May 3, 2024

Joseph Kennedy III – Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs – U.S. Department of State

City Club event description:

Joseph Kennedy III
Joseph Kennedy III currently serves as the Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs.

Over four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Kennedy built an impressive legislative record around economic policy, health care, and civil rights.  Representing a district that spanned from the suburbs of Boston to the proud post-industrial communities along Massachusetts’ South Coast, Mr. Kennedy sat on the House Energy & Commerce committee and spearheaded bipartisan efforts to extend mental health coverage, support the domestic manufacturing industry, protect consumer voices online, make hearing aids more affordable, and defend access to legal assistance for struggling families.

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Today, Mr. Kennedy also serves as President at Citizens Energy, a non-profit energy company founded to help low-income families meet their basic energy needs.  Through innovative programming, Citizens has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit millions of families across the United States.  He is the founder of Groundwork Project, an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting local community organizing efforts in under-resourced and historically disenfranchised communities.  He also serves on the boards of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

He is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School and spent two years in the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.  He is married to Lauren Birchfield Kennedy and they have two young children, Eleanor and James, and a rescue dog, Banjo.