There has always been a strong tradition of bipartisanship both in the Congress and in Irish America when it comes to advancing economic prosperity on the island of Ireland and supporting the peace process in Northern Ireland. The Ad Hoc Committee maintains that tradition and is led by Joseph Kennedy III and Susan Davis.
Co-Chair: Joseph Kennedy III
A former Congressman, US Special Envoy, legal aid volunteer, and assistant district attorney, Joe Kennedy has dedicated his career to social and economic justice.
Joe is currently the President of Citizens Energy, a diversified renewable energy non-profit dedicated to making clean energy more accessible and affordable. Since 1979, Citizens has helped low-income families and disadvantaged communities meet their basic needs, including utility bills. It has provided over $600 million in charitable benefits since its founding.
He is also the founder of Groundwork Project, a political advocacy organization dedicated to supporting local community organizing efforts in historically under-resourced and disenfranchised regions of the country.
Most recently, Joe was U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs for President Joe Biden, a diplomatic post through which he focused on the long-standing U.S. commitment to peace, prosperity, and stability throughout the region.
Joe served as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts 4th congressional district from 2013-2021, where he focused on civil rights and economic justice. Before his election to Congress, he worked as an assistant district attorney and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.
Joe was born in Boston and graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School. He is married to Lauren Birchfield Kennedy and they have two young children, Eleanor and James.
A profile from Boston Magazine can be found here.
Co-Chair: Susan Ann Davis
Susan Ann Davis is Chairman, Susan Davis International, a global public affairs and strategic communications agency headquartered in Washington DC. With expertise in strategic positioning, government relations. market entry and crisis communications, Davis provides counsel to government and industry leaders on six continents. She is Co-Founder of IPREX, the $200 million agency network with 74 partners worldwide . Davis became an advisor to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland when the first Northern Ireland Bureau was established in the U.S. She has continued that support over decades with the Executive, as well as business and community leaders , to include Women in Business NI and women entrepreneurs.
A passionate advocate for building young leaders and for girls education, she serves on the Washington Ireland Program Leadership Council and as the Board Chair of the RRoH Foundation, which continues to educate 800 girls in Afghanistan Davis is Board Chair Emeritus of Vital Voices, a network of 18,000 emerging women leaders and is a founder and the first International President of the 7000-member International Women’s Forum. She is presently an Executive Board member of the American Ireland Fund and serves on the Grants Committee and as chair of the Communications Committee.
Ms. Davis chaired the all island U.S. Ireland Business Summit, negotiated the groundbreaking US-Ireland R&D Partnership, and has been recognized for her support by the Governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland. She is named among the 100 Outstanding International Irish Business Leaders and was a honoree of the Northern Ireland Flax Trust. Along with then Prince Charles and former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Davis is a recipient of the Global Humanitarian Award given in the United Kingdom.
Vice-Chair: Kimberly Cowell-Meyers
Kimberly Cowell-Meyers is an Associate Professor in the Government Department and Director of the SPA Honors Program at American University, with extensive expertise in Northern Ireland’s politics, peacebuilding, and public engagement.
She has served as Parliamentary Assistant to Kevin McNamara, British Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and as Research Assistant for Paul Arthur at the US Institute of Peace, as well as holding fellowships at Queen’s University Belfast and American University. Currently co-authoring a book for Bristol University Press on Irish-America since Brexit, Kimberly has also published a dissertation and a first book on 19th-century Catholic mobilization in Ireland and Germany, alongside six peer-reviewed journal articles and 12 entries for the Encyclopedia Britannica. She has written for outlets such as The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, Lawfare, The Conversation, The Los Angeles Times, and The Christian Science Monitor. Kimberly has presented 19 conference papers, including at the 2022 “Wilton Park Dialogue: Towards a More Confident and Inclusive Northern Ireland” conference, and has taught an upper-level Politics of Peace in Northern Ireland course since 2010.
