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lorraine@psg.us
I like to think of my work with PSG as representing the confluence of two important themes in my life - public service and change. I learned early on that public service is an honorable profession. Both of my grandfathers were government officials in China and my mother had a thirty-year career at the United Nations.
After graduating from the University of Rochester with a degree in political science, I went to law school in our nation's capital at George Washington University. A clerkship |
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at Common Cause during the Watergate scandal taught me to use the law in furtherance of reform. I've been attracted to bringing about positive change ever since.
While at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the mid- to late-70's, I closed down air polluting incinerators in New England and banned organic chemicals in drinking water. I orchestrated hearings on global warming during a Congressional fellowship in 1979-80. More recently, I have worked to bring about positive change in the areas of workforce development, health and human services, and education.
I haven't always worked in the public sector. In 1980, my husband's appointment to the faculty of Creighton Law School, brought me to Omaha, Nebraska, where I took a job with the law department of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. This thirteen- year private sector detour came just as the railroad industry was undergoing deregulation. I pioneered transportation contracting as a new way of doing business. I moved from the legal to the business side and led the Railroad's food business group where I developed a Marketing and Sales team and cultivated relationships with customers based on measurable service performance. When total quality management hit the company, I became an internal trainer and consultant. My last few years at the Railroad were devoted to improving the quality of service to the demanding automotive industry, notably, Toyota.
In 1993, I accepted an appointment at the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor and returned to public service. As our agency's leader for reinventing government, I crossed paths with David Osborne and Bob Stone. When I sought to stay working in the public sector despite a personal need to return to Omaha, David suggested that I meet his PSG consultant colleagues in St. Paul, and so I did. The rest is history. Indianapolis, the Texas Workforce Commission, Oakland, HUD, New York State's Office of Medicaid Management and Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Student Financial Assistance have been some of the agencies I've had the privilege to work with during my association with PSG.
I feel extremely fortunate to be doing work that I love, with people that share my passion for public service and positive change. And I feel even more fortunate to have a husband, a son and a daughter whose love sustains me. |
