By Business & Finance 
Senator John McCain, Senior United States Senator from Arizona; Janice Ryan Bryson, historian and author of Irish Arizona; John Hartnett, founder and president of the ITLG, Silicon Valley.
Last night, the Irish Cultural Center and The McCelland Irish Library in Phoenix, Arizona recognised ITLG president and founder John Hartnett with their highest honour, the Anam Cara (Soul Friend) Award.
This special recognition is given to business, civic and political leaders who contribute to furthering Irish heritage in America and represent the true spirit of our ancestors.
Senator John McCain, former US Presidential candidate and senior Arizona Senator and Janice Ryan Bryson, historian and author of Irish Arizona also received the Anam Cara Award this year alongside Hartnett.
According to the 2010 Census, some 40 million Americans claim Irish descent with current estimates of nearly 600,000 people of Irish heritage in Arizona with its capitol, Phoenix, ranked as the fifth largest city in the US.
Past Anam Cara Award recipients include: ITLG chairman and former Intel chairman and CEO, Dr Craig Barrett; Dr Robert O’Neill, Burns librarian at Boston College; Norman McClelland, CEO of Shamrock Foods; Gerry Staunton, former consul general of Ireland; Ambassador Barbara Barrett, US Department of State and Advisory Commission on public Diplomacy.
John Hartnett presented with the 2014 Anam Cara Award by Jim Daugherty, president of Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation, Phoenix.
