The 2023 Flax Trust will honor three distinguished members of the Irish and Irish-American community.
John Greed currently serves as Chairman, President, and Chief executive Officer of Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, John has been with Mutual of America for over 25 years. John serves on the board and executive committee of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts of America, the board of the Police Athletic League, and the Citizens Budget Commission, as well as the board of trustees of La Salle University and Thirteen WNET NY. He is also a member of the Archdiocese of the New York Finance Council.
Tania Tetlow has been the President of Fordham University since 2022, she is the first layperson and woman to hold the office at Fordham. Prior to joining Fordham Tania was the 17th president of Loyola University New Orleans, again as the first woman and the first layperson to lead Loyola since the Society of Jesus founded the university in 1912. Having earned her law degree from Harvard University, Tania served as an assistant United States attorney and was an associate at Phelps Dunbar prior to joining the world of academia. A Catholic who was born in New York and grew up in New Orleans, President Tetlow has deep family ties to the Jesuits and to Fordham, where her parents met as graduate students in the late 1960s.
Colin Davidson is a Northern Irish visual artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. An artist who works in themes, his recent large-scale head paintings have been exhibited worldwide. Most recently Colin created a bust of Senator George Mitchell for Queen’s University to commemorate his time as chancellor and on October 4th he will unveil a portrait of Mitchell in New York to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The honorees will be celebrated at a luncheon at The Links Club in New York City on Wednesday, October 11th. For more information email: srmary@flaxtrust.com and visit www.flaxtrust.com
The Flax Trust is one of the largest and longest-established development trusts in Ireland. It is a registered charity formed in Belfast in 1977. Over the years it has been committed to the “reconciliation of a divided community through economic and social development, bringing peace to both communities, one person and one job at a time”.
From its inception, the Flax Trust has promoted and practiced with an absolute focus on reconciliation through economic development. In identifying a strategy for the 21st century it has broadened its focus to expand and energize the work of reconciliation through the arts, especially the performing arts, education, business incubation, entertainment, social action, sport, and technology.
In the over 40 years since its founding, the Trust has lived up to its mission statement. From literally starting with nothing, in its first year, it transformed the former Brookfield linen mill from a state of dereliction into a 232,000 sq. ft. business center accommodating over 70 small businesses, and over the years it’s become a business incubator for all of Belfast, creating over 400 businesses, and provided training and personal development for several hundred people each year through the Brookfield Business School. In 1982, Flax Trust America was set up, with support from Mutual of America’s powerbrokers Bill Flynn, Tom Moran, and Ed Kenney, all of whom played a part in the peace process. Over the years, contributions from Flax Trust America have helped develop such programs as an international arts center – theatre, art gallery, dance studio, and the Pittsburgh Bar & Steelers’ Restaurant; initiated a community association and health and social programs, which have served thousands of Meals on Wheels in addition to day-care center meals; built a medical center housing Ardoyne Community Healthcare Centre, Ardoyne / Shankill Healthy Living Centre, medical and dental surgeries, and an elderly day care center; built a shopping center including a supermarket, post office, pharmacy, fancy goods store, florist, community-based organizations, café, offices and workshops providing services, and much, much more.
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