Just over four years ago, former US Senator George Mitchell, the broker of the Good Friday Agreement, opened the new Dublin offices of global advisory firm Teneo in a star-studded event at the National Gallery.
he statesman was perhaps the biggest name in the room on the night, but Teneo co-founder and CEO Declan Kelly had drawn a glittering constellation into his orbit for the celebration.
Former Irish rugby captain and Teneo advisor Brian O’Driscoll was there. So was Teneo partner and golfer Graeme McDowell. Shane Horgan and Garry Ringrose were there, too, as was Kilkenny hurler Henry Shefflin. All of them mixing with the local luminaries of the business world.
It was clearly a proud homecoming for Kelly, who in scarcely a decade had parlayed a flourishing career in public relations into something much grander – status as a confidante to some of the biggest decision makers in the world with a client list that included the Clinton Foundation, Coca-Cola and Dow Chemical.
For someone who cares as much about his reputation at home in Nenagh as he does about his profile in New York, the night was a big success, positioning him as an influencer at the highest levels not just in Ireland, but crucially in the United States.
The afterparty took place at Whelan’s of Wexford Street, the legendary rock club, where Kelly got behind a drum kit for a charity gig that raised €50,000 for Crumlin Hospital’s Children’s Medical & Research Foundation.
This was Kelly at his peak: a big shot with his feet on the ground, intense but entertaining, successful but generous, accomplished but humble.
It was a different Declan Kelly at the Global Citizen Vax Live charity concert in New York on May 2.
That event, chaired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and featuring performances by Jennifer Lopez and Selena Gomez, was raising money for a global Covid vaccination campaign.
At a large cocktail party at the fundraiser attended by dozens of people, Kelly got drunk and behaved inappropriately towards some attendees – both men and women.
The next day he was asked to resign from the Global Citizen board, where he served with Chris Stadler, the managing partner of CVC Capital Partners, the majority shareholder in Teneo.
He also decided to step back from some of his responsibilities at Teneo, although it is understood he will be retaining his title of chairman and CEO, as well as returning to work in September.
“Since the event two months ago Mr Kelly immediately committed to sobriety, is undertaking ongoing counselling from healthcare professionals, and has temporarily reduced his work responsibilities,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Kelly’s LinkedIn profile states that he is “recognised in particular for his crisis management experience”, but he is more used to solving problems for others than for himself.
Perhaps his biggest personal embarrassment up until the Global Citizen incident was when he was caught on camera napping at the Super Bowl in 2020.
The video went viral and Kelly was humorously mocked on social media for snoozing through the contest.
But he didn’t find it funny, tersely refusing an interview to the journalist who captured the footage.
For a man so deeply invested in the persuasive power of sport, it must have been hard to take.
Kelly remains intimately involved in his home county of Tipperary, where he grew up with his brother, Labour leader Alan Kelly.
Tipperary’s All Ireland winning hurling manager Liam Sheedy is an old friend and now a business partner after being tapped by Kelly earlier this year to run the Irish arm of a new division of Teneo that advises corporate leaders on improving performance.
Industry sources estimate Teneo’s sponsorship of Tipperary GAA would be worth around €225,000 a year to the county.
As important as that relationship clearly is to Kelly, Teneo also plays on much bigger stages than Semple Stadium.
Kelly co-founded Teneo in 2011 along with Paul Keary and Clinton advisor Doug Band after a career in journalism and PR that started at the Nenagh Guardian.
He moved on to the Irish Examiner and, after working in corporate PR in New York and London for a decade, got to know the Bill and Hillary Clinton via journalist Niall O’Dowd.
He ultimately leveraged that relationship into a role as US economic envoy to Northern Ireland in 2009, a sinecure that cemented him as a member of the inner circle of Democratic politics in the US.
Two years later, Teneo got off the ground. Bill Clinton was an early advisor on Teneo’s books, along with former British prime minister Tony Blair.
Kelly’s image as the consummate connector was established, although the relationship with the Clintons eventually soured.
The firm grew rapidly all the same through aggressive networking and numerous acquisitions and now has 1,200 employees at offices in New York, Dublin, London and other major cities.
But controversy was never far off.
Teneo has had business relationships with Greensill, the insolvent financing firm at the centre of a British political scandal involving David Cameron, and Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma.
More colourfully, its own London staff were involved in their own drunken antics two years ago, according to a leaked memo by Teneo’s UK CEO.
"Over the last few weeks, we have had: someone get drunk and throw up over the carpet (they've apologised, but still); someone – I can't put this any less bluntly – poo in the shower; someone mess their underwear and leave it for the cleaner.
"Not only are these things inappropriate for a workplace but it is totally unacceptable to expect our lovely cleaning lady to clear up the resultant mess.”