2012 Dignitaries & Guests
2012 Grand Marshal
ATLANTA MAYOR KASIM REED … Since taking office, Mayor Reed has continued his track record of strong leadership. He has implemented several successful initiatives, having hired more than 400 police officers, re-opened all of the city’s recreation centers as safe havens for young people and improved core city services such as fire-rescue response times and sanitation services. He has even increased the city’s reserve from $7.4 million to more than $94 million dollars. Not only are we grateful for his leadership of this city, we’re also delighted to have our beloved Mayor leading our parade later today as Grand Marshal.
2011 Guest of Honor
Paul Gleeson Consul General of Ireland, Atlanta Paul Gleeson is Ireland’s first Consul General in Atlanta. He established 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.