By Bob Lindquist

Mark Sullivan was a student at St. Agnes Grammar School in the Boston suburb of Arlington in November 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in a Dallas motorcade. Like most Americans, Sullivan was glued to his television set watching the tragedy unfold.

Forty-three years later that motorcade would look very different to the man who is now in charge of protecting the president. As the 22^nd director of the United States Secret Service, Sullivan has an inside view of and a critical role in American history. The appointment by President George W. Bush caps a 23-year Secret Service career launched in the trenches of Detroit, highlighted by several awards, and guided by a commitment to public service that took shape in early childhood.

"The Kennedy assassination made a lasting impression on me," says the 1977 graduate at his office at Secret Service headquarters, an unpretentious building just a few blocks from the White House. The agency’s symbol, a star with the words Duty, Loyalty, Justice, Integrity and Courage at the points, greets those who have passed through the tight security.

"To quote my mother, I wanted to be a Jesuit until I was 14 or 15," he says. "Then I changed course. Growing up in New England it seemed to me that a lot of people had that type of goal [public service]. It appealed to me."

A hockey star at Arlington Catholic High School, Sullivan went to the University of Massachusetts on an athletic scholarship. "I was looking for something bigger but I found that it was too big. UMass was a great college, but different, and I knew I needed a more structured environment."

Public service for Sullivan had become criminal justice by that time. "I knew Saint Anselm had a good program; I had been there to visit some buddies, and I liked the feel of the campus," he says. Sullivan transferred to Saint Anselm planning to study criminal justice and continue playing hockey, but by the time he was eligible to play, earlier injuries had caught up with him. "I had torn ligaments in my knees, and my hockey career was pretty much over. I realized I needed to focus on my education."

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