President
Stella O'Leary
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.
Vice-President
John W. McCarthy
John McCarthy is the principal of Causeway Strategy Group and a longtime leader in the Irish American Community and Democratic politics. He served as Senior Advisor for Political Engagement to President Joe Biden, and was the President’s primary liaison to the Irish American community. Prior to that, he was Deputy National Political Director on Joe Biden’s historic 2020 campaign. He was the Director of Faith and Heritage Community Engagement for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and has held leadership committee positions with the Democratic National Committee and Obama for America. He was previously co-convener of the Democratic National Committee’s National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee which coordinates groups from various ethnic and heritage community groups. He is a graduate of the Catholic University of America.
Advisory Board President
Ted Smyth
Ted Smyth is President of the Advisory Board of Glucksman Ireland House at NewYork University and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Clinton for American Studies at University College Dublin. Ted was an Irish diplomat for 16 years, serving in theUnited States, UK, Portugal and as a delegate to the Conference on Security andCooperation in Europe (CSCE). He worked on the Irish peace process in the 1970sand 1980s.
Ted took leave of the diplomatic service in 1988 to join the global food company, HJHeinz, where he later became Chief Administrative Officer. He joined the publishing company, McGraw Hill in 2009, subsequently becoming Executive Vice President atS&P Global, the financial research and ratings company.A graduate of Trinity College Dublin and an MA graduate in Irish Studies at NYU, Tedpublishes regularly in the Irish Times and Irish Central. His article, “Irish AmericanOrganizations and the Northern Ireland Conflict in the 1980s: Heightened Political Agency andEthnic Vitality,” was published in the Journal of American Ethnic History in 2019. His chapteron “The New Ireland Forum” was published in Brokering the Good Friday Agreement: TheUntold Story, Mary Daly (ed) Royal Irish Academy. Ted also contributed a chapter to theRoutledge History of Irish America, entitled “Irish America and US Politics in the 21 st century.”
Omaha, Nebraska
James Cavanaugh
Douglas County Commissioner James Patrick Cavanaugh is a fifth-generation Nebraskan on his father's side with maternal grandparents who immigrated from Ireland. An attorney and three-term County Commissioner, the Cavanaughs have been leaders in the Nebraska Democratic Party for many years. Jim has served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Douglas County Cavanaugh Center, led efforts to improve Juvenile Justice programs, expanded services for the homeless, and pioneered clean energy conversion for County facilities. He is a founder on the board of the Omaha Immigrant Law Center.
Washington, D.C.
Alex Nason
Alex Nason is Managing Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy at Dentons, Washington, DC. He served on the political team of the 2024 Biden-Harris & Harris-Walz campaigns as the Irish American National Engagement Director, where he launched and led national programming, media campaigns, and voter outreach across battleground states. Prior to that, Alex worked at the Democratic National Committee, the Office of Congressman Brendan Boyle, and the 2020 Biden campaign. Alex is a graduate of New York University.
Hayward, California
Julie Roche
Born an Irish citizen to parents from Galway and Limerick, Julie Roche's roots are deeply grounded in Ireland and its diaspora story. Now an American citizen serving on the Hayward City Council, Julie previously worked as a federal election compliance consultant for Congressional Democratic candidates. She serves as Treasurer of the Irish American Caucus of the California Democratic Party, is an elected member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, and serves on the Board of her local chapter of the League of Women Voters.
Ireland
Patti Shields
Patti has spent the last 20 years as a grassroots organizer with Democratic campaigns, beginning as a precinct captain for Obama for America in 2007. She currently serves as Vice Chair of Democrats Abroad Ireland after serving as Chair from 2022–2025. A regular media presence in Ireland advocating for Americans to Vote from Abroad, she has appeared on RTE and other news outlets during election coverage. Before returning to Ireland in 2021, Patti served as President/Chief Merchant for NY&Co/Retailwinds after a distinguished career with Macy's, Gap, Victoria's Secret, and Old Navy.
New York
Brian O’Dwyer
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.)
Maryland
Bruce Morrison
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.
Washington, DC
Nate Smith
Originally from Southington, Conn., Nate Smith currently serves as the Director of Government Relations for the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) where he manages ATSSA’s Washington, DC legislative office focusing on both federal and grassroots lobbying, government relations-related communications, advocacy strategy, and PAC management.
Prior to arriving at ATSSA, Smith served as the Senior Government Relations Specialist at the National Court Reporters Association. Before that, he was a congressional intern for former U.S. Rep. Tom Allen (ME-01) and participated extensively on the John Kerry for President campaign in New Hampshire.
Smith is a Past President of the Washington, DC Chapter of the University of New HampshireAlumni Association and also has served as the Deputy Chair for the Young Professionals in Transportation. Smith is an active member of the Road Gang – Washington’s Transportation Fraternity – and the Association of Government Relations Professionals, where he is a formerBoard member of the Young Leadership Network.
Smith is an honors graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Affairs and a minor in Spanish. Through UNH’s Center for International Education, he attended the Centro de Lenguas Modernas at the University of Granada in Granada, Spain.