By Business & Finance 
Ireland INC has announced its latest US-Ireland Economic Roundtable which is centred on the theme ‘A New Dawn for US-Irish Relations: Strategies to Unlock Limitless Opportunity’
Ireland INC has announced its latest US-Ireland Economic Roundtable which is centred on the theme ‘A New Dawn for US-Irish Relations: Strategies to Unlock Limitless Opportunity’. The virtual event will bring together US and Irish business and political leaders to coincide with the launch of the Ireland INC Index. The Ireland Index highlights the leading Irish companies across all 50 states in the US and is supported by KPMG Ireland.
The panel on the Ireland INC Roundtable will discuss a number of issues including the likelihood and impact of global economic rebound within months, the future prospects for expansion of Irish companies and jobs in US, the implications of the new US administration on relationships between the US, the EU and Ireland and the reality of trading under the deal struck between the EU and Britain.
Moderator Sarah Freeman (Managing Editor of Business & Finance Media Group) will be joined by the following guest panelists:
- Anne Finucane, Vice Chairman, Bank of America
- Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence
- Chairman Richard Neal, Chairman House Ways & Means Committee and Member of United States Congress
- Congressman Brendan Boyle, Member of United States Congress
- Seamus Hand, Managing Partner, KPMG Ireland
This webinar takes place Tuesday, 30th March at 15:00 GMT +1. Register here.
Anne Finucane, Vice Chairman, Bank of America
Anne M. Finucane is vice chairman at Bank of America and also serves as chairman of Bank of America Europe. As a member of the executive management team, Finucane is responsible for the strategic positioning of Bank of America and leads the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG), sustainable finance, capital deployment and public policy efforts.
As chairman of the board of Bank of America Europe, the firm’s EU bank headquartered in Dublin, Finucane oversees more than €60 billion in assets. Finucane also serves on the board of BofA Securities Europe SA, the bank’s EU broker-dealer in Paris, with both entities playing a critical role in the company’s post Brexit European growth strategy. Bank of America has almost 3,000 employees across both entities.
Finucane chairs the Global ESG Committee at Bank of America, which directs all of the company’s ESG efforts. She also co-chairs the Sustainable Markets Committee with COO Tom Montag, which collaborates across business lines to deliver innovative financing solutions in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including affordable housing, sustainable energy, clean water and sanitation, education and health care. She stewards Bank of America’s $300 billion environmental business initiative, oversees the company’s $1.6 billion Community Development Financial Institution portfolio and chairs the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.
Active in the community, Finucane serves on a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards of directors including Carnegie Hall, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the World Bank Group’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), CVS Health, Mass General Brigham, Special Olympics, the (RED) Advisory Board, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and The Ireland Funds. She served on the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy board and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Finucane has received numerous professional and public service accolades. She has regularly been named to Forbes’ and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women lists, along with American Banker’s 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking. In 2019, Finucane was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Ad Hall of Fame as well as the CMO Hall of Fame, and received the Edward M. Kennedy Institute Award for Inspired Leadership. In March 2018, Finucane was honored with the Leadership Award by The Ireland Funds.
Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence
Mr. Coveney holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture and Land Management from The Royal Agriculture College, Gloucestershire. He was also educated at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare; University College Cork and Gurteen Agricultural College, County Tipperary.
He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence on 27 June 2020. Prior to this, he was appointed Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Brexit on 30 November 2017. He has held numerous roles in government since first being elected to the Dáil (Irish Parliament) in 1998 as one of Fine Gael’s youngest TDs.
He has held shadow ministries in the following areas: Drugs and Youth Affairs; Communications, Marine and Natural Resources; Transport and the Marine.
Mr. Coveney chaired the Fine Gael Policy Development Committee, prior to the 2011 General Election. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 and was a member of the EPP-ED
group. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee. He was also a substitute member on the Fisheries Committee. Mr. Coveney was the author of the European Parliament’s Annual Report on Human Rights in the World for the year 2004 and again for 2006.
He was a member of Cork County Council and the Southern Health Board from 1999 to 2003, and is a keen fan of all competitive sport, having played rugby for Garryowen, Cork Constitution and Crosshaven Rugby Club. In 1997/8 he led the “Sail Chernobyl Project” which involved sailing 30,000 miles around the world for charity.
Mr. Coveney continues to be involved in the running of a family farm in County Cork.
