Jeff Rosen

Chairperson
Rockville, MD

Jeff Rosen is a third generation deaf person active in the disability movement. Mr. Rosen is the General Counsel to ZVRS, a company that provides video interpreting services and products. Prior to joining ZVRS, Mr. Rosen served as the General Counsel and Vice President of Government Relations of Snap!VRS from 2007 until 2011. Previously, he served as the General Counsel and Director of Policy for the National Council on Disability from 2000 to 2007. He was an attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1987 to 2000. Mr. Rosen is Treasurer of the United States International Council on Disabilities, a Member of the National Association of the Deaf Employment Task Force, and serves as an advisor to the World Federation of the Deaf. Mr. Rosen attended Gallaudet University and received a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Washington.

Janice Lehrer-Stein

Vice Chair
San Francisco, CA

Janice Lehrer-Stein is a member of the Board of Directors of Medical Research Charities -- a national federation of research focused non-profits, which solicits and directs employee donations to the Combined Federal and State Campaigns. She is a National Trustee of the Foundation Fighting Blindness and was Chair of the 2010 and 2011 Dining in the Dark dinner in San Francisco, which increased awareness about people with blindness and low vision. A board member of Disability Rights Advocates, a non-profit law firm working to improve access and secure the civil rights of individuals with disabilities, Lehrer-Stein holds a Juris Doctor degree from University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale. She was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in 1982 and is legally blind.

Gary Blumenthal

Sudbury, MA

Mr. Blumenthal is the President and CEO for the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers (ADDP), which aims to promote and ensure the health of the community-based organizations that provide supports and services for individuals with developmental disabilities. He also served as the Executive Director for the Alta California Regional Center, which oversees service delivery for children and adults with developmental disabilities in the Sacramento region. Previously, Mr. Blumenthal was the Wichita Regional Director for the Kansas State Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, CEO for the Florida State Protection and Advocacy Programs for People with Developmental Disabilities, and Director of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation during the Clinton administration. Mr. Blumenthal was also a member of the Kansas State House of Representatives for 11 years. He was an American Government teacher in the Shawnee Mission Public Schools in Overland Park, Kansas for 12 years. Mr. Blumenthal a graduate of the University of Kansas, Lawrence and the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Chester A. Finn

Albany, NY

Mr. Finn is a Special Assistant with the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (NYSOPWDD), providing services, supports, and advocacy to individuals with development disabilities and their families; in October 2009 he was appointed to the NYSOPWDD's Leadership Team. He is also the former President of the national board of Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, Board Advisor to the Self Advocacy Association of New York State (SANYS), and a member of the Justice for All Action Networking Streaming Committee. Mr. Finn is also a former member of the Board of Directors for the ARC of the United States, the world's largest community based organization of and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Mr. Finn is blind and a person with a developmental disability and is committed to fighting for the civil rights of all people with disabilities.

Sara Gelser

Corvalis, OR

Ms. Gelser currently serves as State Representative for the citizens of Corvallis and Philomath in the Oregon State House of Representatives. The youngest woman in the Oregon State Legislature, she also serves as Assistant Majority Leader and chairs the House Education Committee. Previously Ms. Gelser served as the Children with Disabilities and Family Support Coordinator for the Oregon State Department of Human Services. Additionally, she served as a regional coordinator for the Oregon Parent Training and Information Center, where she provided training to parents, educators and administrators about the implementation of special education law. Ms. Gelser is the founder of the FG Syndrome Family Alliance, a non-profit organization serving families and medical professionals dealing with FG Syndrome, a rare developmental disability. Ms. Gelser and her husband Peter have three daughters, Ellie, Nicole, and Maia, and they have a teenaged son, Sam, who has FG Syndrome.

Matan Aryeh Koch

New York, NY

Matan Koch is an Associate at Kramer, Levin, Naftalis, & Frankel LLP, where he specializes in Commercial Litigation and Advertising. Born with cerebral palsy, Koch has extensive involvement in the disability community. He served as Vice Chairman of the New Haven Commission on Disabilities, where he chaired the Americans with Disabilities Act Subcommittee from 2001-2002. Koch has served on the Union for Reform Judaism-Department of Jewish Family Concerns' Disability Task Force and currently serves on its Special Needs Camping Committee. While working in the legal division of Procter & Gamble, he was active in P&G's People with Disabilities Network. Mr. Koch served on the board of Jewish Vocational Services of Cincinnati. Koch began Yale at 16 years of age and became a lawyer, with a degree from Harvard Law, by age 23. He has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale where he was the President of the Student Disability Community.

Captain Jonathan F. Kuniholm, USMC (Retired)

Durham, North Carolina

Captain Jonathan Kuniholm is the President and Founder of the Open Prosthetics Project, and the Founder of StumpworX, Inc., a prosthetic arm manufacturing company. Captain Kuniholm served in the United States Marine Corps from 1997 to 2006. He served as a combat engineer officer and platoon commander for the 1st Marine Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom II. In 2006, he was honorably discharged after being wounded in combat and losing his right forearm. He is a Member of the Board of the Given Limb Foundation, and is an advisor and past Chair of the Board of Able Flight. In 2009, he received the DESIGNsmith award from North Carolina State University, and received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program in 2003. Mr. Kuniholm received an A.B. from Dartmouth College, and a B.S., M.S., and M.I.D. from North Carolina State University.

