1. I was born and raised in Albany, and didn’t leave home until my first transfer with AT&T (I’ve been fortunate to have seen much of the world since, below). I attended Siena when it was an all-male college. Back then ROTC was mandatory for all freshmen and sophomores; we had a regiment of 800, and “drill day” was Thursdays on the quad (no trees back then). Over half the campus was in uniform all day. I also played football and lacrosse.
2. Although I pursued a career in business, history has always been my passion. I have been to 47 states and 44 countries, and I always read up on the local history before embarking. I love seeing the places I studied about at Siena.
3. As a military history enthusiast, especially the Civil War, I have visited many of the battlefields in the east. My brother was a career Army officer and my wife swears she has seen more forts than he has.
4. I lived in Alaska for three years when AT&T purchased the state’s largest telephone company. As CEO, in addition to closing the deal and serving major cities, I was responsible for upgrading satellite facilities connecting 220 native villages. I knew little about satellites at the time, or native Alaskan cultures, but our employees knew the technology and I was fortunate to be able to work with Alaskans who helped plan the upgrades. I learned a great deal from them, particularly my mentor who was half Athabaskan and half Italian (a great combo). I was declared an honorary Eskimo. I won’t try the Inupiat spelling, but the name means “The giant who floats on the air.” It’s a reference to my industry, not my basketball abilities.
5. Alaska was a great experience. I took a small boat trip down the Yukon, ran in a sled dog race, ate traditional Yu’pik fish stew and muktuk (whale blubber), but the topper was performing in a ballet. The Alberta Ballet did the Nutcracker in Anchorage every Thanksgiving weekend. They invited community leaders to guest star as Pascha, the King of Persia. At 6’6”, I was a bit out of place in the warm-up room.
6. I joined the Red Cross in 2008 as President of Humanitarian Services. We had 1500 locations in the US and around the world and needed to go through major changes in governance and service delivery. I didn’t know the business, but quickly found a group of people I could rely on. They taught me what I needed to know, and they took the lead to make things happen. I learned how important Mission can be to people. Although opinions varied with respect to the HOW, we learned how people dedicated to serving could be persuaded to change to meet the needs of those they serve.
7. I made a historic visit to Vietnam, the first by a senior Red Cross official. I got to participate in an elaborate disaster drill and visited a school where all the kids were Red Cross volunteers and put on a series of skits and drills. It was inspiring to see how seriously these folks took their drills and mission, and I was able to bring back a great many ideas for home.
8. My paternal grandfather lived to be 90, and he told great stories of his life, going back to his boyhood in Sicily. At just 16, he was the first person to leave his village. We were able to trace his church records back to an ancestor born in 1600. We visited his village in 2017 and saw the church where he and eight generations of my family were baptized and married. In the main square is a plaque honoring 16 villagers who were executed by the Nazis in 1943, including 2 DeFrancisco’s.
9. In January 2017, my wife asked me what I wanted to do for my 70th birthday. I said I would really like to go the Women’s March in DC, the day of the inauguration. It was a very inspiring day as we joined thousands of marchers, a real 1960s flashback. On the metro on our way to the march, a woman pointed at me and said to her husband “look Harry! There’s another old white guy. See, I told you that you wouldn’t be the only one!!”
10. I have been blessed with a fulfilling and exciting series of careers: two years active-duty military, 30 years with AT&T, seven years consulting, six years with the Red Cross, and now nine years since I’ve returned to Siena. People ask me what’s been my favorite job. That’s easy: husband, and father to my two grown daughters... my finest work. Family is everything.
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