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Declan Kelleher Strengthens APCO Worldwide’s Advisory Capabilities in Europe

by | Sep 17, 2021

Former Irish Ambassador Declan Kelleher, who has extensive and deep experience of global issues, joined APCO Worldwide as a senior advisor, Paolo Compostella, APCO’s president for Europe, announced today.

“We’re delighted to welcome Ambassador Kelleher to the team,” Compostella said. “He is an experienced senior international figure who brings with him deep insight and knowledge from multiple perspectives. As the former Irish Ambassador to China, and as Ireland’s Permanent Representative to the European Union during significant periods of geopolitical instability and regulatory change, and his deep experience of the challenges posed by Brexit, we know Ambassador Kelleher can provide APCO and our clients counsel and advice on the complex challenges facing our European and global clients.”

Ambassador Kelleher will provide APCO and its clients with strategic counsel and expertise across a range of regulatory, policy and political issues shaping geopolitical environments. He will initially focus on the important geo-commercial nexus of the European Union, the United States and China, and the new international trade dynamics developing between those three global centers.

Ambassador Kelleher was the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the European Union in Brussels from September 2013 to March 2020. Prior to that appointment, he was the Ambassador of Ireland to the People’s Republic of China from 2004 to 2013. From 2000 to 2004, he was the Ambassador and Representative of Ireland to the EU Political and Security Committee in Brussels and chaired that Committee during Ireland’s 2004 Presidency of the European Union.

His previous overseas postings were at the Embassy of Ireland in Washington DC (from 1987 to 1991) where he served as the First Secretary for Press and Political/Congressional Affairs. From 1980 to 1983, he was posted at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN in New York and was a member of Ireland’s delegation to the UN Security Council in 1981-82.

“I have been impressed by APCO’s vision, ambition, forward looking approach and sense of positive and inclusive purpose,” said Ambassador Kelleher. “I look forward to joining APCO’s International Advisory Council, a distinguished group of global leaders who combine and embody great experience, insight and diversity. In the face of the growing global challenges posed for example by COVID-19, the climate crisis, disruptions to trade and geopolitical uncertainties, I am excited at the prospect of working with a very strong APCO team to assist in navigating these complex and multi-faceted challenges and to help in delivering sustainable and beneficial solutions for APCO and its clients.”

Ambassador Kelleher joins a growing team of senior advisors at APCO, with deep knowledge and experience of regulatory and political challenges facing governments and corporate leaders today, including Richard Burn, John Defterios, Dr. Deborah Elms and Michael O’Rielly, among others.

For more than 37 years, APCO has been a trusted advisor and partner to private, public and non-profit clients as they try to identify and manage new and emerging issues, challenges and opportunities around the world. Established by Margery Kraus as a single-person operation in 1984, APCO has grown to a global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping clients be catalysts for progress through its 900+ staff and International Advisory Council members in more than 30 markets, and having experience working in more than 80 markets globally, providing in-depth advice, perceptive guidance and creative approaches for its clients.


About APCO Worldwide

APCO Worldwide is an advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping leading public and private sector organizations be catalysts for progress by navigating the challenges of today, acting with agility, anticipating social risk and building organizational reputations, relationships and solutions to succeed. APCO is an independent and majority women-owned business. For more information, please visit www.apcoworldwide.com.

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