Excellence

Finding Friends and 
Life Lessons at Harvard

This year two very deserving and dedicated members of AAMVA devoted three weeks out of their summer to a one-of-a-kind program where government officials can hone their leadership, policymaking, and organizational skills—as participants in the AAMVA/Nick Denice Memorial Fellowship.

Joining Matthew Paulin, California Department of Motor Vehicles, and Charles O’Donnell, New Brunswick Department of Public Safety at Boston’s John F. Kennedy School were 64 individuals from all over the globe—including folks from Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, and Singapore. Among the crowd, Paulin and O’Donnell met 12 elected officials from the group of mayors, county supervisors, state representatives, and county sheriffs—as well as workers from police, fire, transportation, public works, social services, parks and recreation.

"I tried to spend time with every single person and learn something from them and about them," said Paulin. "When is one part of a group like this? These kinds of opportunities don’t come around often." And both attendees agreed that the people they met and the resulting relationships are something to value and cherish.

The same applies to lessons learned in the classroom where the two gained invaluable exposure to many different ideas and perspectives. 

"At one point in class, we discussed a case study about the way William Bratton changed the way the NYPD was managed," said Paulin. "Lo and behold, who’s there attending an executive education class? William Bratton, of course. You never know who will be walking the halls at the JFK School."

In addition to classroom activities, attendees were able to visit the JFK Library and Museum, where they were introduced to Dan Fenn—one of the lecturers and the founding director of the Museum. Fenn gave them a first hand account of the history behind the institution.

In addition to enjoying the educational experience, fun times were to be had when it came to outside experiences, specifically food—including dinner in Boston’s North End (an Italian neighborhood) which was organized by local tour guides (a Superintendant from the Boston Police department, and the elected Sheriff from Middlesex County) followed by cannoli’s at Mike’s Pastries—the place was packed even at 10 p.m.!

Overall, attendees found it difficult to pinpoint the most rewarding part of the program, but Paulin mentions education is all about changing the way you think, and the fellowship provided a wealth of information and perspectives that will factor into future processes and decisions.

"There was so much information provided to us that I have not yet processed it all," said Paulin. "But I feel like my experience has already made a difference in the way I view issues and react to them."

Upon his return Paulin said he felt honored and privileged to have been selected to attend an institution like Harvard, adding, "The most important part of any organization is its people, and investing in them is critical to its future success. AAMVA has, and will continue to benefit from this investment by developing leaders in the motor vehicle community that will lead it and its members into the future."