Teneo CEO Declan Kelly speaks onstage during International Citizen Offers Worldwide Target Dwell: The Possible Desire at St. Ann’s Warehouse on September 26, 2019 in New York Metropolis.
Noam Galai | Getty Photographs
The CEO of foremost community relations and advisory organization Teneo, who previously served as a exclusive envoy to Northern Eire beneath then-Secretary of Condition Hillary Clinton, resigned Tuesday right after fallout from his drunken actions at a superior-powered charity function last thirty day period.
Declan Kelly’s embarrassing departure came times right after Basic Motors severed ties with Teneo mainly because of his perform, and weeks soon after he resigned from the board of administrators of the nonprofit group International Citizen, the host of the Might 2 occasion in dilemma.
Common Motors had been a client of Teneo, a 1,200-person agency that was co-launched by Doug Band, a previous aide to ex-President Bill Clinton.
In addition to accomplishing perform for GM, which reportedly was spending Teneo a $250,000-for every thirty day period retainer, Kelly also has served as an advisor to Standard Electrical and Coca-Cola.
Kelly, who also been Teneo’s chairman, is brother of Alan Kelly, leader of the Labour Party in Ireland.
Declan Kelly, who formerly labored as a reporter for several newspapers in Eire, served as a distinctive financial envoy from 2009 through 2011 for Hillary Clinton when she headed the Condition Division below previous President Barack Obama. Kelly in addition had served as an advisor to Clinton for the duration of her 2008 campaign for president.
The Wall Street Journal claimed past Friday that Kelly’s representative said that the PR executive experienced been “inebriated and behaved inappropriately to some females and adult males” at the World Citizen occasion.
President Joe Biden had designed a movie appearance at the party, whose chairpersons have been Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle. Pope Francis also shipped a concept to the accumulating.
“Since the event two months back Mr. Kelly right away committed to sobriety, is enterprise ongoing counselling from health care experts, and has temporarily reduced his work tasks,” the statement from his consultant claimed, in accordance to the Journal.
“He has the full help of his spouse and children, colleagues, associates and mates.”
This was not Kelly’s initially embarrassing public episode.
Kelly beforehand was found on social media video clip sleeping with his mouth open up in the stands of the Really hard Rock Stadium in Miami for the duration of the initially quarter of the Tremendous Bowl in February 2020.
That viral movie came eight months soon after Teneo marketed a slight the greater part stake in the company to CVC Capital Companions in a deal that valued Teneo at additional than $700 million.
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In his own statement on Teneo’s web-site posted Tuesday Kelly mentioned, “On Could 2nd I built an inadvertent, community and embarrassing slip-up for which I took complete responsibility and apologized to those right afflicted, as properly as my colleagues and customers.”
“A marketing campaign in opposition to the popularity of our company has followed and may even carry on in the coming times,” Kelly said. “On the other hand, no matter of the veracity of any these kinds of matters I do not want them to be an ongoing distraction to the jogging of our business.”
“In order to guard the personnel of Teneo and its shoppers, and with my family’s sturdy assistance, I have made a decision to leave the enterprise and resign as Chairman and CEO,” Kelly said.
Teneo’s board of directors appointed a different enterprise co-founder, Chief Functioning Officer Paul Keary, to thrive Kelly as chief govt officer.
“We want to thank Declan for his management and perseverance more than the earlier ten decades in creating Teneo into the world’s preeminent CEO advisory company,” the organization explained in a assertion.
“Thanks to Declan’s management, and the attempts of its excellent administration crew, Teneo these days serves the world’s primary organizations with a deep bench of expert advisors across a range of disciplines.”