[No Audio:  Lance Robertson, former Director, Aging Services Division.  From DHS to 
Washington D.C.]

[No Audio:  Lance Robertson, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Aging, 
Administrator, Administration for Community Living.]

I think the opportunity in D.C. is certainly just a great one. It’s a tremendous opportunity to get 
up there and hopefully influence some change. It is a critical time for the work of the 
Administration for Community Living. We have 150 million individuals who are older and/or 
living with a disability, and so many of the things that we need to start or accomplish will go 
through the ACL. 

Really, I don’t think that that will necessarily involve a lot of tremendous unprecedented types 
of change, but I do think there are a lot of great things we can do together. I think what we 
need to do is, now that we have a new administration, that it’s time to really get busy. I have 
just been fully confirmed. It’s now my role to lead the ACL into the next chapter. And, I really 
challenged the staff up there already. My goal is not to walk around and chase kittens. I want to 
ride lions. To do that effectively, we are going to have to come into work every day ready to 
challenge ourselves, and ready to do meaningful work. 

[No Audio: Legacy of Respect]

I think if we all pause and really reflect, there has not been a single one of us who has not been 
positively and significantly impacted by an older adult. Maybe it’s a grandparent or whoever it 
may be, but I, really having had the fortune of being raised by my grandparents, got to see 
firsthand the sort of commitment that came from that generation, and so much of what both 
my grandfather and grandmother taught me I think has become a permanent part of who I am. 
And, I will always be grateful for that, and I also think it shapes my past administration at DHS 
Aging Services and will shape how I administer The Administration for Community Living and 
serve as Assistant Secretary on Aging.

[No Audio:  Legacy of Collaboration] 

I do think that this administration selected me for a couple of core things that I will never 
change. First of all, that focus on relationship building. I know effectively, here in Oklahoma 
that that was a hallmark for my legacy, and what I tried to do in bringing different groups 
together and having conversations, working together. And, candidly that needs to happen as 
well up at that level. Within the Department of Health and Human Services you’re talking about 
a $2 trillion agency with essentially a dozen major, major agencies. Sometimes, that 
communication isn’t where it needs to be, and if we can work better--more collaboratively, we 
can do even greater things for Americans. So, I think there’s that relationship side of it. I also 
think it’s just very important to be transparent, and to really push to serve individuals through 
the programs that we operate in the most effective and efficient way possible. Although that 
sounds a little simple, but what it really does mean is some really tough conversations, and to 
really evaluate what’s working.  

[No Audio: Enduring Legacy]

Let me then just tell all of my former DHS colleagues that I really enjoyed my time. You know, 
10 years went by very fast. I think we accomplished a lot of things. Of course, in hindsight there 
are always more things I wish we could’ve done, but I think within what we could manage, 
given particularly the up-and-down and very fickle budget environment, I think that we 
accomplished a lot. 

You know, I am so pleased and honored to have worked with so many great people, not only in 
Aging Services, but again throughout the Department, and then in all the local communities 
who I really saw in their eyes that common passion-- that we want to make sure our work is 
meaningful and that we make a difference. And, that when we come to work every day, we 
leave knowing that we’ve done the best we can do to contribute to making Oklahoma a better 
place.