Experience

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  U.S. Department of Agriculture

  • Washington, D.C.

  • Confidential Assistant

    • Aug 2000 - Jan 2001
    • Washington, D.C.

    Appointed by President Clinton to assist an agency administrator controlling federal investments of over $5 billion annually in the articulation and implementation of policies affecting health status and access to appropriate health care services in the more than 13,000 rural, agriculturally-depe...

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  PHYSICIAN CORPORATION OF AMERICA, PCA Health Pl...

  • Miami, Florida

  • Vice President/Government Affairs

    • Mar 1992 - May 1995
    • Miami, Florida

    Employed from March 1992 until my retirement in May 1995 at corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida. At the time, PCA had HMO operations in five states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, with over 1 million members.

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  PHYSICIAN CORPORATION OF AMERICA, PCA Health Pl...

  • Sacramento, California

  • Senior Vice President/Operations

    • Oct 1989 - Mar 1992
    • Sacramento, California

    Employed from October 1989 until March 1992, following the acquisition of HEALTHCARE by Physician Corporation of America. The newly acquired plan maintained its federal risk contract for the enrollment of Medicare beneficiaries.

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  Physician Corporation of America

  • Sacramento, Californis

  • Executive Director, HEALTHCARE

    • Jul 1974 - Oct 1989
    • Sacramento, Californis

    Employed as chief executive from July 1974 until the PCA acquisition in October 1989. Planned, launched, and managed a new community-based, non-profit HMO-type organization in Sacramento, with the assistance of a $3 million grant from HEW (HHS). The plan became an option for the employees of over...

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  FAMILY HEALTH CARE

  • Washington, DC

  • Consultant, Board Member

    • Jan 1973 - Jul 1974
    • Washington, DC

    Employed from January 1973 until July 1974. Clients included Group Health of Northeast Ohio; Hunter Foundation, Lexington, Kentucky; Philadelphia Health Plan; Sacramento Health Care Service Plan; other healthcare organizations that were grantees of the federal Bureau of Community Health Services.

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  PHILADELPHIA HEALTH PLAN

  • Philadelphia, PA

  • Executive Director

    • Oct 1971 - Jan 1973
    • Philadelphia, PA

    Served as chief executive officer from October 1971 until January 1973. Responsible to Board of Directors for all administrative and financial operations of the non-profit corporation.

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  National Urban Coalition

  • Washington, D.C.

  • Director of Program Operations

    • Dec 1970 - Oct 1971
    • Washington, D.C.

    During the tenure of Jack Hood Vaughn, my former boss at the Peace Corps, as President of the National Urban Coalition, I worked on assembling the technical and other resources that local Urban Coalitions in 48 cities around the nation required to carry on such activities as creating alternative ...

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  Americans for Indian Opportunity

  • Jefferson Place, Washington, D.C.

  • Interim Executive Director

    • Mar 1970 - Nov 1970
    • Jefferson Place, Washington, D.C.

    Working with Senator Harris and his wife LaDonna, a member of the Comanche Tribe, formed a new non-profit organization dedicated to assisting Native American tribes and local organizations in attracting both private foundation and federal grant funding to invest in furthering practical opportunit...

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  Democratic National Committee

  • Watergate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

  • Director of Research

    • Aug 1969 - Mar 1970
    • Watergate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

    Appointed as Director of Research by Senator Fred R. Harris who chaired the DNC briefly in 1969-1970 while representing Oklahoma in the United States Senate. Lawrence F. O'Brien (not related) preceeded Senator Harris as DNC chairman, serving during 1968-1969; and then succeeded the Senator wh...

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  Peace Corps

  • United States
  • International Affairs
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Director, Office of Evaluation

    • Jan 1968 - Aug 1969

    After serving as a Country Director for agency programs in West Africa, appointed by Jack Hood Vaughn in January 1968 to head the Office of Evaluation with inspector general-style oversight responsibility for monitoring and reporting on Peace Corps programs worldwide. Submitted my resignation after the goals of the agency were shifted under the Nixon administration.

