Working together to grow the cannabis industry
Jake O’Hara
Jake O’Hara graduated from the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) with a B.A. degree in Economics with an Education minor. He later graduated from a joint degree program at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Juris Doctorate degree. Throughout the time that he was attending Cornell, Mr. O’Hara served as an Adjunct Professor in the Business Department at Ithaca College.
Following his graduation from Cornell, Mr. O’Hara worked as an Assistant Professor, Government & Public Administration, at the State University of New York’s Empire State College – and as a Legislative Counsel in the New York State Senate. Thereafter, Mr. O’Hara joined Welfare Research, Inc., a policy development organization that was, at that time, part of the New York State Department of Social Services.
Mr. O’Hara next joined The American Institutes for Research, another policy research firm, and became Director of its office in Cambridge, MA. He later became the Administrative Director for the entire company – and, in that capacity, oversaw the operations of all four of the company’s operational centers.
Mr. O’Hara’s first foray into a public-sector administrative role came when he was named as the Executive Director of Washington, DC’s Interagency Council. In that position, he oversaw all of the Title X funds that came into the district – and interacted on a regular with top-level federal and regional officials.
Mr. O’Hara was subsequently appointed as the Director of Missouri’s Division of Family Services, a sub-cabinet position that provided him with his first opportunity to direct a large-scale state agency. Two years later, Mr. O’Hara was nominated by then-Governor John Ashcroft – and confirmed by the Missouri Senate – as Director of the Missouri Department of Social Services (MDSS), a cabinet-level position that put him in charge of a multi-billion-dollar agency with more than 7,200 staff.
While serving as the Director of MDSS, Mr. O’Hara was elected by his peers from the other states to serve as the first President of the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators. In that position, he worked on policy issues that affected children throughout the country – and testified before numerous committees about a variety of related issues.
Following his departure from Missouri, Mr. O’Hara founded – and directed – several private businesses that provided consultant services to public-sector agencies regarding available federal funding that they were not claiming. In conjunction with that work, Mr. O’Hara helped those entities generate more than $1.25 billion of additional federal funding.
Mr. O’Hara has also been involved in numerous civic activities, received several governmental commissions, and served on the board of directors of several non-profit entities. He was also actively involved in several
second-tier professional sports leagues – and served for two years as the Commissioner of the Arena Football League.
Mr. O’Hara moved back to Washington, DC in 2016 – and now serves as the Managing Director of Political Analyses, Strategies & Solutions LLC, a political consulting firm that provides a wide array of assistance, guidance, and services to political candidates and elected officeholders. In addition, Mr. O’Hara also serves as a policy consultant for several organizations (e.g., TRICON Partners, LLC; The Black Institute; New Leaf Coalition; Returning Citizen Society, Inc.; The Student Justice League) – and as a Volunteer Advisor for the National Women Law Center’s Legal Network for Gender Equality.