She co-hosted several conferences with institutions such as Ulster University and Georgetown University, including the 25th anniversary event at American University in 2023, and continues to organize the Washington Forum on Northern Ireland. Kimberly has also led four student trips to Northern Ireland, linking academic study to hands-on experience.
Vice-Chair: John Feehery
John Feehery is a Partner at EFB Advocacy, a boutique lobbying firm. He served in the House Republican Leadership for 15 years (from 1989 to 2005) and for the last 15 years, he has been a trusted advisor to CEOs, trade associations, corporations, and small businesses on how to effectively navigate the Washington swamp. When he was in Congress, he was consistently named one of the most powerful staff Members by Roll Call, and now that he is in the private sector, he has been consistently ranked as one of the top lobbyists by The Hill.
He is a frequent commentator on the political landscape, widely quoted around the country and often seen on such television programs as MSNBC’s Hardball, and Real Time with Bill Maher. He is also a columnist for The Hill and his blog and podcast, The Feehery Theory, is widely seen, heard, and read on Capitol Hill and beyond. He published his first children’s book, The Reluctant Ballerina, last year.
Feehery managed the communications operation for Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert for six and a half years. Before that stint, Feehery served as the Communications Director for Majority Whip Tom DeLay for three years.Feehery started his career with House Minority Leader Robert Michel, where he served as a research analyst and speechwriter.
When he left the Hill, Feehery went to the Motion Picture Association of America, where he served as Executive Vice President for Government and Public Affairs. He later worked at Quinn Gillespie Public Affairs, where he served as President of the Communications Practice.
A double graduate from Marquette University, with both a BA and MA in history, Feehery was named the Young Alumni of the Year for Marquette’s School of Arts and Sciences in 2003. Feehery was recently appointed by the Trump Administration to be the alternate observer to the International Fund for Ireland. He married Kerry Fennelly Feehery in Killarney, Ireland in 2003, and they have one son, Jack, and one daughter, Molly Kathleen.
Executive Director: Kevin J. Sullivan
Kevin Sullivan is a first generation Irish American with deep family ties in Cork and Tyrone. He is an Irish citizen. As a Senior Adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley in the Clinton Administration Kevin was the key driver in the launch of “Civic Link” which was announced by President Clinton in Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1998 as an immediate and concrete way to support the Good Friday Agreement. Civic Link was an ambitious cross community and cross border civic action initiative for secondary students in the Republic and Northern Ireland Over the course of a decade, Civic Link would engage over 12,500 students under the auspices of Co-operation Ireland.
Kevin is a former member of the board of the Washington Ireland Program (WIP) and served for nine years as its Chairman. He is a co-founder of www.votingrights.ie which seeks to secure voting rights for Irish emigrants and Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland. Sullivan spent 14 years working for various members of Congress including the U.S. Senate Majority Leader before joining the Clinton Administration in 1992. He is a principal at Kevin Sullivan and Associates. Past clients have included Co-operation Ireland, the Irish Higher Education Authority, and the Clinton Institute for American Studies at UCD.
Recording Secretary: Bobby Cunningham
Bobby Cunningham is a Director at the Vogel Group, an international government affairs and consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. serving companies, associations, and asset managers around the world. He began his career as a campaign fellow and legislative intern for Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA). From there, he went on to fundraise for Kathleen Cunningham Matthews, a former congressional candidate and Maryland Democratic Party Chair, who now serves as a political appointee in the Biden-Harris Administration.
A proud Irish American named after Robert Emmet, he serves as the Recording Secretary for the Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement. Bobby was born in Seoul, South Korea and was raised in the District of Columbia. This year, he was named as an Emerging Leader by the Federal City Council, and sits on the board of the Hoops for Youth Foundation, which supports local nonprofits and sponsors the annual Congressional Basketball Game.
Bobby graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT with a degree in American Politics. He recently completed a six-year term as the Young Alumni Chair of the St. Albans School Alumni Association Board.
AdHocGFA.org 