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Francis P. Koster is a futurist, innovator, healthcare leader, environmental advocate, journalist, author, and social policy educator with a career spanning over 65 years. His work has focused on educating the public about threats to the basic life support systems of air, water, food, and fuel, enhancing their detection and awareness, and fostering the creation of innovative, practical solutions.
Early life and education
Koster was born and raised in Lakewood, Ohio, and graduated from St. Edward’s High School in 1960. After full and part-time attendance at three colleges, he received his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the State University of New York at Old Westbury in 1969.
He was awarded a Master of Education in 1978 and a Doctorate in 1982 from the Program for the Study of the Future at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Over time, his research had three focus areas: long-term major threats to the basic life support systems of air, water, food, and fuel; why and how people often ignore or repress warnings about the threats; and how to overcome that psychological phenomenon so that successful warnings could be delivered.
Career
Early public service
Koster began his professional career in the U.S. Army National Guard, serving from 1960 to 1964. He completed basic training at Fort Knox and artillery surveyor training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, ultimately achieving the rank of Sergeant E-5.
From 1964 to 1966, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania and Sierra Leone, Africa, where he assisted in the construction of roads, bridges, and water supply systems. After his service, he returned to complete his college education. Following his full-time service and while restarting his higher education, he was asked by the Peace Corps to work summers in the West Indies, training new Peace Corps volunteers about cross-cultural communications. Later, while working toward his undergraduate degree, he also worked as a Community Resource Development Specialist with the Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk County, New York, from June to October 1969.
From December 1969 to September 1972, Koster served as Assistant to the President and Ombudsman at the C.W. Post College campus of Long Island University. Hired during the 1970s period of unrest in American higher education, he was responsible for mediating tensions between faculty, students, and administration. He successfully negotiated an end to a volatile campus sit-in, implemented improved communication channels, and worked on illegal drug and campus safety issues. He left the position in 1972 to pursue his doctoral studies at the Program for the Study of the Future at the University of Massachusetts.
Sustainable energy work
Shortly after beginning his graduate studies at UMass in September 1972, and while studying the fragility of the basic life support systems, Koster focused his attention on America’s dependency on oil imported from abroad, the looming threats that politicians were ignoring, and potential solutions should that energy supply be interrupted. He began an intense study of renewable energy.
In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) imposed an oil embargo on the United States. This hit Massachusetts particularly hard because 79% of all energy consumed by the state came from oil.
Koster held two key roles designed to help the state’s economy recover from the embargo. From August 1974 to September 1976, he served as a Program Manager in the Division of Continuing Education. During this time, he created the Toward Tomorrow Fair series, which featured hundreds of speakers and exhibits on renewable energy and sustainable futures at long weekend events held on the UMass campus from 1974 to 1978. In addition to a fairground-like display of solar panels, windmills, simple-to-implement energy conservation techniques, and production of organic foods, the Toward Tomorrow Fair series included presentations by notable thought leaders such as Ralph Nader, Herman Kahn, Robert Theobald, Helen and Scott Nearing, Jeremy Rifkin, Stewart Brand, Amory Lovins, Murray Bookchin, Gil Friend, and Hazel Henderson.
Based on his studies, and while still a doctoral candidate, Koster also successfully applied for a grant from the Department of Energy. The university was awarded the grant, and in 1974 Koster was asked to assume the role of the grant’s Principal Investigator. The project became known as the Franklin County Study. It outlined a model for rural energy independence by identifying both energy waste and potential local energy sources such as small-scale wind energy projects, micro-hydro generation, energy conservation, and solar energy. The project became well known and was highlighted in a newspaper column authored by President Ronald Reagan as a successful community model of energy independence; it was subsequently published across the United States.
In September 1976, he was promoted to Founder and Associate Director of the university’s Office to Coordinate Energy Research and Education. He created a program using Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) funding to hire and train unemployed workers in energy conservation techniques, resulting in the weatherization of hundreds of homes occupied by rural low-income families.
