Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Ronald Coster, 2015Biographical NoteTrained as an accountant at Syracuse University, Coster came to Phoenix House in 1972 after several years working at New York University. He was hired as one of the first professionally trained staff members, with the expectation that his financial expertise would help keep orderly accounts and win trust with state and local governments as Phoenix House split from the Addiction Services Agency. Throughout nearly 20 years at Phoenix House, Coster continued to serve in this capacity as government liaison, and he rose to the position of Executive Vice President after Frank Natale left.
Scope and ContentsCoster discusses his "conversion" to the self-help model and his experiences managing increasingly complex financial matters in Phoenix House, whose largest sources of income at that time were government contracts. He explains tensions with the New York City government, which resulted in an eviction from Hart Island, among other issues. Coster chronicles the expansion of the organization including how it gained national stature, the various consulting firms it hired, its relationship to Corrections, the maintenance of government donors, and increased medicalization
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2015
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