The state director to the Garden State's veteran U.S. Senator, Frank Lautenberg, has taken leave of politics to set out on a new career which will see him divide his time evenly between the U.S. and Ireland.
A respected figure in the Irish American community and a former Irish Echo 40 Under 40 recipient, Lenox (33) has been eyeing up a move from politics to the public sector for some time. He well knows that such a move will mean balancing a hectic work schedule in the U.S. with family commitments back in Ireland.
"I have built up an extensive network in government, academia and private sector during my ten years with Senator Lautenberg and now want to put that experience to work for clients who need a hardworking and professional communications and political consultant," Lenox told the Irish Echo.
"I especially feel that I could be the linkman between companies in Ireland who want to expand into the U.S. and also bring U.S. businesses to Ireland.
"Companies sometime forgot that by locating in New Jersey, you can be only a few miles from the excitement of New York City while enjoying the much more competitive wage levels in a state which has the best-educated workforce in the country and, in Princeton and Rutgers, some of its strongest colleges," Lenox added.
Lenox, assistant secretary of the Irish American Bar Association of New Jersey and a member of the Cork Chamber of Commerce, says he's looking forward to the challenge of a transatlantic commute as part of his new job.
While his new company, Lenox Consulting, will be based in Hoboken, his family will be living in Rochestown in Cork.
"I've been doing quite a bit of traveling as it is but now I'll have the opportunity to better link my contacts on both sides of the pond. Those in government or the labor movement who have worked with me know that I pride myself on delivering results. My goal now is to enhance that reputation in my new role," said Lenox.
Lenox is also confident that he can link his old constituency with the peace process in Northern Ireland.
"I've been following closely the moves in recent years to involve the pension funds of U.S. cities and states in building the peace in Northern Ireland and would dearly love to bring an economic mission of New Jersey political, labor and business leaders to Ireland, North and South, in the future, he said."
The new direction Lenox's career is taking is as much motivated by head as be heart.
"My wife Aoife hails from County Cork and when our boys got to school age, we decided we would like to raise them in Ireland," explains Lenox.
"Aoife moved back with the boys last year and has started her own Montessori school in Little Island outside Cork City. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to being a little more involved in their lives through my new job."
