Chair
Joe O'Leary
Joe received his BS in Chemistry at St. Peters College and his MBA from Northeastern University and is a graduate of the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. He is a distinguished veteran of the United States Army, having served for four years as a Regular Officer. He was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor, Army Commendation Medal for Valor, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and two Purple Hearts during his service in Vietnam.
Joe then spent 32 years with Polaroid Corporation and lived in Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and the United States as an executive in manufacturing, human resources and distribution and logistics.
Joe and his wife of over 50 years, Marion, have four children and ten grandchildren. They have been raising the youngest grandchild since infancy. This experience has led Joe to want to do more and help other grandparents who are raising grandchildren. After hearing the stories from other grandparents at a workshop in Jamaica Plain in 2016, Joe felt inspired to get more involved with the Commission’s work, in particular around issues of legal advocacy. He helped draft legislation to provide legal representation for indigent grandparents, and he testified on behalf of the bill to the Joint Judiciary Committee at the State House in 2017.
Recognizing a need for support for grandparents raising grandchildren in his own community, Joe reached out to his local Senior Center and started to work on creating a
local support group. The group started in 2018 and Joe and Marion, have been co-facilitating the group since then.
Joe was the recipient of the Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren’s Harriet Jackson-Lyons Award for service to grandparents raising grandchildren in their community and statewide in 2018.
Joe received his BS in Chemistry at St. Peters College and his MBA from Northeastern University and is a graduate of the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. He is a distinguished veteran of the United States Army, having served for four years as a Regular Officer. He was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor, Army Commendation Medal for Valor, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and two Purple Hearts during his service in Vietnam.
Joe then spent 32 years with Polaroid Corporation and lived in Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and the United States as an executive in manufacturing, human resources and distribution and logistics.
Joe and his wife of over 50 years, Marion, have four children and ten grandchildren. They have been raising the youngest grandchild since infancy. This experience has led Joe to want to do more and help other grandparents who are raising grandchildren. After hearing the stories from other grandparents at a workshop in Jamaica Plain in 2016, Joe felt inspired to get more involved with the Commission’s work, in particular around issues of legal advocacy. He helped draft legislation to provide legal representation for indigent grandparents, and he testified on behalf of the bill to the Joint Judiciary Committee at the State House in 2017.
Recognizing a need for support for grandparents raising grandchildren in his own community, Joe reached out to his local Senior Center and started to work on creating a
local support group. The group started in 2018 and Joe and Marion, have been co-facilitating the group since then.
Joe was the recipient of the Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren’s Harriet Jackson-Lyons Award for service to grandparents raising grandchildren in their community and statewide in 2018.