THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW/Tom Moran, chief executive, Mutual of America: While Tom Moran's involvement with Ireland came late in life, it has blossomed into a serious engagement across business, NGO and political issues, with a particular emphasis on Northern Ireland, writes Conor O'Clery
There's a story told about Tom Moran, that he once worked in New York as a taxi driver and that one day he gave a ride to Bill Flynn, then head of Mutual of America, who offered him a job in his company. "I wish it was true," said Mr Moran, laughing, "Bill Flynn is a heavy tipper."
In fact Tom Moran did drive a taxi many years ago to pay for his tuition in Manhattan College, but he only met Bill Flynn when he joined Mutual of America in 1975. Now its chief executive, he is one of the most popular and altruistic Irish-American figures in New York.
Every visiting Irish dignitary, business executive, cleric, politician and paramilitary is sure to come across him or seek him out at a Mutual of America reception in the corporation's Park Avenue skyscraper, or at a black-tie dinner for a visiting Taoiseach or an NGO.
Mr Moran's involvement with Ireland came late in life and arose from the corporate culture of Mutual of America and the enthusiasm of former CEO Bill Flynn, now its president, for the peace process.
The corporation began as a retirement association in 1945 with a $10,000 grant from what is now the United Way (a charitable organisation for the under-privileged). It was set up to provide insurance and pensions for people in the not-for-profit sector who could not get coverage from private companies.
Today Mutual of America has assets in excess of $10.4 billion and employs 11,000 people. It has some 10,000 clients, typically NGOs with fewer than 30 employees, like the Shelter for Battered Women and Children in Brooklyn. They also have on their books Concern Worldwide, the American Cancer Society, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and church charities.
The culture Mutual of America promotes is one of caring, said Mr Moran, citing as an example the fact that it has the largest number of volunteers every year in the American Cancer Society's walk for breast cancer in New York.
"We work very hard to make a difference both as individuals and as a corporation," he said. It was not just an opportunity but a responsibility, he added.
The corporation supported those who "believe that society is not going to be measured simply by how well the people at the top do, but by how well the people who are not at the top do."
This culture encouraged executives to associate with good causes on a wider scale. In 1990 a Mutual director, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, persuaded board members to get involved in a conference he co-chaired in Oslo called "The Anatomy of Hate", where world leaders address issues of fanaticism and hatred.
Then Bill Flynn, who has Co Down ancestry, was encouraged to "do something" about Northern Ireland and he and Tom Moran became part of the group of American businessmen who acted as unofficial peace envoys throughout the 1990s.
"One of Tom Moran's secrets is that he is a great listener," said Niall O'Dowd, publisher of Irish America, who organised the peace delegations. "I have sat in many meetings with him on Northern Ireland where he allowed everyone else to put their point of view. Then he would make a brilliant summary and deliver the American perspective."
Tom Moran, who is a passionate believer in the American concept of corporate and individual philanthropy, has personally donated tens of thousands of dollars to Irish political parties and individuals, and to causes like Concern, the Smurfit Business School and the Catholic Church.
He is chairman of Concern Worldwide's US board - which "opened my eyes to see the potential to make a difference" - and of the North American board of the Smurfit Business School.
When pressed he acknowledges that "I give away a big percentage of what I make.
"But I lead a fairly simple life. I don't want for anything, I'm fairly comfortable."
A pile of letters from supplicants as thick as a telephone directory comes to his office every day. Told once that a prominent Irish politician was complaining at not receiving anything from him, he replied: "I've 10,000 people asking for money - when I get through those that have asked, I'll start working for those people that haven't. I'm not going to search him out."
Like many Irish-American executives he has been taken aback by criticism of American foreign policy in the Irish media since September 11th. It could affect corporate sponsorship of Irish causes, he says.
"However, I spend a lot of time in Ireland and I get a sense that while there may be debate and questions about the important issues that we all face together, ultimately the friendship and support still exists.
"The sense of betrayal felt by people over here is because the only voice they are hearing from Ireland is through the columnists and that is the voice of betrayal. And that's unfortunate. I think it is not the true sentiment of the people."
He reckons he has met and entertained practically every politican of note from north and south in Ireland and has made many close friends, especially in the North. The first thing he does when rising at 4.30 a.m. every morning in the apartment where he lives with his wife Joan is to read the Irish papers on the internet. He welcomed the IRA's decomissioning this week and was dismissive of criticism that it was aimed at the election in the Republic.
"We have reached the wonderful point in the history of Northern Ireland where people are getting upset because people are more interested in politics and elections than they are in the guns," he said.
"Thank God. I wish we could find that in the Middle East."
Tom Moran is not a typical corporate titan. He is low-key, and avoids publicity, only reluctantly agreeing to an interview. His conversation is sprinkled with self-deprecating wisecracks. He doesn't own a car, but roars around on one of his three motor cycles; two Harley-Davidsons and a Honda Goldwing.
He goes to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans every year, sometimes taking a dozen guests from Ireland; a shelf in his sixth floor office is covered with Mardi Gras beads and polished Zulu coconuts. Behind his desk hangs a watercolour of Dessie Hynes's pub in Dublin by artist Rosin O'Shea.
He shows visitors a scrap book of a world tour with 50 CEOs, during which he had a spirited altercation with Fidel Castro. When "contemplating big decisions" in his office he likes to listen to a CD of Rua (Liz Madden and Gloria Mulhall). A music lover, he had an 1896 Steinway installed on the 35th floor of the building where corporate receptions are held. The most recent was last week for the launch of Congressman Peter King's latest Irish-theme novel, Deliver Us From Evil.
On his father's side both Tom Moran's great grandparents were Irish; they married in Carrick-on-Suir before leaving Ireland to eventually settle in New York.
On his mother's side his grandmother was Peggy O'Neill whose roots were in Kesh, Co Fermanagh, and his grandfather was Arturo Bonaventura Quaranta from Salerno. When Irish visitors ask where he is originally from, he says: "I tell people I'm from the south - just outside of Salerno, Italy."
