Second Vice Chairman: Peter Kelly, Esq.

Peter Kelly has long been active in Democratic politics at the local, state, and national levels, in the world of business on a national and international level, and in the practice of law in Connecticut, New York, and Washington, D.C. He has served as Treasurer and National Finance Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and was a member of that Committee for sixteen years. He has served as a senior political adviser to Albert Gore, Jr. in 1988 and 2000, and to Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996.
Mr. Kelly was one of the architects of the United States of America’s Democratization foundation structure. He was a founder, director, and Treasurer of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and Chairman of The Center for Democracy, a bipartisan, privately funded foundation, both based in Washington, D.C. He currently serves as Chairman of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, a bipartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., and as Vice Chairman of IFES, Ltd., based in London.

Mr. Kelly is a graduate of Georgetown University, magna cum laude, and of the Yale Law School, where he served as an Editor of The Yale Law Journal. He is a senior principal of Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, P.C., a law firm with offices in Hartford, New Haven and Middletown, Connecticut. He is a member of the bars of Connecticut, New York, and the District of Columbia. He is the former Chairman of The PBN Company, a strategic planning firm with offices in Moscow, Kiev, London, and Washington. He previously served as Chairman of Black, Kelly, Scruggs & Healy, a Washington public affairs firm, and as Managing Director of Burson-Marsteller (Latin America). Among other board memberships, he is (presiding) Vice Chairman of Saint Francis Hospital Foundation and a member of the boards of Saint Francis Care and Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center. He also serves as Chairman of The Malta House of Care Foundation, Inc. He is Vice Chairman of the Board of The International Council of Middle East Studies (2008–) and a member of the Board of Directors of the International University of Iraq (2006–).

Mr. Kelly previously served as the founder and Chairman of the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc.; Chairman of the Metro Hartford Chamber of Commerce; Chairman of The Greater Hartford Arts Council; Chairman of the Hartford Civic Center Committee; Chairman of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and as a member of the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.