In November 1978, while still a graduate student, President Carter’s administration recruited Koster away from UMass to serve as Branch Chief of the newly founded Solar Applications Branch of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation’s largest solar effort at the time.
Starting with a staff of three, he expanded the team to 180 by fiscal year 1980 and managed a program with a $16 million budget. His duties included supporting the replacement of older wood-burning stoves in low-income homes with more efficient models, expanding residential solar hot water initiatives, overseeing a solar home demonstration project featuring 44 model homes, and developing 20 modular home designs aimed at lower-income buyers. He also supervised the early stages of an inventory of renewable energy assets across TVA’s seven-state service area.
Private sector
Koster left TVA following President Carter’s re-election defeat in November 1980 and worked as a consultant and partner in Koster/Hopkins Consulting, based in Jacksonville, Florida, and Washington, D.C., until September 1987. The firm advised electric utilities, industries, and vendors on energy conservation strategies, renewable energy incentives, and technical issues. He also wrote newspaper columns and became credentialed by both the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Association of Healthcare Journalists.
Health and environmental advocacy
As a consequence of his public speaking and articles about the impact of pollution on fetal development and public health, and about the need to reform public policy, Koster was recruited into pediatric healthcare in 1987, embarking on a transformative 21-year journey with Nemours Children’s Clinics, part of the Nemours Children’s Health System headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Over the course of more than two decades, he held an array of senior leadership posts, guiding human resources, development, legal affairs, risk management, training, and information systems, and ultimately ascending to the role of Vice President for Innovation.
A visionary at the dawn of the digital healthcare era, Koster championed the adoption of electronic medical records, the use of clinical data mining, and advanced telehealth long before such tools became commonplace. During his years of service, Nemours grew from a modest pediatric group into a thriving regional system employing more than 420 pediatric physicians and delivering over a quarter of a million patient visits annually across four states.
Upon retiring from Nemours in 2008, Koster turned his energy toward elevating the stories of successful social progress. In 2010, he launched The Optimistic Futurist, a platform devoted to celebrating successful innovative efforts in health, environment, and community renewal. He also authored multiple newspaper stories and three books.
His mission took on a new form in August 2017 when he founded a second, parallel effort, The Pollution Detectives, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Kannapolis, North Carolina. The organization has since surveyed hundreds of schools, healthcare clinics, and fitness centers across North Carolina for indoor air quality hazards. Further detail on this initiative appears in the companion article on The Pollution Detectives, Inc.
Honors and awards
Koster has earned several notable awards that highlight his innovation, leadership, and community service.
2006: Received Governor Jeb Bush’s Award for Innovation for a school-based Remote Health Monitoring project.
2005: Nemours was awarded Best Overall Website for a Physician Practice by Medicine On The Net.
2005: Nemours was honored with the E-Healthcare Leadership Award by Computerworld.
2004 & 2005: Nemours was named one of Computerworld’s 100 Best Places to Work in Information Systems.
Received the Paul Harris Award from Rotary Clubs in Jacksonville, Florida, and Kannapolis, North Carolina, for community service.
Publications
Koster has authored several books that showcase his dedication to community-based solutions and social innovation.
Discovering the New America: Where Local Communities Are Solving National Problems (2013): A diverse array of successful, community-led initiatives that have addressed pressing societal challenges such as environmental cleanup, homelessness, and energy conservation, and encourages civic leaders to adopt proven local solutions.
Rescuing School Kids: America’s Success Stories (2015): This collection of essays focuses on educational success stories and empowerment initiatives in school settings through actions that can be taken outside the classroom to increase student learning.
Rescuing Your Local Economy: Success Stories for Sustainable Communities (2016): Practical strategies for revitalizing local economies through community-driven innovations such as business incubators, local food systems, and worker-owned enterprises.
Personal details
Born: Lakewood, Ohio, U.S.
Nationality: American
Alma mater: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Occupation: Environmental advocate
Website: theoptimisticfuturist.org
