FINANCIAL AID SERVICES ANNOUNCES
MICHAEL O’GRADY JOINS CLIENT RELATIONS TEAM

Atlanta, October 26, 2009 – Financial Aid Services, Inc. (FAS) is pleased to announce Michael O’Grady has joined our client relations team. 

Nancy Barnett, former director of client relations says, “"We are very pleased to have Mike join our team.  His knowledge and experience in financial aid, along with his positive, professional attitude are valuable assets to our clients and FAS." “This is going to be a watershed year in terms of challenges that schools face and I am glad to join a team with the longevity and experience to guide schools through these challenges,” Mike said. “I have always been a big fan of David Gray and FAS, so I am delighted to be part of the game changing team.”

Mr. O’Grady has been in higher education for over 28 years serving as assistant director of financial aid and director of the Fulbright International Grantees Program at American University in Washington, D.C.   He also served as associate director of financial aid at George Mason University where he implemented and directed the federal quality assurance program.

Michael worked as vice president and senior vice president for three of the top ten student lenders including Signet Bank, College Loan Corporation and Bank of America.  He is credited with creating one of the first Historical Black College and University (HBCU) federal student loan initiatives. He continues as a consultant with Overture Technologies in Bethesda, MD.

He has volunteered in numerous capacities for financial aid associations including chair of the Virginia Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators Diversity Committee and as chair of the North Carolina Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ Multicultural Committee.  He is presently a member of the Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ new 2020 Committee where he chairs the Veterans Affairs Task Force.

Michael is a frequent guest speaker on cross-cultural communication, and recruiting and retaining traditional, non-traditional, first generation, veteran and millennium generation students.  He is a longtime professional saxophonist and pianist and has performed in the Washington DC area for 24 years including three inaugural balls.

“There will be no ball this year,” says Mike “between year-round Pell Grants, loan program transitions, increases in aid applications, verifications and all the other Title IV changes.  There is going to be a lot of weight on everyone’s ship….what better place to be than with one of the longest running ‘lighthouses’ in higher education.”