The Irish American influence in Declan Kelly's Consello Group has deepened with the addition of two leading US businesspeople as Senior Advisors to the New York headquartered advisory and investing platform.
Founded by Tipperary born businessman Kelly two years ago, Consello already has a strong Irish influence through Kelly himself and members of his leadership team but has now added two of Irish-America's most celebrated businesspeople, Anne Finucane and Frank Ryan to its team of advisors.
Finucane - described once by the New York Times as one of the most powerful figures in American Banking - is a retired Vice Chairman at Bank of America.
Named on Fortune’s and Forbes’ Most Powerful Women List and a woman who describes herself as "100% Irish", she was the bank’s first ever female VP and went on to become the first woman chairman of the board of Bank of America Europe, the company’s European banking subsidiary based in Ireland. She was also honoured by the Ireland Funds with its 2021 Humanitarian Award.
Frank Ryan is Global Co-Chair, Global Co-CEO and Americas Chair of one of the world’s largest legal firms, DLA Piper.
Known as a go-to strategist for some of the world’s most sophisticated media and sports corporations, he is a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council and Thomson Reuters’ Global Strategy Board, and a founding partner of the Legal Elite Athlete Pipeline Scholarship Program (LEAP).
Kelly has also today added to the company’s UK presence with the addition of former Labour government Minister and current chairman of international investment business LetterOne, Mervyn Davies, as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State of five other UK government departments Sajid Javid.
Davies, in line with Consello’s strong sports business advisory, is currently Chairman of Britian’s tennis governing body, the Lawn Tennis Association, and sits on the World Rugby Executive Committee.
He will Chair Consello’s Advisory Board to assist in the development of its non-private equity lines of business around the world.
Consello Strive, the company’s advisory, investing, IP & content management and leadership development platform, is already chaired in the UK by Manchester United legend and businessman Gary Neville.
The company also today added Italian American Carmine Di Sibio - the former Global Chairman and CEO of EY – to the advisory team.
The new appointees add to a stellar cast assembled by Kelly in the two years since the company was founded.
These include Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, two-time NBA champion and NBA Basketball Hall of Famer Pau Gasol, former President and CEO of WW International Mindy Grossman, who also held executive roles at Ralph Lauren Corporation and Nike, and Uber co-founder and Consello Partner Oscar Salazar.
"We are delighted to welcome Mervyn, Sajid, Anne, Carmine and Frank to the Consello leadership team," Mr Kelly said.
"They are all remarkable leaders who bring a wealth of additional experience and relationships to the Consello platform as we continue to rapidly expand our business around the world."
"I couldn’t be prouder of the business our team is building together, and we are excited and energized by the opportunities that lie ahead."
Consello was founded just over two years ago and its advisory business already advises and represents many of the world’s largest companies.
The firm’s private equity business specializes in bringing its large cap relationships and experience to bear on the portfolio companies it owns.
Last year it established its first Irish footprint when it took a majority stake in ProSearch Strategies, which has a base in Dublin and is a leading provider of tech-enabled legal services, using AI and data science, to enterprise customers.
- reporting by Gordon Deegan
