group of Philadelphia business leaders last week, is that they’re doers, not whiners.

“In Europe, we see a problem and say, oh my, that’s a very big problem,” he told the delighted crowd at the Union League in Philadelphia. “Americans see a problem and they genuinely try to solve it.

“I know that America has been criticized about Iraq, but beyond that criticism, we still look at all the contributions the United States has made to the world, to Ireland.”

Technically, the luncheon given in his honor was a farewell party from the Irish-American Chamber and Business Network, a non-profit membership organization in Philadelphia that promotes the development of economic, commercial, financial and educational relationships between the United States and Ireland. Fahy was recently named Ireland’s ambassador to the Vatican. But in his goodbye speech, Fahy waxed more patriotic than many Americans about the place that was his home for half a decade.

“The US role in the new shared government in Northern Ireland was crucial,” he said. In fact, former US Senator George Mitchell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999 for the pivotal role he played in convincing Protestant and Catholic leaders to sign what is known as The Good Friday Accord, which paved the way for peace in the war-ravaged North.

“The US government and private American groups have contributed nearly $1 billion for reconciliation projects in Northern Ireland. President Clinton was there when we needed him, and in the run up to the final stages in March, President Bush did make some phone calls,” said Fahy.

As a parting gift, Chamber President Bill McLaughlin gave Fahy a bound copy of the manuscript of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” from the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia, which houses an original. Accepting the two-book set, Fahy joked, “I don’t know if I’ll have time in the Vatican to enjoy ‘Ulysses’ for the second time.”

June 4, 2007 by Denise Foley