NAFE 2012 WOMAN OF EXCELLENCE – SERVICE TO NEW YORK

Just after Hurricane Sandy, Geri Shapiro was working day and night with her boss, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, dealing with damage. Geri tells NAFE, “This time has been as busy for me as 9/11,” when she held a similar post as Westchester County Regional Director for Senator Hillary Clinton. “With Sandy, so many things failed. My Senate phone was out. We’ve got to train a whole generation on having radios, because that was the only place to get information!”  

Geri’s job entails working with all levels of government, including the Congressional delegation, state legislature, county executive, local legislators in six cities in Westchester, and the governor’s office – on all issues from newborns through the elderly, from infrastructure to the arts, to nonprofits, the environment, and the business community. “Most people don’t realize what government does,” she says, “so they don’t know to call an elected for help.” She offers an example of one call she got. “Someone called to tell me their relative didn’t have a wheelchair. It was Friday at 3 pm and this family with needs was being jerked around. I asked the name of the company and called them. Now I am a small woman, and my husband says it’s a good thing people don’t see me when I’m on the phone with them because I’m quite formidable. Senators empower their staff, giving the authority to be their surrogate. So I got this person on the other end of the phone, and I was going to cause him such problems. He said, ‘When do you want the wheelchair?’ Saturday by noon it was there.”

Here’s the amazing thing: Geri didn’t start this work until age 59, and she is now 70. “Hillary Clinton gave birth to me when she hired me and gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘late bloomer.’” Before then, Geri calls herself “traditional,” married with a daughter and volunteering in the community. After Geri volunteered for Hillary’s senate campaign, “I had the impossible dream to work for her.  And she took a chance on me.” When Hillary became Secretary of State, she recommended Geri to the newly appointed Senator Gillibrand, “another bright, talented, woman, though of a different generation.” She works on women’s issues, seniors, disability, the nuclear power plant, but will soon cut back to spend time with her husband and grandchildren, ages 14 and 11.

Geri loves this work because “government is in the problem-solving business. Government gets a bad rap, but its mission is public health and safety. The best thing I ever do – nothing else competes – is make a difference with one individual. No matter whether it’s getting a wheelchair for someone who needs one, assisting with a housing issue, or handling a job-related issue. You hear people’s stories and take them back to your boss. You fix the individual’s problem, and then you find a way to make it bigger, you find a solution that will go beyond the individual. That is the best. That is joy.”