2008 in Review
IN-NYC is now heading into its third formal year in existence. Founded in 2006, the organization adopted formal structures in 2007 and these were strengthened in 2008.
As an organization we have grown quite large in a short space of time and coming into year three our expectation is that we at least double in size (membership wise) and reach a much broader spectrum of the Irish and Irish America in the New York metro area.
We look forward to serving you our membership and friends of IN-NYC and hope you can join us at our upcoming Annual General Meeting, where the coming years activities and objectives are discussed and decided upon along with the appointment of a Leadership Group who will execute and deliver quality Networking and Speaker Events.
January 2008 saw our first formal A.G.M. as an organization. Held in the board room of one of our patrons it proved to be a lively and informative event with over 45 people turning up to discuss the organization, elect a committee and chart out the upcoming year.
March the month of the Irish and to toast St Patrick we had our first social event with an evening at West Village Bar, Dublin 6. The event hosted by Jason O’Brian was a huge success with over 100 people turning up and beginning the weekend’s activities.
Our first formal Speaker Series event held in April, was hosted by the Irish Consulate and featured Ambassador John Bruton, the European Union’s representative to Washington.
Mr Bruton, a former Irish Taoiseach and E.U Commisioner was gracious enough to talk about the current relationship between the E.U. and the US Government in the difficult in recent times. Again this was a well attended event and Mr Bruton was impressed at IN-NYC’s profile in New York and wished us well in our future activities.
Our first event of the Summer was a Rooftop outdoor party in the lower east village held at the De Lancey a venue which overlooked the famous Williamsburg Bridge.
Again we drew a large attendance to this event, we hope to put another similar event on our calendar this year.
The Munster vs USA Rugby match held during the Summer in Hartford CT, was our next event. Organized in conjunction with O’Brians of 46th St this event ended up being hugely over-subscribed. We had three motor coaches chartered and could have filled another two, due to the late demand for seats. Over 150 people traveled to Connecticut to see an enjoyable game of Rugby, something many of us miss from back home. Special thanks go to Cormac and his crew from O’Brians for organizing the adult refreshments and food.
Late Summer saw us off to the Theater. We secured for a members only event, a number of seats to the Broadway musical “A Tale of Two Cities”. Around fifty people turned up to enjoy a tale of the French Revolution.
Our final formal event of the year was “An evening with Peter Sutherland” one of Ireland’s best known business figures and current Chairman of British Petroleum (BP).
Sponsored by Matheson, Ormsby and Prentice and held at the offices of Mutual of America over two hundred people turned up to hear popular CNBC host, Margaret Brennan, interview our guest on the economic un-certanties prevalent in late 2008. Again our guest was very impressed with our organization and offered us his best wishes for the future.
The Xmas party was our final and most recent event, held at Niall’s on 52nd St, it certainly drew the crowd , despite the miserable weather and went on into the small hours of the following day.
Throughout the year we held a regular networking event on the Third Thursday of each month at the Fitzpatrick’s Manhattan Hotel. The purpose of this event is for people to meet and network and for prospective members to come along and see what our organization is all about. The steady growth in attendance at this particular event and the demand from members ensures that this will be a regular event in 2009.
Our website is now regularly updated and we have regular contact with members via email in the form of our monthly e-newsletter.
We hope you can join us in 2009 and participate in one of the most exciting Irish Organizations in the U.S. today.
Warmest Regards
IN-NYC Committee.