Workers with Disabilities: Talent for a Winning Team - April 2008
Neil Romano: Taking the helm as ODEP's assistant secretary
Neil Romano graduated from high school, but because he has a learning disability, dyslexia, and struggled with reading and writing assignments, some assumed that college would be too challenging for him. A guidance counselor suggested that his parents not waste their money on the application fees, encouraging them to consider vocational school instead.
Thankfully, neither Neil nor his parents listened to that advice. He set out to prove – and did – that, given the chance, a person’s ability and determination will trump his or her disability. He was accepted to a small, private college that did not require standardized testing for entrance. After a very successful freshman year, he transferred to New York University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and was admitted into The Phi Beta Kappa Society. He went on to Brown University to pursue graduate studies.
Neil has since dedicated his career to the marketing of ideas and messages to help save lives and promote public policy. He founded Romano & Associates Inc., which produced highly visible and effective public awareness programs, as well as America’s Strength, through which he worked with industry to promote the importance to them of hiring individuals with disabilities.
Neil’s extensive professional background includes tenure as director of communications for the White House Office of Drug Abuse Policy. In that role, he worked on campaigns such as “Just Say No” and “America Responds to AIDS.” He has been a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. He also has served a number of diverse boards of directors, including those of the United Cerebral Palsy of Central Maryland, Oral Health America and the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society. Additionally, he has advised the Association for People in Supported Employment and the U.S. Business Leadership Network, which uses a “business to business” approach promoting the imperative of hiring people with disabilities.
During the last week of March, Neil was sworn in as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. Already immersed in a lengthy “must do” list, he has let his staff know that, because of his disability, he works best with verbal briefings, rather than written material. Neil’s dynamic presence and boundless energy are contagious. He has hit the ground running, excited about this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of Americans with disabilities and committed to helping employers fully understand the value of people with disabilities in their workforces.
He has a wife, Barbara, and two daughters, Bianca, age 16, and Christina, age 12. Neil’s family is a tremendous source of support in all things, including spelling and grammar.
