Victor Henry Palmieri (born February 16, 1930) is an American
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
,
real estate financier and corporate turnaround specialist. He was also the Deputy Executive of the
Kerner Commission
The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission after its chair, Governor of Illinois, Governor Otto Kerner Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member Presidential Commission (United States), Presidential Commission es ...
and
Ambassador-at-large
An ambassador-at-large is a diplomat, a secretary of state, secretary, or a minister (government), minister of the highest rank who is accredited to represent a country and its people internationally.
Unlike an ambassador-in-residence, who is us ...
and U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs in the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...
during the
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
administration.
Early life and education
Palmieri was born in Chicago, and earned his A.B. and LL.B. from
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1954 and was based in
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...
.
Career
In the mid-1960s, Palmieri was the president of the Janss Corporation, one of the largest real estate development firms in the western United States (this firm had developed the Snowmass ski resort). He quickly became known for his ability and skills to manage large and complicated ventures. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson had considered appointing Palmieri to a position in HUD, but Palmieri was not interested. In August 1967, he was selected to be the Kerner Commission's second-in-charge staff position where he was responsible for overseeing many of the Commission's daily activities, keeping its many investigative activities on-schedule, and writing and editing key parts of the Commission's final report (including its summary which includes the report's powerful statement that the country is "moving toward two societies, one Black, one white--separate and unequal").
Following his work at the Commission, Palmieri created The Palmieri Company, a general management consulting firm that specialized in large-scale reorganizations and restructurings.
His participation in a convocation of business leaders and students at Harvard University during the Vietnam War landed him in the
Nixon Enemies List.
Palmieri served as the Deputy Rehabilitator and CEO at Mutual Benefit from 1991 until 1994.
From 1994 to 1995, He served as the President and CEO of MBL Life Assurance Corp.
He is the retired vice chairman and general counsel of MullinTBG, a leading executive benefits consulting firm located in Los Angeles, CA. He is currently a director of M Financial Holdings, Southern California Radio, and Chairman of Los Angeles Universal Preschool.
He has been a trustee of the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
and president of the
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
Theater. He was previously on the boards of directors of
Phillips Petroleum
Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in th ...
,
Arvida Corporation,
Pennsylvania Company,
Outlet Communications, the
William Carter Company, and
Broadcasting Partners.
He has taught courses on corporate crisis management at
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...
and at the
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.
References
Rohleder, Anna (February 9, 2001)
Movers & Shakers.''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
''
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmieri, Victor
1930 births
Living people
American chief executives
20th-century American lawyers
Stanford University alumni
Harvard Kennedy School staff
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American businesspeople
Carter administration personnel
United States Department of State officials
Lawyers from Chicago
Businesspeople from Chicago
United States ambassadors-at-large