HSA 65th Anniversary Book

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FEBRUARY 1, 1981 –
JANUARY 31, 1982
The first female President of HSA
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FEBRUARY 1, 1982 –
JANUARY 31, 1983
A quarter-century of HSA
HSA elected its first female President. Lynne Liakos, the 25th President of HSA, gained considerable
recognition for her accomplishments, was featured as one of the “Top 10 College Women” in Glamour, and
appeared on Good Morning America.
In commemoration of its 25th anniversary, HSA celebrated with symposia,
tours, tailgates, and a roast-beef dinner at the Hyatt Regency. Nearly 150 past
and present members of HSA turned out for the merriment.
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PRESIDENT
Lynne
Liakos
OFFICE
Thayer Hall B
LET’S GO TITLES
• Europe
AGENCIES
• Linen
• Publishing
• Catering
This is the year Facilities Maintenance vacated its portion of the Thayer cellar, allowing HSA to spread out
and to inhabit the entire basement. This is the first year of computerization at HSA. This is the year current
assets first exceeded current liabilities. This is the year Distribution offered a courier service. This is the year
the Advertising agency was formed to produce eye-catching and mouthwatering ads for HSA and outside
clients. This is FY82. Turn it up to 11!
HSA, desiring more aggressive expansion of the Let’s Go series, left E.P. Dutton and signed on with St.
Martin’s Press. As an immediate result, the hitchhiking thumb logo migrated into the “o” of “Let’s Go” and
no longer dominated the cover. Let’s Go: Europe turned orange and got 96 pages fatter, reaching a corpulent
830 pages. The Unofficial Guide quoted Mark Twain in its Unofficial Welcome: “I never let my schooling
interfere with my education.”
WHERE THEY ARE NOW...
Lynne Liakos O’Connor | ’82, MBA ’86
JOBS AT HSA: Assistant Manager, Harvard Distribution Services, FY81; Manager, Publishing, FY81; President, FY82.
JOBS SINCE HSA: Worked in consulting and marketing for 35 years (“while I like doing hands-on business, I had a real
passion for marketing”). Started at the consulting firm Temple, Barker and Sloan, which was eventually bought by Oliver
Wyman, where she rose to Partner; in 2001, transitioned to Lippincott, “a smaller boutique consultancy”; in 2011, joined
Vistaprint as Senior Director of Client and Brand Strategy; from 2014 to 2016, established a new marketing practice at
Forrester Research; in 2017, became Associate Vice President of Marketing at Curriculum Associates.
WHAT ARE YOU UP TO THESE DAYS? “I’m doing an encore career in a totally different area now. Over the course of
the last five years, I’ve been very involved in my church community; I [just completed] a master of arts in ministry. … I’m
leading as Director of Mission Growth for Women of Grace. It’s a new role that they created.”
WHAT LESSONS DID YOU LEARN FROM HSA? “You want to be aggressive in developing new revenue streams but really
doing an honest assessment of what is our sweet spot. Sometimes there’s money to be made, but it’s not really the best fit
for us.”
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR CURRENT STUDENTS? “I think it’s really important [to strike] a balance between
what’s good for business this year and setting us up for success in future years. … Trying to have a good year is important,
but you’re also trying to set yourself up for future success.”
• Britain & Ireland
• France
• Travel
• Custodial
• Direct Sales
• Italy
• USA
• Greece, Israel & Egypt
• Harvard Student Resources
• Freshman Union
• Instructional Services
OTHER TITLES
• The Unofficial Guide to Life
at Harvard
• Harvard Distribution
Services
• Advertising
PRESIDENT
Michael
O’Brien
OFFICE
Thayer Hall B
LET’S GO TITLES
• Europe
AGENCIES
• Linen
• Publishing
• Catering
The first-ever HSA history book began, “Walk into the offices of Harvard
Student Agencies, Inc., in the basement of Thayer Hall and you’ll be struck
by a weird melange of the corporate and the bohemian. The whirr of airconditioning,
the bright wall-to-wall carpeting, the rows of IBM Selectrics
ranged on new office furniture — none of these would turn heads at IBM or
General Mills. But the sooty brick walls, the dripping pipes, and the occasional
thump and drone of a rock band practicing in one of the dorm rooms upstairs
make it clear that you’re not exactly in the warm belly of the Fortune 500. For
every employee with a suit and new shoes, there are others groggily stumbling
about in misbuttoned flannel shirts, or panting in running clothes. The effect is
an atmosphere somewhere between a New York highrise and a cave dwelling.”
• Britain & Ireland
• France
• Travel
• Custodial
• Direct Sales
Let’s Go: Europe retained the exact
same cover (front and back) as the
previous year and warned its readers,
“If Let’s Go is your ‘bible,’ don’t be a
fundamentalist in interpreting it.”
Let’s Go: USA sold around 30,000
copies, while overall sales topped
200,000 and raked in $2.7 million
— but HSA netted only about
$165,000 from that. The Unofficial
Guide cracked the 200-page mark
for the first time, sported the redblue-brown
cover synergy of death,
and was also made available in a
Graduate School Edition.
Responsible for the sale of
advertisements in The Unofficial
Guide and the Let’s Go series,
Sales Group surfaced as its own
agency after having been a part of
Publishing for 22 years.
• Italy
• USA
• Greece, Israel & Egypt
• Harvard Student Resources
• Union Services
• Instructional Services
OTHER TITLES
• The Unofficial Guide to Life
at Harvard
• Harvard Distribution
Services
• Advertising
• Sales Group
HSA 65th Anniversary History Book 45