Diane Lifsey Retirement
Health Benefits ABCs congratulates Diane Lifsey on upcoming retirement from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM). HBABC’s Bill Benson notes that Diane was his first boss when he moved to Washington, D.C. in early 1985 to work for Senator John Glenn, then the Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Diane was director of the Committee’s minority staff. After the Democrats reclaimed the majority after the November 1996 elections, Senator Glenn left his leadership position with the Aging Committee to chair a major legislative committee. Diane then moved to Senator Glenn’s personal staff where she remained until his retirement in January 1998. Diane had previously worked for Senator Ted Kennedy.
Bill remembers Diane as a “good boss and effective leader.” He is grateful to her for not only giving him his start working in the U.S. Congress, but her support in pursuing a number of successful initiatives including legislation to improve the long-term care ombudsman program, and services for American Indian and Alaska Native elders, both of which were incorporated into the 1987 amendments to the Older Americans Act. Diane also tasked Bill to co-lead with a counterpart from the majority staff the first Senate initiative addressing advance care directives.
We salute Diane for her exceptional career on behalf of the nation’s older adult population and wish her the very best in her next pursuits.
