STAFF AND ADVISORY BOARD

The Crossroads Irish-American Festival planning committee is composed of three core members. We are also greatly appreciative to our trusted festival volunteers and the numerous members of our Advisory Board.

Daniel P. Cassidy. Daniel Cassidy was born in Brooklyn, New York. He has been a merchant seaman, union organizer, professional musician, and award-winning film maker. His film "Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs" was nominated for an Emmy. He is a co-founder of the Crossroads Irish-American Festival and the Irish Studies Program at New College of California, where he currently teaches Irish Studies and Media Studies. His best selling new book How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads, was published by CounterPunch Books in July, 2007, and has received rave reviews and extensive media coverage in Ireland and the U.S. It was awarded the American Book Award for non-fiction in November 2007. Cassidy's work has appeared in the N.Y. Times, The Atlantic Monthly, the San Francisco Chronicle, and scores of newspapers and magazines. In March 2007 he was designated one of the "Top 100" Irish-Americans for "excellence in education," by Irish America magazine. Daniel Cassidy lives with his wife Clare in San Francisco.

Hillary Flynn has over 17 years of experience in the public and nonprofit sector serving a wide variety of communities and constituencies. She has held positions in development, community outreach and program management. She was previously the Development Director and radio producer for Childhood Matters, Inc, a nonprofit producing parent education radio shows in the Bay Area. Currently, Hillary is a Senior Associate with Zimmerman Lehman, a consulting firm for nonprofits. A graduate of Boston College, Hillary also has a Masters in Social Work (MSW) from San Francisco State University with a focus on administration and planning. She is from a large Irish-American family in New England.
Contact Hillary Flynn at: hillary.flynn@iacrossroads.org

Margaret McPeake is Core Faculty in the Humanities Program at New College of California. Her research focuses on how gender informs the construction of identity in Irish and Irish-American literatures, as well as on interrelationships between Ireland and the Caribbean. She is currently at work on a project focused on Irish-Americans in Noir fiction. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she has a B.A. in Celtic Studies and English from U.C. Berkeley, an M.A. in English from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Miami.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Maureen Dezell
Lucy Duffy
Michael Patrick McDonald
Hetty O'Hara
Kieran Ridge
Nancy Quinn
Peter Quinn