Past Grand Marshals

2011 Grand Marshal

Paul Gleeson
Consul General of Ireland, Atlanta
Ireland’s first Consul General in Atlanta

Paul Gleeson, Consul General of Ireland, Atlanta
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue
Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen

Paul Gleeson was announced as Ireland’s first Consul General in Atlanta by Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen in July 2010. He took up office the following month and began the job of establishing Ireland’s first new Consulate in the United States since the 1930s.

A graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the London School of Economics, Mr. Gleeson joined Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs in 2001. He has served at the Embassy of Ireland in South Africa (where he had responsibility for reporting on political developments in Zimbabwe); at the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union in Brussels; and at Ireland’s Mission to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Prior to taking up his post as Consul General in Atlanta, Mr. Gleeson had responsibility for North-South cooperation within Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, helping to implement the all-island aspects of Ireland’s landmark 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement. He has also worked in support of Ireland’s development cooperation and aid programmes in Mozambique and Lesotho.

Away from work, Paul is a fan of most sports, particularly football (soccer) and hurling. At university, he was Auditor (President) of the Trinity College Historical Society, the oldest undergraduate debating society in the world. He won the prestigious Irish Times Debating Competition and was a finalist at the World University Debating Championships.

Paul is married to Alita Byrd. They have two sons, Zach and Daniel.