Declan Kelly

Declan Kelly (born 1968) is an Irish-American business executive, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of The Consello Group, a specialized investing and financial services platform. Kelly is best known as the founder, former chairman and CEO of Teneo, an international consulting company based in New York City.

Overview Kelly started his career in the 1980s and 1990s reporting in Portroe, Nenagh, a village on the banks of Lough Derg in the Irish county of Tipperary. At the age of 16 Kelly began working for free as a "cub reporter" for The Nenagh Guardian, Kelly attended the National University of Ireland in Galway, Ireland from 1986 until 1989, graduating with a bachelor's degree in English and law. He became a sports columnist and business reporter for the Cork Examiner

In 1999 Gallagher and Kelly Public Relations.

Joining FD as a member of their senior management, he moved to the United States he served as "one of the leading advisers" to Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign, In a meeting with the Northern Irish Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster, Kelly asserted that his role would be "confined to economic matters only, and he would have no political function," unlike his predecessors Richard Haass, Mitchell Reiss and George Mitchell. During his tenure he worked closely with Invest NI According to the BBC, he was also credited with "having a big impact as a member of the winning Derry bid team for UK City of Culture," with American companies such as Seagate, Dow Chemical, GE Energy,

Founding Teneo

From October 2009 until June 2011 Kelly worked as an independent contractor for FTI Consulting. with Clinton later becoming a client and unpaid advisor to Teneo and its founders. which through algorithms Thereafter, Teneo grew from operating 6 divisions to 12 divisions, also increasing its headcount both in the United States and internationally. Kelly responded that Teneo was "committed to the highest ethical and professional standards," while Abedin "said her work arrangement was approved by State Department lawyers and that she did no work for Teneo involving the department, nor was she asked to." Though the issue was seen as controversial by Republicans, The Journal noted that there "was no evidence of any fundraising, donations, or services provided by Teneo executives to the State Department or Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State." and in July 2015 FIFA hired Teneo. doubling Teneo's employee count to about 500. Kelly remains chairman and CEO of Teneo Holdings, due to Kelly's inappropriate, drunken behavior at a charity event. According to reports Kelly was 'drunk and engaged in nonconsensual touching of women at an event hosted by the charity Global Citizen in early May. Global Citizen removed Mr. Kelly from its board on May 3.

Several outlets reported that Kelly has ceded most of his duties at Teneo. The Irish Times reported that Kelly Mr Kelly told senior colleagues at the firm that he is handing some of his duties to others on the global management committee.

On February 10, 2022, the Financial Times reported that Kelly has founded a new company called Consello, which "focuses on investing, merchant banking, corporate development and mergers and acquisitions."

In May 2025, Kelly became a part-owner of English football club Salford City, as part of a consortium including former players David Beckham and Gary Neville.

Philanthropy

Involved with a number of non-profit and civic organisations as either a philanthropist or a boardmember, Kelly has been particularly focused on Irish and Irish-American issues. In April 2020, he was executive producer of Together at Home, an online fundraising concert to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic with performers including Elton John and Billie Eilish. On May 3, 2021, Kelly was summarily removed from the board of Global Citizen after he became inebriated at an event for the charity on May 2 and inappropriately touched up to six women without their consent.

Accolades Kelly has been recognised with a number of awards and accolades for his work in journalism, business, and philanthropy. In 1994 he was named the AT Cross Business Journalist of The Year, for the first time The video was viewed over 7 million times with many outlets labeling it "the world's most expensive nap."