Kamilah Oni Martin-Proctor

Washington, DC

Kamilah Oni Martin-Proctor is the founder and Executive Director of the Martin Multiple Sclerosis Alliance Foundation (MMSAF).  Mrs. Martin-Proctor was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when she was sixteen.  She founded the MMSAF in 2004  in an effort to promote symptom awareness and education about Multiple Sclerosis in historically under represented and underserved populations. Prior to this, she was a Program Administrator for the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program at Howard University since 2003.  Mrs. Martin-Proctor worked for the District of Columbia’s Government Neighborhood Services Initiative from 2000 until 2002.  She has worked as a Staff Assistant and Legislative Correspondent for Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee and also as an Executive Assistant in Senator Robert Menendez’s office.   Mrs. Martin-Proctor received a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Organizational and Cultural Communication from Howard University.

Ari Ne'eman

Silver Spring, MD

Mr. Ne'eman is the President and co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, an advocacy organization run by and for Autistic adults seeking to increase the representation of Autistic people across society. He serves as Policy and Program Evaluation Committee Chair for the Council. In his policy work, Ari has worked on a wide variety of disability rights related legislation relating to education, transition, employment, rights protection and other areas. Ari also served as a public member of the Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating Committee, a Federal advisory committee that coordinates all efforts within the Department of Health and Human Services concerning autism, from April 2010-2012. Previously, Ari served as Vice Chair of the New Jersey Adults with Autism Task Force, where he represented autistic adults in reviewing the state's autism services. He also served on the New Jersey Special Education Review Commission, where he authored a minority report on the topic of aversives, restraint and seclusion.

Stephanie Orlando

Albany, NY

Stephanie Orlando is the Director of YOUTH POWER! of Families Together in New York State, a state advocacy network comprised of young people with disabilities with experience in state child-serving systems.  After receiving children's mental health, special education and residential services herself, Ms. Orlando has become a strong advocate for youth with disabilities on county, state and national levels.  Beginning in 2006, she served a term as Chairperson of the Youth Advisory Committee to the National Council on Disability. Ms. Orlando serves on the New York State Commissioners' Committee on Cross-Systems Services for Children & Youth, the New York State Commissioner's Advisory Panel for Special Education Services, the New York Mental Health Services Planning Council, and the Board of Directors of the Children's Mental Health Coalition of Western New York.  She received the Diana Vietz Award in 2008 from the National Council on Independent Living, the mpower Award in 2006 from Mental Health America (formerly National Mental Health Association) and the 2004 Erie County Executive Award for Disability Employment Awareness Month. Ms. Orlando earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2005 from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Lynnae Ruttledge

Vancouver, WA

Lynnae Ruttledge is a disability policy advisor to an Irish-based international research institute, DOCTRID (Daughters of Charity, Technology Research Into Disability). Ms. Ruttledge served as Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration with the U.S. Department of Education from 2010 to 2012. From 2005 to 2009, she served as the Director of the Washington Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Previously, Ms. Ruttledge held executive level leadership positions in the Oregon Department of Human Services, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Committed to international diplomacy and goodwill, she has been affiliated with Mobility International USA since 1988. In 2000, Ms. Ruttledge was honored with the Governor's Award as Disabled Oregonian of the Year. In 2007, she received the Washington Governor’s Award for Leadership in Management. Ms. Ruttledge received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Michigan University.

Clyde E. Terry

Concord, NH

Clyde E. Terry is the Chief Executive Officer of Granite State Independent Living in Concord, NH. Previously, Terry was the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council. His work has included spearheading a national coalition of disability organizations on election reform and election accessibility. In this role, he co-authored "Voters Denied Equal Access at the Polls; A Status Report of the Accessibility of Polling Places in the United States" in 2001. Terry received his B.S. from Emerson College and his J.D. from the Franklin Pierce Law Center, now the University Of New Hampshire School of Law.

Dr. Fernando M. Torres-Gil, Ph.D.

Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Torres-Gil is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Previously he served as a Professor of Gerontology and Public Administration at the University of Southern California, where he is still an Adjunct Professor of Gerontology. Before serving in academia, Dr. Torres-Gil was the first Assistant Secretary for Aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as the Staff Director of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Aging. Dr. Torres-Gil also served as President of the American Society on Aging from 1989 to 1992. He is currently a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Polio Survivors, the National Academy of Social Insurance and of the board of directors of Elderhostel, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the AARP Foundation, the Los Angeles Airport Commission, and The California Endowment. Professor Torres-Gil is a polio survivor. 

Alice Wong

San Francisco, California

Alice Wong is a Staff Research Associate for the National Center for Personal Assistance Services at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which conducts research and training on personal care programs that serve people with disabilities. She is President of the San Francisco In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority Governing Body, and is a Board Member of Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California. Ms. Wong served as Vice Chair of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Disability Issues at UCSF from 2006 to 2009. She received the Mayor’s Disability Council Beacon Award in 2010, the 2010 Chancellor’s Disability Service Award, and the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award at UCSF for leadership on behalf of the disability community. Ms. Wong received a B.A. from Indiana University-Indianapolis and an M.S. from the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco.