A new board has been formed to run the American Irish Historical Society.
The new board membership was revealed by the three-member interim board that has been running the Fifth Avenue-based AIHS in recent months.
In a statement, the interim board, which had been appointed by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, said it has been its privilege to serve as the interim board of directors of the American Irish Historical Society.
"The passion for the Society we have felt from the community has been overwhelming. In our last act, we are delighted to announce the election of the first nine members of the permanent board."
The nine are: James Normile, Katten Muchin Rosenman (Chair); Conor Allen, Manetu, Inc.; Susan Carey Dempsey, Times Review Media Group; Michael Cusick, Staten Island Economic Development Corp; Terry Golway, College of Staten Island; Tom Higgins, Fiserv; Kathleen Lauster, Ankura Capital Advisors; Danny Leavy, The 740 Corporation, and Charles O'Byrne, Related Companies.
Jim Normile.
Added the statement: "These individuals were elected out of a highly qualified group of more than 50 people who had expressed interest. We want to thank all of them for taking the time to share with us their enthusiasm for the Society and their vision for its future.
"We hope they will all find opportunities to engage with and support the Society in the years to come. The new board has the range and diversity of experience required to lead the Society. It is forward-looking, mission-driven, inclusive, and enthusiastic.
"And where gaps exist – and they do given the constraints of our time-limited, application-based election process – the new board has space under the Society’s bylaws to add to its ranks as and when it sees fit."
The statement was signed by John MacIntosh, Interim Board Chair, Gregory Pressman, Interim Board Secretary, and Elizabeth Stack, PhD, Officer.
Jim Normile, a Queens, New York native with Irish roots in County Limerick, is a former president general of the society who was ousted in a series of controversial firings at the AIHS back in 2019.
The somewhat grandiose title of president general, which Normile had inherited from his predecessors, appears to have been replaced with the more workaday title of chairman.
