AUCD 2014: New Plenary Speakers Confirmed

October 6, 2014

AUCD is pleased to welcome several amazing plenary speakers to our 2014 Conference! Don't miss out on these engaging speakers, REGISTER TODAY!

 

Plenary A: Is Disability at a Tipping Point? Engaging the Public to Accelerate Progress

BOB BOORSTIN

Bob Boorstin was a director of public policy in the Washington office of Google, where he led the company's efforts on Internet freedom. Prior to coming to Google, Boorstin spent more than 25 years working in national security, political communications, research and journalism. He served for more than seven years with the Clinton administration, acting as the president's national security speechwriter; communications and foreign policy adviser to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin; and adviser on the developing world to Secretary of State Warren Christopher. After leaving government, Boorstin helped start the Center for American Progress, where he established and ran the program on national security.

 

Plenary B: The Future of Education, Employment, and Community Living for People with Disabilities

PORTIA WU, JD
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training, Department of Labor

This agency administers job-training initiatives, including paying for training for first-time workers or retraining for those seeking new skills because of job displacement. Portia Wu nominated by President Barack Obama in December 2013 to be assistant secretary of Labor for the Employment and Training Administration and was confirmed by the Senate April 2, 2014. She received her J.D. from Yale in 1998 and clerked until 1999 for Judge Richard Paez, then serving on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Later, while on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Paez wrote the opinion blocking many of the provisions of Arizona's anti-immigrant SB 1070 law. After her clerkship, Ms. Wu went into the private sector, working as an associate in the law firm of Bredhoff & Kaiser until 2003. She then took a post as a Congressional staffer, working for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and its chairman, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), and later Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). She served as labor and pensions counsel, chief labor and pensions counsel and labor policy director and general counsel during her tenure, which ended in 2010.

 

KATHY GREENLEE, JD
Assistant Secretary for Aging and Administrator of the Administration for Community Living

Kathy Greenlee serves in the dual roles of Administrator of the Administration for Community Living and Assistant Secretary for Aging. Ms. Greenlee was appointed by President Obama as Assistant Secretary for Aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and confirmed by the Senate in June 2009. The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is a new federal agency operating within the Department of Health and Human Services. ACL brings together into a single entity the Administration on Aging, the Office on Disability, and the Administration on developmental Disabilities. ACL is charged with working with states, tribes, community providers, universities, nonprofit organizations, businesses and families to help seniors and people with disabilities live in their homes and fully participate in their communities. Assistant Secretary Greenlee believes that people with functional support needs should have the opportunity to live independently in a home of their choosing, receiving appropriate services and supports. She is committed to building the capacity of the national aging and disability networks to better serve older persons, caregivers, and individuals with disabilities.

 

MELODY MUSGROVE, EdD
Director, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education

Melody Musgrove grew up and worked in Mississippi as a classroom teacher, school administrator, district special education director and assistant superintendent before becoming State Director of Special Education for the Mississippi Department of Education, where she served until January 2007. From 2007 until 2010, she was Director of Business Development for LRP Publications, the nation's leading publisher of legal and regulatory guidance for educators. Dr. Musgrove's career is distinguished by her commitment to collaborative frameworks that find creative solutions to difficult educational problems. She is focused on improving outcomes for all children, and experienced in using data to influence systemic improvement decisions. During her tenure as State Director of Special Education, students with disabilities achieved improved results in reading and math, schools implemented more inclusive practices, graduation rates increased, and drastic steps were taken to halt disproportionate identification of African-American students for special education. Dr. Musgrove was selected by the White House to be Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) for the U.S. Department of Education, and assumed the role in August of 2010.

 

Plenary C: Engagement in Policy: Disability Priorities for the New Congress

ERIK FATEMI
Cornerstone Government Affairs

Erik Fatemi recently joined Cornerstone Government Affairs after serving for 12 years on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education under Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA). During his time in the Senate he oversaw the entire breadth of funding and policy issues in the subcommittee's jurisdiction, developing particular expertise in the areas of biomedical research and education. He is the only non-NIH employee ever to receive the NIH Director's Award; his other honors include the 2014 Staff Recognition Award from the Committee for Education Funding for his work on the Appropriations Committee. Prior to Capitol Hill, Fatemi worked for a dozen years as a reporter, editor and columnist at various media outlets, most recently at Education Week, where he directed the publication's coverage of federal education policy and education technology. Fatemi holds a degree in English from Princeton University. He is married and has three girls.