Chairman Richard Neal, Chairman House Ways & Means Committee and Member of United States Congress
Richard Neal was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1988. Since January 2019, he serves as Chairman of the powerful Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressman Neal has spent his career fighting for things that matter to everyday Americans including access to affordable and dependable health care, a fair tax code, and the dependability of Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Under his leadership, in his first term as Chairman, the Ways and Means Committee worked tirelessly to advance measures that support Americans’ financial security, health, and wellbeing.
Chairman Neal travelled to Mexico and Canada to negotiate a hemispherical trade agreement – USMCA – a deal that respects the dignity of workers, contains meaningful enforcement provisions, and prioritises environmental protection and remediation.
As part of the end-of-year spending package, the House and Senate passed the SECURE Act, bipartisan Ways and Means legislation that expands opportunities for Americans to increase their retirement savings.
The Ways and Means Committee and the full House of Representatives passed the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act, legislation commonly referred to as the Butch Lewis Act. More than a million Americans participate in multi-employer pension plans that are quickly running out of money. This bipartisan legislation addresses the worsening crisis that threatens the retirement savings of workers and retirees who – year after year – gave up wage increases in order to fund their pension plans.
The Ways and Means Committee and the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which allows the HHS Secretary to negotiate lower prescription prices and caps Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs at $2,000. The legislation also fills a significant gap in Medicare, adding hearing, dental, and vision coverage to the programs.
Chairman Neal is the dean of both the Massachusetts Delegation and the New England Congressional Delegation. He is an At-Large Whip for the House Democrats, co-chairman of the New England Congressional Caucus, where he advocates for the unique regional interests of the six New England States and the Democratic Leader of the Friends of Ireland Caucus.
Prior to his time in Congress, Neal was a high school teacher, member of the Springfield City Council, and Mayor of Springfield. During his tenure, he was highlighted in Newsweek Magazine for his many accomplishments throughout the city. He is a longtime lecturer at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and serves as a National Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. Congressman Neal has received many awards and honorary degrees in his career including an Honorary Degree of Humane Letters from Mount Holyoke College where he is a former trustee, and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Ulster University in Northern Ireland.
Congressman Brendan Boyle, Member of United States Congress
Congressman Brendan F. Boyle was born and raised in the city of Philadelphia. The son of an immigrant, Congressman Boyle’s father was a janitor for SEPTA and his mother was a school crossing guard.
The first in his family to attend college, he attended the University of Notre Dame and later graduated from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government with a master’s degree in Public Policy.
He was elected to the Pennsylvania state legislature in 2008, becoming the first Democrat to ever represent his legislative district. Two years later his brother, Kevin, was also elected to the state legislature, making them the first brothers to serve together in the state House. In 2014, Congressman Boyle pulled off an upset win over three better funded rivals to be elected to Congress.
Now in his fourth term, Congressman Boyle represents the 2nd congressional district of Pennsylvania which is fully enclosed within the City of Philadelphia. He currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, and on the Select Revenue Subcommittee and Trade Subcommittee thereof. He also serves on the House Committee on the Budget. He previously served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government. Congressman Boyle also serves as a member of the United States Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Congressman Boyle is the founder and co-chair of the “Blue Collar Caucus” which advocates for working families by addressing wage stagnation, job insecurity, and the future of work.
Seamus Hand, Managing Partner, KPMG Ireland
Seamus is the Managing Partner of KPMG in Ireland and is a member of KPMG’s Global and EMA boards. Seamus previously was a partner in KPMG’s financial services practice in Ireland and worked with many global and domestic clients in the asset management, aviation, banking and insurance sectors.
He hold an MBS Accounting from Dublin City University, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
KPMG is a leading provider of professional services, offering a range of audit, tax and advisory services to a broad range of domestic and international clients across all sectors of business and the economy. We are helping our clients explore potential obstacles to change and collaborate on critical decisions that can deliver real value to their businesses.
Moderator: Sarah Freeman, Managing Editor of Business & Finance Media Group
Sarah Freeman is Managing Editor of Business & Finance Media Group, and virtual MC of its many media broadcasts. She is an innovative and entrepreneurial communications specialist with over 18 years media and communications experience in Ireland and New York. Sarah has worked as a freelance print journalist for The Irish Times, Sunday Business Post and as a radio journalist for RTÉ 2FM & Radio 1. She is a qualified barrister.
