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Newsflash
> New US Ambassador to the Vatican
New US Ambassador to the Vatican Is Named: Francis Rooney,
Oklahoma Businessman
VATICAN CITY, Friday, April 15, 2005 -- The new US ambassador
to the Holy See is Oklahoma businessman Francis Rooney, Inside
the Vatican has learned.
Rooney replaces Ambassador James Nicholson, who left Rome
in January after being named head of the Office of Veteran's
Affairs in the Bush administration.
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Francis Rooney, III is the Chief Executive Officer of Rooney
Holdings, Inc., an investment and holding company based in
Naples, Florida, with administrative offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Principal operating subsidiaries are: Manhattan Construction,
a building contractor and construction manager founded in
1896, operating in the Southwest, Southeast and Middle Atlantic
States, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean; M. J. Lee
Construction, a bridge and heavy construction business in
the Southwest; Hope Lumber and Supply, a supplier of building
materials to professional builders in the Southwest, Southeast
and Middle Atlantic States; and OAI Electronics, a contract
electronics manufacturer and assembler with plants in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, and Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Mr. Rooney serves on the Board of Directors of BOK Financial
Corporation and the Bank of Oklahoma, NASDAQ; Helmerich and
Payne, Inc., NYSE; and Cimarex Energy Company, NSADAQ.
Mr. Rooney has served as Vice-Chairman of the Oklahoma Turnpike
Authority, appointed by Governor Keating (Oklahoma), and Director
of the Oklahoma Capital Investment Board, appointed by Governor
Bellmon (Oklahoma), and the 20/20 Committee and Washington
Advisory Council for the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS), Washington, DC. Mr. Rooney has also served
as an Officer of the Texas Business Hall of Fame, Houston,
Texas, and a Director of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology,
College Station, Texas. He also served on the transition team
for Governor-Elect Brad Henry (Oklahoma), responsible for
transportation and taxation issues. Mr. Rooney was a member
of the Leadership Task Force, a Tulsa City and County planning
group headed jointly by the Mayor and the Chairman of the
County Commission, which developed the Vision 2025 $900 million
package of capital improvement and job creation projects approved
by the public in September 2003. From 1992 to 1998 he was
a Director of the Young President's Organization (YPO) and
served as International President from 1997-1998.
Mr. Rooney presently is a Member of the Board and Chairman
of the Strategic Planning Committee of the St. Francis Health
System, a large Catholic health system in Oklahoma; Chairman
of the Board of Cascia Hall Preparatory School, an Augustinian
middle and high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma; a member of the
School of Architecture Council of The University of Notre
Dame; and a member of The Sovereign Military Order of Malta
(Federal Association).
Mr. Rooney was a founding member of the Tulsa Committee on
Foreign Relations and is a member of the Board of Advisors
of the Panama Canal Authority, Republic of Panama, and a Director
of the Newport Shipyard, Newport, Rhode Island. Mr. Rooney
is also a Director of the Southwest Florida Chapter, World
Presidents Organization (WPO), and a trustee of the Naples
Winter Wine Festival and the Naples Children and Education
Foundation, Inc.
Mr. Rooney is a graduate of Georgetown University and Georgetown
University Law Center. He is a member of the District of Columbia
and Texas bars, and holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-Ton Masters
License (Ocean and Sailing Endorsements). He resides in Naples,
Florida, with his wife Kathleen.
Kathleen C. Rooney is a graduate of Georgetown University's
School of Foreign Service. In the 1980s Kathleen worked as
the Event Coordinator for President George Bush's Campaign,
and was the Finance Director for Congressman Freeman and Okalahoma's
Governor Daxon. In the past Mrs. Rooney has participated as
a board member of many charitable organizations. She was the
Event Co-Chair of the Tulsa Opera Ball, the Chairman of the
Philbrook Museum of Art?s Wine Experience, and played many
roles for the Gilcrease Museum of Art. Currently Mrs. Rooney
serves on the University of Notre Dame's School of Architecture
Council and is a member of the Junior League of Houston.
Mr. and Mrs. Rooney have three children, Larry (22), Michael
(19) and Kathleen (17). Michael currently attends The University
of Notre Dame and Kathleen attends Cascia Hall Preparatory
School. Mr. Rooney & Mrs. Rooney are both conversationally
fluent in Spanish.
*********
Partying at the Inauguration
Rooney's company spentthe maximum $250,000 on President Bush's
inaugural festivities.
Rooney Holdings is a private investment firm based in Tulsa,
Okla., that has emerged from nowhere to become one of the
GOP's biggest donors during the last election, upping its
campaign contributions from just $11,000 during the 2002 cycle
to more than $500,000 in 2004. Thanks to his fund-raising
efforts, Rooney himself was among the few individuals named
as both a Bush Ranger, having raised at least $200,000 for
the president's re-election, and a Super Ranger (among the
elite donors who raised another $300,000 for the Republican
National Committee).
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