Like many of us in this industry, a career in Financial Aid certainly was not in Duane’s life plan. In fact, he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island concentrating in biology, chemistry and bio-chemistry. "I thought I wanted to be a dentist, but the dental board did not," explains Duane. "You have to be rather artistic with your hands to be a dentist, and I’m pretty clumsy when it comes to working with my hands."

After being on the intercollegiate debate team during his undergraduate years at URI, Duane was offered a job coaching debate and teaching introductory speech courses (so that’s why he’s so good at public speaking!). "It came with free tuition, so I got my master’s degree in Higher Education Administration while I was there," he says. "A well-planned education!"

Armed with his new degree, Duane started in Admissions, where the financial aid programs were being run by a mathematics professor. When the professor quit in the winter of 1976, Duane asked the President how he was supposed to admit a class without financial aid. "She responded by making me Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, and somehow I got through it," Duane recalls. "Things were not as complicated then. Eventually, I liked the Financial Aid side more than Admissions, so I gave up the Admissions title and stayed in aid."

Duane went on to work at several prestigious Massachusetts colleges, including Anna Maria College, Brandeis University, Lesley University, and Clark University. He then joined American Student Assistance 10 years ago as the Director of Business Development and later headed up ASA’s training efforts, where he oversaw the annual ASA symposium. But Duane found his true niche helping ASA carve a new role for the guarantor in the federal student loan program.

"Duane was instrumental in changing the way we do business by helping to bring to life our Voluntary Flexible Agreement with the Department of Education," states Paul Combe, ASA President and CEO. "By putting debt management and financial literacy for students first, it’s a business model that’s really changing the industry—and Duane has played a huge role in making it happen."

In his final role before retirement, Duane served as ASA’s Director of "Wellness" Outreach, overseeing the organization’s experiments for the best ways for ASA to work with schools to ensure student loan borrowers’ financial health and positively affect their repayment habits. Based on these experiments, Duane assisted in developing a "10 Steps to Wellness" product line for schools looking to engage their students at key times throughout the life of the loan.

According to Sue Nathan, ASA’s Vice President of Lender and School Services, "Duane’s contributions to ASA’s success are immeasurable. Many of ASA’s strongest relationships with colleges and universities are largely products of Duane’s hard work and communication skills. He is fantastic at bringing student-focused concepts to the schools and really getting them engaged, because his passion for these principles is so strong."

Duane’s other industry accomplishments include serving as a resident staff member of the Harvard Institute on College Admissions since 1989, as well as a resident faculty member at the Summer Financial Aid Institute sponsored by the New England Regional office of The College Board. He has held a number of elected and appointed positions with both the Massachusetts and Eastern Associations of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and has acted on the advisory boards of numerous organizations advocating student aid. He is also the recipient of MASFAA’s Charles "Jack" Sheehan Distinguished Service Award and the Mapping Your Future Excellence Award.

Duane also went on to earn a national reputation as one of the industry’s premier presenters. His smooth delivery style even opened up new opportunities. "Few know it, but Duane got involved in doing voiceover work while at ASA," says Sue Nathan. "We nicknamed him ‘the velvet fog’."

Many in Financial Aid have a hard time envisioning Financial Aid without Duane’s input. "I can’t see the Financial Aid community without him," says Pat Watkins, who spent several years in Massachusetts before assuming her current role as director of Financial Aid at Eckerd College in Florida. "He is just such a fixture in the profession; he was a real mover in our industry. His retirement marks the end of an era."

Duane ends his career knowing that he’s made a real difference in the lives of students and Financial Aid professionals.

"People ask how I can give up the perfect job, but I can feel comfortable leaving now because ASA is at a point where we can prove that Wellness works," he relates. "We can prove that it is better to ‘rehabilitate’ than to ‘collect.’ We can prove that there is value to our guarantee because our trigger and cohort default rates are lower than the national average. We can prove that our model saves the federal government a lot of money. Beyond all of that, the way we do business is the right way to do business. It’s the right way to treat our customers."

And, for Duane, doing the right thing always just came naturally. From all of us at American Student Assistance and in the Massachusetts Financial Aid community, thank you, Duane, for more than 30 years of dedication and enthusiasm. You will be missed!