Kingsley Aikins

Kingsley Aikins became President and CEO of The American Ireland Fund and The Ireland Funds in June 2000. He is also responsible for the five-year Hope and History Campaign scheduled to raise $100 million by December 2003. In 1995, Mr. Aikins was appointed Chief Executive of the Worldwide Ireland Funds, now active in 11 countries and in Ireland. He is a member of the Institutes of Marketing, Export and Linguistics.

For five years, he was the Sydney, Australia-based representative of the Irish Trade Board and Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Ireland. He then ran his own marketing consultancy company. He was also a founding director of The Australian Ireland Fund and for two years served as Executive Director responsible for the growth of the Fund in Australia and the creation of The Ireland Fund of New Zealand.

In January 1993, he became the Executive Director of The American Ireland Fund in Boston. The Fund was set up in 1976 and has since raised over $180 million for projects of Peace, Culture, Charity and Education in Ireland, North and South.

Mr. Aikins was born and raised in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated with an honors degree in Economics. He also has a post-graduate diploma in International Marketing and has studied and worked extensively in France and Spain.

He currently lives in Boston and is married to Claire McDonough. The couple has three children: Grattan, Darcy and Devin.