Experience & Creativity

We Make Things Happen

We understand how Washington works and we work hard to be creative, thoughtful and ingenious in helping organizations and non-profits meet their goals. My associates and I have years of experience in education, advancing national service, rethinking aging and retirement and improving the environment. We have worked in all of these fields and many more.

Changing School Design

For over a decade I have worked with progressive educators, architects and other leaders in the design community on influencing how we design and build schools. In 1996 while working as a senior adviser to the US. Secretary of Education I began to write a series on annual reports on the national impact of the Baby Boom Echo. Over time, these reports alerted the nation to a school enrollment crisis and the need to build hundreds of new school facilities. These reports persuaded the Congress to support $2.5 billion in federal aid for school construction

I was the chief organizer of National Symposium on School Design in 1998 and one of three authors of a report entitled "Schools as Centers of Community," In subsequent years I continue to stay current in this field through my work with the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities as an the author of a report on designing schools for multi-generational use entitled "Riding the Age Wave: Designing Schools with Senior Citizens in Mind

In 2005 I helped to organize the Third National Summit on School Design and authored the summit reporthttp://http://www.archfoundation.org/2005/12/national-summit-on-school-design-report/.
and in 2006 wrote a report for the American Architectural Foundation entitled School Design and Student Learning the 21st Century"

I am currently engaged by the American Architectural Foundation in helping to organize the Fourth National Summit on School Design. Here is the final report which I authored
http://designforlearning.archfoundation.org/casestudies/4th-national-summit

Aging, Retirement and Changing Cities

I have been following and writing about the Baby Boom age cohort for years and recently led a "Design for Aging" initiative for the American Architectural Foundation on how cities can be transformed in a creative way to respond and prepare for this coming age wave. This included organizing a one day symposium and curating a series of articles by design experts and architects on to how cities can and are being transformed as Boomers age
http://www.archfoundation.org/?s=Baby+Boomers+%26+the+Built+Environment+

Ending the School Prayer Debate

In 1994 New Gingrich led the Republicans to victory and took over the House of Representatives. The Clinton Administration was on its back foot for months as Gingrich, the new Speaker of the House, promised to fulfill the Contract with America. But the Contract oddly enough did not mention school prayer. At the same time, a group of religious leaders including mainstream Protestant groups and conservatives Evangelicals groups approached Secretary Riley with a new way of thinking about school prayer. We spent months quietly building a level of trust.

My strategic insight was to suggest to Secretary Riley that if we moved quickly and supported this new approach we could seize the high ground on this long standing divisive Issue and help move the President to the middle. Secretary Riley persuaded President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to take the chance and in July 1995 we announced new national guidelines on school prayer effectively ending a 40 year debate about the need for a Constitutional Amendment on school prayer.

The Transformation of Aging &
Retirement in the next 20 years

In the next twenty years we have a unique opportunity to rethink aging and retirement as the massive Baby Boom age cohort retires. At every stage of the life span of this generation Boomers have transformed American society and they will continue to do so - this is the first generation that will have another 20 plus years of active living ahead of them after they retire

Creating encores careers, rethinking what it means to be retired and giving the next generation a leg up in life are high on the agenda of Boomers. This is why I am one of the co-founders of a new start-up now in development the Federal STEM Experts Corps, http://www.stemexperts4kids.org

Take a peek at what's in store for the future of this generation from this report from the Stanford University Center on Longevity http://longevity3.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Encore_10_27_2014_final.pdf

           International Education Week

In the 1999 I led a new effort to develop a better way to support Secretary Riley's great interest in promoting international education. The Secretary had a real global perspective and was eager to promote the value of American college students studying overseas. Knowing that the Secretary had a wonderful personal bond with then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright I proposed the creation of a joint initiative between the U.S.. Dept of Education and the U.S. Dept. of State. which we called "International Education Week." Seventeen years later International Education Week is still going strong. http://eca.state.gov/programs-initiative/international-education-week

    Creating http://www.VotingRights.ie
I am one of several co-founders of a new group of Irish emigrants and supporters seeking to secure the right toe vote. Ireland is one of the few democracies in the world that lacks a modern absentee ballot process even though 20 percent of the population lives abroad. As a result, about one million Irish citizens are disenfranchised. We are seeking a Constitutional referendum in 2017 that would allow all Irish citizens, including emigrants, the right to vote for the next President of Ireland in 2019.

Working for Peace in Northern Ireland

Creating Civic Link
I had the good fortune to work for President Bill Clinton as he led the effort to end 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland which culminated in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

I staffed out two of the President's trips to Northern Ireland in addition to four separate trips by U.S. Secretary Riley to encourage "educational diplomacy" and had the opportunity to lead the effort that led to the creation of "Civic Link" which was announced by President Clinton in 1998 in a speech in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Civic Link was a unique cross-community and cross-border education initiative supported by the US and Irish governments that for over a decade successfully reach across deeply entrenched sectarian boundaries to involve 300 schools and reach 12,000 students in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Washington Ireland Program

Since 1999 I have been actively involved in
growing the next generation of Irish leaders and just recently stepped down as Chairman of the Board of the Washington Ireland Program (WIP) after 9 years where I led the Board effort to secure a $600,000 annual budget, Over the last 20 years,
WIP has become one of the most prestigious leadership programs on the island of Ireland with a particular focus on helping to secure the Northern Ireland peace process. http://www.wiprogram.org

Experts on Northern Ireland Peace Process

Kevin currently acts as the lead facilitator for a bipartisan group of U.S. experts on Northern Ireland led by former Cong. Jim Walsh and former Cong. Bruce Morrison. This group acts in an advisory capacity to the U.S. State Department and former U.S. Senator Gary Hart, the personal envoy of Secretary of State John Kerry to the current round of peace talks.