Joel Smith Lawson III – 50th Reunion Essay

Joel Smith Lawson III

888 Parkes Run Lane

Villanova, PA 19085

joellawson3@gmail.com

215-500-6730

Spouse(s): Mary Ann Benone Lawson (1975)

Child(ren): Elizabeth R. Lawson (1980); Joel S. Lawson IV (1981); Victoria L. Gregorios (1984)

Grandchild(ren): Harper Lawson (2013); Ella Gregorios (2014); Smith Lawson (2015); James Gregorios (2016); Jackson Kowit (2017)

Education: Yale (surprise!) BA, Economics 1969; Wharton MBA (entrepreneurial Finance) 1980

National Service: Lt., US Navy, 1969–1970 (Supply Corps)

Career: 1973–1978 CEO of retail businesses in DC area; 1980–2001 CEO, Howard Lawson & Co. (Philadelphia mid-market investment banking firm); 2001–2003 Executive Director, M&A International; 2004–2006 Liquidating Trustee for a large travel business; since 2006 Private Investor

Avocations: Skiing, golf, and laying around on the beach in Grand Cayman, plus lots of time on both corporate and non-profit boards

College: Pierson

Well, a last-minute effort, sort of like my four years in New Haven, actually.

It’s been a great ride. Since 1975 I have been married to Mary Ann, my best friend in the world, and loving it every day. She and I have three terrific children and five absolutely, positively adorable grandchildren. And that’s from this totally unbiased observer.

Still living at the same address as for the 25th reunion book—apparently not very peripatetic. But we do manage to travel frequently. There really is a lot of world out there to see, and I recommend it to everyone. Please note, Antarctica should be on your bucket list—it’s amazing.

So, time moves on. After a career in investment banking and venture capital, as I described in my reunion essay 25 years ago, I have spent a good part of the last 15 years working with nonprofits that seek to help formerly homeless parents and their kids break the generational cycle of poverty. It’s a challenging task, but has some great rewards when you see the impact on people’s lives.

I now participate as an active board member of two related Philadelphia nonprofits: ACHIEVEability and Mission First Housing Group. In addition, during 2008 and 2009, I spent about 18 months as the volunteer interim CEO of ACHIEVEability in West Philly.

Philadelphia has the largest percentage of residents living in poverty of any major city in the US, about 26 percent according to recent data. We are trying to nibble away at that awful statistic.

What makes ACHIEVEability different and successful is its holistic approach to assisting people to get the heck out of poverty? We aren’t here to make poverty “more comfortable.” We are helping our participants achieve true self-sufficiency through education, housing, and lots and lots of coaching. But, more importantly, we challenge them to succeed, and a surprising number do.

I have come to believe that many (most?) government efforts to reduce poverty may have the opposite effect. ACHIEVEability succeeds because the people we work with are totally engaged in the daunting task of completing an education, raising kids, holding a job, and becoming in charge of their own lives. Some government programs, on the other hand, actually seem to erode personal responsibility and accountability. ACHIEVEability is all about responsibility and accountability—sort of like life. And the program participants understand and appreciate that they are going to be pushed to succeed.

So, another phase to life. I sometimes wonder what will come next, but most of the time I am just enjoying what is going on now. I hope the same for the rest of the Class of 1969.