O’Steen celebrates 40 years with the ABA
Atlanta Business Chronicle – by Deborah Held Maslia Contributing Writer
Friday, May 19, 2006
Diane O’Steen, considered by members of the Atlanta Bar Association to be the “glue” that holds the 6,300-member association together, is celebrating her 40th anniversary with the Southeast’s largest bar association.
The 20 years O’Steen spent as an office administrator at the bar, combined with the past 20 years as the executive director, have changed not only her life, but the lives of every member of the Atlanta Bar Association who has crossed her path.
“She knows more about the bar than [lawyers] do,” said Rob Wellon, of Robert G. Wellon, Attorney and Counselor at Law, and bar president for the 1986-87 term. “She is always available to assist a member, to do what needs to be done. She does it with aplomb.”
It was February 1965 when O’Steen, who was new to Atlanta, went to a temporary agency seeking employment.
She had only one caveat: The job could not be downtown. Raised in a South Carolina small town, O’Steen was “petrified of the big city,” she said.
O’Steen had been interviewing for full-time positions while working with the temporary placement agency that week in 1965.
But on her second day at the bar, she was asked to stay on as a permanent assistant. That same day, O’Steen was offered another full-time position with a prominent local bank.
“My naïve self said, ‘I’ve been here two days; I may as well just stay here,’ ” O’Steen said.
She is thrilled with the decision she made that day and has never looked back.
“I’m never bored for one second,” said O’Steen, who also says she no longer minds working downtown.
She loves the constant flow of adrenaline and “thrives” on it; after 40 years of working with the same company, she still is eager to get to work every day.
O’Steen’s responsibilities are massive, helping each president during his or her one-year term; installing and maintaining the executive boards and helping to institute visions and plans.
There are 20 sections within the bar association, each with a president, plus a president and board for the Atlanta Bar Foundation — 22 presidents total — all counting on the executive director, O’Steen.
“For the ABA, she has been the glue that holds the transitions of boards together, and she makes you feel like you were the best president ever,” Wellon said. “Of course, the next president is the best president ever, too.”
O’Steen admitted that the turnovers are difficult for her because she gets close to all the board members.
“I feel like I’ve had 40 divorces,” she said.
After serving her first 20 years as an administrator at the bar, O’Steen left the bar for one year in the mid-1980s.
After that, attorney Bill Schroder of Schroder Partners LLC, arbitrator for the New York City-based American Arbitration Association and bar president from 1986-87, “was devastated,” when he heard that O’Steen was gone.
“When I was elected president, there was only one person that I could think of who could help me do the big idealistic things … I had to get [O’Steen] back,” he said.
So he did bring her back, as the executive director.
“I stepped up and came back,” she said.
Although O’Steen is in awe of the work the lawyers do, the retired bar presidents are, in turn, in awe of O’Steen’s passion, commitment and efficiency.
There are 43 surviving past presidents of the bar. “Every president will say that the real president of the ABA is Diane,” Schroder said.
Read more: Exec. director is the glue holding bar together – Atlanta Business Chronicle