NFL legend Tom Brady joins Declan Kelly’s new consultancy firm

Tipperary man set up Consello consultancy group last year

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is one of a number of sporting luminaries signing up with Mr Kelly, say reports in New York. File Picture

American Football legend Tom Brady has joined a new company set up by Tipperary man Declan Kelly, who resigned last year as CEO of the global consultancy firm Teneo.

Kelly stepped down in the wake of a drunken episode last year at a Global Citizen fundraiser, which prompted him to relinquish his board seat at the charity and resign from Teneo.

But the 54-year-old from Portroe, who hired Bill Clinton and Tony Blair as key consultants on the Teneo ticket, is back on the corporate ladder after launching the Consello Group and has bagged NFL legend Brady as a key early hire. Consello will specialise in investment, merchant banking, corporate development and mergers and acquisitions.

Consello was formed in July last year, just a fortnight after Mr Kelly left Teneo, according to company registration documents.

Brady — who briefly retired to focus on family and various ventures including an NFT start-up — is one of a number of sporting luminaries signing up with Mr Kelly, say reports in New York. Pau Gasol, a former LA Lakers player and NBA championship winner, is also on Consello’s advisory board.

Brady has developed his own business portfolio in recent years, co-founding an NFT start-up, Autograph.io, apparel group BRADY Brand, and wellness line TB12 Sports. Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen also took a stake in €25m crypto exchange FTX last year.

Declan Kelly: Resigned last year as CEO of the global consultancy firm Teneo in the wake of a drunken episode at a Global Citizen fundraiser.

Last June, Mr Kelly said he would take time to focus on his health after a Financial Times report revealed he had allegedly touched several women without their consent at a “Vax Live” charity concert in California. The event was chaired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and featured prominent figures such as US president Joe Biden and actors Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez.

“I made an inadvertent, public and embarrassing mistake for which I took full responsibility and apologised to those directly affected, as well as [to] my colleagues and clients,” Kelly said in a statement.

Kelly’s Consello firm has retained a number of big-name clients and advisers including Steve Mollenkopf, the former CEO at Qualcomm, Kelly Kramer, ex-CFO at Cisco and Oscar Salazar, co-founder and chief technology at Uber.