At the end of March, the Ireland Gateway To Europe delegation headed to the US for a week long series of events, to promote transatlantic trade as well as host a special event to commemorate 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement.
This year the group of 50 delegates from 25 Irish companies and organisations, as well as the team from Newstalk, set out for Chicago, Boston and New York.
CHICAGO
Our trip started on Monday in the Irish Consulate in Chicago, hosted by Consul Kevin Byrne. The following day we headed out to the University of Notre Dame, ahead their game in Dublin this August. As well as touring the campus and famous sports facilities, we had an insightful lecture on design thinking and some Yankee Sullivan stories over lunch. We also got to spend some time with the next generation of Irish success stories studying on their ESTEEM Graduate Program at the University of Notre Dame.
BOSTON
We got to Boston on Wednesday, to host the Boston College Ireland Business Council Peace Dinner, where George Mitchell was awarded the Irish Institute Leadership Award to for his distinguished contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland; and heard from guest speakers including: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern; journalist Tommie Gorman; Joe Kennedy III, Special Envoy to Northern Ireland; Boston College Provost David Quigley; Ruairi De Burca; Mary Sugrue; Warren Zola; and Robert MacGiolla Phádraig from Sigmar Recruitment.
The next morning we hosted a Boston College CEO Breakfast with Enterprise Ireland at the offices of G-P. There were great insights shared by Sharon Cunningham of Shorla Oncology, and Jim Joyce of HealthBeacon as they discussed their scaling journeys and the impact of Irish innovation in the US healthcare industry. We also had the privilege of listening to Katherine Kostereva in conversation with Robert Mac Giolla Phadraig discussing the growth of Boston based multinational, Creatio.
NEW YORK
On Friday the group went on a special visit to the UN, followed by some time and interesting conversations with Ambassador Fergal Mythen.
Bank of Ireland hosted our Global CEO Forum at their impressive NYC hub in Manhattan. The event was MC'd by Robert Mac Giolla Phadraig, CCO at Sigmar Recruitment. We heard some really interesting conversations from Caroline Klatt, co-founder at Flowcarbon; and two Irish founders operating in the US - Aimée Madden, Founder and President of CliniShift; James O'Reilly, President of Life Time Work.
The group then spent the evening at Irish Consulate in New York, hosted by Consul General Helena Nolan, a lovely end to a great week.
