March 28, 2024

The Lido Civic Club of Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce that it has selected Donald P. Loren, Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security, and Preparedness, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to receive the 2018 Public Service Award.

This award will be presented at the annual Lido Past Presidents Night Gala on Saturday, 10, November 2018 at the Bethesda Golf and Country Club.

“We are delighted that on this, the 89th Anniversary of the founding of the Lido Civic Club, we are honoring an outstanding American of Italian descent who, as a public servant, has faithfully served our country for many years and risen to the top of the Federal Agency responsible for supporting our veterans”, said Tom Regnante, President of the Lido Civic Club.

Appointed by President Trump in August 2017, Mr. Loren oversees VA’s force protection and mission assurance efforts by leading the facilitation and integration of the Department’s emergency management response and recovery, personnel security and suitability, and security and law enforcement activities. These efforts aid to prevent and mitigate degradation of VA services to Veterans and employees, as well as to support federal response efforts for incidents and emergencies.

Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Loren was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Old Dominion Strategies, LLC, a Service Disabled Veteran Small Business that provides analysis and advisory services to government and commercial sectors in national, international, and homeland security thought leadership. Previous to joining the private sector, Mr. Loren was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security Integration, where he was responsible for strategic planning and policy development, capability and resource assessment, domestic and NATO/international partnership Defense Support of Civil Authority integration and capacity building, congressional activities, strategic communications, and education issues related to homeland defense and homeland security.

Mr. Loren retired from the United States Navy as a Rear Admiral, completing a thirty-one year naval career, which included command of a guided missile frigate and a Destroyer Squadron as well as duty in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations; the Staff of the Commander U.S. Naval Forces, Europe; The Joint Staff; and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Subsequent to his naval career, Mr. Loren served as a Senior National Intelligence Service Executive in the Office of the Director, National Intelligence, where he was assigned as the first Deputy for Operations Support at the National Counterterrorism Center.

A 1974 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, his post-graduate education includes Old Dominion University, Harvard University Center for International Affairs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for National Security, the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Government, the NATO Defense College, the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, the Department of State Foreign Service Institute, the National Defense University, and the Center for Creative Leadership “Leadership at the Peak” program.

The Lido Civic Club of Washington, D.C. was founded in 1929 by a group of Italian American businessmen and professionals to assist new members of the Italian American community assimilate into the civic activities of the community, to support worthy civic activities and patriotic causes, to honor outstanding Italian Americans, and to celebrate their mutual Italian heritage and culture. Since 2004, the Lido Civic Club has awarded more than $637,500 in college scholarships to Italian American students and has promoted the Italian language and culture. The group has also assisted wounded service men and women and has been involved in many charitable activities. For additional information, visit www.lidoclub.org.