Bill Clinton and Ex-PM Tony Blair Now Advisers at Teneo Capital

What does a world leader do after retiring from leading a country? If you are former President Bill Clinton or former Prime Minister Tony Blair, you become an adviser apparently. Both men have signed on as advisers to Declan Kelly and Douglas Band’s Teneo Capital according to The Huffington Post.

What is Teneo Capital?

Teneo Capital was founded in June 2011 by Declan Kelly and Douglas Band. Band joined President Clinton’s staff in 1995 and worked as his chief adviser for the last ten years, setting up the Clinton Global Initiative, before starting Teneo with Kelly.

Kelly, who was born and raised in Ireland, had been the US economic envoy to Northern Ireland before he resigned in March to form Teneo with Douglas Band. “I have advised four prime ministers in Ireland, all pro bono. I had a business in Ireland for over a decade, I have a home there, I am an Irish citizen and I know virtually every senior business leader in the country,” Kelly said. Together the pair has a strong knowledge of the Irish government and are prepared to exploit that. President Clinton announced at an Irish summit in October that Teneo would sponsor a Global Irish Economic Forum in New York in 2012.

Teneo is a merchant banking firm right now but it also has private equity ambitions and is looking to establish a hedge fund. “We’re looking to establish one, but we haven’t done it yet,” said Kelly.

Bill Clinton AND Tony Blair?

“President Clinton is involved purely in an advisory capacity, and his compensation is confidential,” said Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna. “Kelly confirmed that Clinton will be compensated but declined to go into details.” The Huffington Post continued by explaining that the involvement of a firmer world leader in the field of finance after retirement is not unusual: “Within the upper ranks of Democrats, such close ties to high finance are more common than the public might expect. For elite Democrats between or retired from public service, working a side gig as a tremendously well compensated consultant to a global investment firm has become routine… Jon Corzine, who went from Goldman Sachs to the Senate, then to the New Jersey governor’s mansion and then back to Wall Street, is just the highest-profile example.”