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Irish America magazine - Dec '05/Jan '06 issue: Peter Quinn, Dearbhla Molloy in Eugene O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet, Compass Records, Sean Óg Ó hAilpín, John F. Kennedy, John Banville wins Booker Prize, Tom Westman

Survivor

Life has certainly changed for New York fireman, Survivor: Palau winner Tom Westman.

Touch of Poet

Famed Irish actress Dearbhla Molloy is back on Broadway in A Touch of the Poet.

Sean Óg Is a Winner

Cork hurling captain, Sean Óg Ó hAilpín, is an inspiration in more ways than one.

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Business 100: East Coast (page 1/17)

Michael Breslin

Lenox Hill Hospital

Michael Breslin was recently appointed CFO of Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) and Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital. Lenox Hill has over 3,000 employees who serve the healthcare needs of the Upper East Side, Manhattan, and is one of the foremost leaders in the field of cardiac and orthopedic care for the United States. For the past fourteen years Michael has worked for Ernst & Young LLP and four years ago he was made partner and assumed management over a diverse group of healthcare auditors and consultants of the New York area. Before joining Ernst & Young LLP he spent five years with Pannell Kerr Forster.

Breslin graduated from Manhattan College with a B.S. in Accounting and is a certified public accountant, serving as the chairman of the New Jersey State Society of Certified Public Accountants Healthcare Subcommittee. He also serves on the board of trustees of a nonprofit social service organization that provides programs to children in the Bronx and in Harlem. Michael traces his Irish lineage to counties Mayo and Tipperary. He and his wife Colleen have three children.

Dennis J. Carey

Motorola, Inc.

Dennis Carey joined Motorola in November 2002 as an executive vice president of the company and president and chief executive officer of Motorola’s Integrated Electronic Systems Sector (IESS). Motorola is a leading provider of wireless and broadband products. Prior to joining Motorola, Carey served as executive vice president of business development, strategy and corporate operations for the Home Depot Corporation after serving as the company’s CFO. Before joining Home Depot, Carey served AT&T in several positions, including vice president and general manager, corporate productivity and mergers and acquisitions. He joined AT&T in 1994. He spent the first twenty-five years of his career at General Electric in various finance and operational positions.

Carey is also on the advisory board of Habitat for Humanity and the board of trustees for the National Urban League.

A third-generation Irish-American who traces his roots to County Kildare, Carey received his B.S. from the University of Maine. He and his wife of thirty-five years, Wendy, have two grown children and live in Chicago.

James Brett

New England Council

James T. Brett is President and CEO of The New England Council, an alliance of over 400 colleges and universities, hospitals, corporations and private groups working together to promote economic growth and quality of life in the region. The Council works closely with Capitol Hill to influence policy and legislation in health care, financial services, energy, education and economic development in New England. Before joining the Council, Brett was a Massachusetts state representative for sixteen years, focusing on tax reform, criminal justice, and health care. He is a member of the President’s Committee for People With Intellectual Disabilities and chairman of the Massachusetts Governor’s Commission on Mental Retardation. He is a past recipient of the “Irishman of the Year” award from the Friends of the John F. Kennedy Library. He also sits on the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and is a trustee of Catholic Charities of Boston.

His parents - Henry and Mary Ann (Brennan) Brett - immigrated from Tubbercurry, Sligo, to Boston in the 1920s, where the six Brett children were raised. Jim and his wife Patricia reside in Dorchester.

Kieran Claffey

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Kieran Claffey is a partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP (“PwC”), a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited. Globally PwC is one of the world’s preeminent professional services organizations with revenue of over $17.6 billion and over 120,000 employees worldwide. After joining PwC in 1985, Kieran spent over 10 years in the assurance practice primarily servicing multinational clients. He then transferred to the firm’s national office to focus on major litigation and regulatory related issues. He is PwC’s representative on two professional committees of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants: the Professional Issues Task Force and the Technical Standards Committee.

Claffey was a founding member and director of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States and a director of the European-American Chamber of Commerce. He is currently the national treasurer and board member of the Ireland-U.S. Council of Commerce & Industry.

Born in Dublin, Claffey received his B. A. from University College Dublin. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Michelle and three sons.

Patrick Canavan

Motorola, Inc.

For 25 years Patrick Canavan has worked his way through the ranks of Motorola, Inc. and since 2001 has been the company’s Senior Vice President of Global Governance. In his current position he provides consultation for the Board of Directors in regards to globalization and integration within the company. He is also Secretary to the Board’s Governance and Nominating Committee. He has been involved with Motorola’s Board since 1990 and was involved in Chairman changes in 1993, 1996, 1999, and 2003.

Canavan also served as the Chief Information Officer from January to August 2005. His first position with the company was as Director of Human Resources with responsibilities in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He then became the head of Leadership and Organization Development of the company in 1986, his last job before his current position.

He received his B.B.A. from Iona College and his Master’s from Yale. Canavan taught at Southern Methodist University and New Hampshire University. He is a first-generation Irish-American and has roots in counties Galway and Kildare. He is married and has three children.

John R. Cochran

FirstMerit Corporation

John Cochran joined FirstMerit in 1995 as president and CEO, and was named chairman in 1998. He has been involved in banking for over 35 years, starting as a part-time teller with Hawkeye State Bank in Iowa in 1966. In 1967, he joined Norwest Bancorporation (now Wells Fargo), where he managed some of its most profitable banking operations.

Under Cochran’s leadership, FirstMerit has continually grown and increased services provided to the average customer. The bank has expanded and now more than 53 percent of its customers use multiple financial services. Cochran is also a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and was co-chairperson of the 2003 Walk to Cure Juvenile Diabetes.

A graduate of the University of Iowa, where he received a bachelor of finance and economics, Cochran is also a graduate of the Stonier School of Banking at Rutgers University. He is a sixth-generation Irish-American with roots in County Donegal. He and his wife Bette have three children.

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