Dr Tom Kelly OBE FCIPR

Dr Tom Kelly OBE FCIPR has been working in politics, public affairs, and media across Ireland and the UK for thirty years. He is well known in political circles at Dáil Éireann, Stormont and Westminster, and was previously a parliamentary assistant to the late Seamus Mallon MP. Tom was executive director of the Washington DC based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs sponsored Social Democratic Group before becoming vice chairman of the SDLP. He participated in all the Clinton peace building events in DC, Pittsburgh and New York and was the key media coordinator during President Clinton’s keynote speech at Mackies in 1995.

In 2001 Tom joined the first Northern Ireland Policing Board and in 2016 was Chairman of the Stronger in Europe campaign in Northern Ireland during the Brexit referendum. A former columnist in Business and Finance and former member of the Anglo-Irish Encounter Group, Tom is currently a political commentator and contributes regularly to current affairs programmes. He has a popular weekly column in the Irish News and is an advisory board member to the Down GAA Centre of Excellence.