Paul H. O'Neill

Paul Henry O'Neill (December 4, 1935 – April 18, 2020) was an American businessman and government official who served as the 72nd United States secretary of the treasury for part of President George W. Bush's first term, from January 2001 to December 2002.

He graduated from Anchorage High School in Anchorage, Alaska in 1954.

He lived on the military base there with his parents.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from California State University, Fresno, studied economics at Claremont Graduate University in 1961, and received a Master of Public Administration from Indiana University.

O'Neill began his public service as a computer systems analyst with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, where he served from 1961 to 1966.

He joined the United States Office of Management and Budget in 1967 and served as its deputy director from 1974 to 1977.

O'Neill along with Kenneth W. Dam and William A. Morrill resisted President Richard Nixon in 1973 when he tried cutting off federal funding to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in retaliation for it allowing anti-war protests over the Vietnam War.

The three threatened to resign and reminded Nixon that the executive office could not rescind the federal grants, forcing him to back down.

According to Frank Zarb, he, O'Neill, Roy Ash and Fred Malek mostly ran the government in 1974 as Nixon's authority was eroded with the Watergate scandal.

After President Gerald Ford lost the 1976 election, O'Neill took an executive job at International Paper in New York City.

He was vice president of the company from 1977 to 1985 and president from 1985 to 1987.

The company's market value increased from $3 billion in 1986 to $27.53 billion in 2000, while net income increased from $200 million to $1.484 billion.

O'Neill was chairman and CEO of the Pittsburgh industrial giant Alcoa from 1987 to 1999 and retired as chairman at the end of 2000.

At the beginning of his tenure O'Neill encountered significant resistance from the Board of Directors due to his stance on prioritizing worker safety.

One argued reason that he could remain in office was his level of CEO power.

In 1988, O'Neill joined the RAND Corporation as a member of its board of trustees and in 1997 was elected as its chairperson.

In 1989, he was approached by George H. W. Bush to serve as secretary of defense.

O'Neill declined but recommended Dick Cheney for the position.

Bush then pursued and convinced O'Neill to chair an advisory group on education that included Lamar Alexander, Bill Brock, and Richard Riley.

In December 1997, O'Neill together with Karen Wolk Feinstein, President of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, founded the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI).

They assembled a wide-ranging coalition of healthcare interests to begin addressing the problems of healthcare as a region.

PRHI adapted the principles of the Toyota Production System into the "Perfecting Patient Care" system.

O'Neill became a leader locally and nationally in addressing issues of patient safety and quality in healthcare.

O'Neill was a co-founder of Pittsburgh's Riverlife Task Force, established in 1999.

He served on its very first task force with Jim Rohr, Teresa Heinz, the CEO of Richard King Mellon Foundation Mike Watson, the President of the Heinz Endowments Mark King and the editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette John G. Craig Jr. among others.

O'Neill was also a member of the Dean's Advisory Council of Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College.

In addition, he served on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Secretary Paul H. O'Neill resigned from the Treasury Department on December 6, 2002.

Prior to his term as secretary of the treasury, O'Neill was chairman and CEO of industrial giant Alcoa and chairman of the RAND Corporation.

O'Neill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Gaynald Elsie (née Irvin) and John Paul O'Neill, an army sergeant.

His father claimed that he was from Scotland and that he did not know where his family was anymore.

A long time after his death, however, Paul discovered that he was actually from Netherlands and was originally named Piet Kalfsterman, though it is not known why he lied to his family about his background.

Due to his father's transfers, the family had to change residences often.

They lived in Illinois, Hawaii, New Mexico and Alaska.

As a teenager, Paul worked part-time jobs including as a paperboy and as a clerk at a convenience store.

He resigned after being appointed as the treasury secretary, but was appointed to RAND's board of trustees again in 2003 after losing his job.

He also served on RAND Health's advisory board.

After being dismissed as Treasury Secretary, he became a special advisor for The Blackstone Group.

In addition he also acted as an angel investor with his son Paul Jr. for Qcept Technologies Inc. in 2004, and joined it as a board director.

In 2005, he established a consulting firm named Value Capture that advises health care institutions on reducing expenses as well as increasing safety of patients.