  • Peace Corps Country Director

    • Aug 1965 - Dec 1967

    Responsible for re-direction of a rural school construction program, from an initial scheme that concentrated a dozen or more male Volunteers in a small rural village to buld a 3-classroom elementary school and 3 teacher's houses and paying local villagers to assist in the work, using US Government (USAID) funds. The pattern was to have three villages involved in these efforts at one time, with a Peace Corps staff member servong as the paymaster each month.. I converted this scheme into a true Peace Corps experience, stationing just two male volunteers in each of 22 villages selected by the Minister of Education, M. Paul Malekou. The sites selected by the Minister were chiefly small villages with 200-300 inhabitants. The approach was to equip and enable the villagers--male and female--to build a school and three teachers houses under their own efforts, assisted by the two volunteers with the technical aspects and the materials required for each project. USAID funds provided lumber, cement, aluminum roofing, truss plates and the tools and incidentals necessary to complete these buildings. The women were assigned by the village chief to haul the water and sand needed for the cement work, and they worked diligently on their assignments.Each pair of volunteers remained at their assigned village for the entire two-year period of their service in Gabon.This major change in strategy proved extremely successful, with 22 Gabonese villages proudly benefitting, without being paid for their participation in and work on the community project.

  • Deputy Director

    • Dec 1963 - Aug 1965

    Employed from June 1963 until August 1965 as a reserve officer in the U.S. Foreign Service. After a period of orientation and French language courses, I was assigned operational responsibility in December 1963 to direct Peace Corps development/assistance programs in a predominantly French-speaking West African country -- Cameroon. The program involved hundreds of volunteers engaged in teaching, assisting rural farm-to-market road construction efforts, as well as agricultural and health projects.

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  The College of New Rochelle

  • New Rochelle, NY

  • Adjunct Instructor in American Philosophy

    • Feb 1960 - May 1963
    • New Rochelle, NY

    Taught undergraduate courses in what was then a college for women, run by the Ursuline Order of Catholic nuns.

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  Queens College, City University of New York, Fl...

  • Flushing, New York

  • Lecturer in Contemporary Civilization/Western Intellectual History,

    • Feb 1959 - May 1963
    • Flushing, New York

    Taught courses in the Extension Division with a mix of students, from older adults interested in inquiry to undergraduates filling gaps in their academic record.

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  State of New York

  • Syosset, Long Island, New York

  • Candidate, N.Y. State Senate, 3rd District

    • Mar 1962 - Nov 1962
    • Syosset, Long Island, New York

    Lawrence J. O'Brien; Larry O'Brien — of Syosset, Nassau County, Long Island, N.Y. Candidate for New York State Senate 3rd District, 1962.Born in Queens Village, Queens County, N.Y., May 5, 1930. Democrat. Served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict.

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  Coca Cola

  • Garden City, Long Island, N.Y.

  • Route Driver

    • May 1960 - Dec 1961
    • Garden City, Long Island, N.Y.

    Delivered Coca Cola for this distributor to many locations on Long Island, including Long Beach, Jones Beach and Fire Island--beach areas in which merchants bought significant quantities of the soda during the summer months. Also served restaurants and stores from one end of the Island to the oth...

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  The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A...

  • Laurelton, Queens County, New York City, N.Y.

  • Night Manager

    • Oct 1955 - Apr 1960
    • Laurelton, Queens County, New York City, N.Y.

    Responsible for the grocery department of a busy NYC store, including ordering all products offered for sale; receiving three deliveries of these goods and stocking them on shelves or in the basement storeroom; insuring that all items were correctly priced; supervising a team of six men who handl...

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  US Navy

  • Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego, Californis

  • Aerial Photographers Mate 2nd Class

    • Sep 1951 - Sep 1955
    • Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego, Californis

    Attended training at Bainbridge, Maryland; Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida; and two tours at NAS Pensacola, Florida--the first for photo lab technician training, and the second for training as a camera repair technician. Also served on the USS Kearsarge with Photo Squadron VC-61 for a 7-m...