Professional Experience
Policy Director Institute on Disabilities, Temple University 2006-present
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinate all policy related activities for the Institute including chairing the policy committee, providing policy analysis, providing training and technical assistance to staff and community groups, creating and/or disseminating briefs on local, state and federal policy issues that effect people with disabilities and their families.
Project Coordinator Institute on Disabilities, Temple University 2005-present
Coordinate a peer-to-peer state-wide training and technical assistance project, the Pennsylvania Training Partnership for People with Disabilities and Families, to provide over 200 trainings annually to self-advocate and family audiences. Coordinate activities of five partner agencies to insure that all training is accurate, consistent, person and family driven, regionally responsive and culturally competent. Oversee support staff to the project providing logistic, graphic design, evaluation, monitoring and technical writing functions. Responsible for trainer development activities and certification of the Partnership's 50 self-advocate and family member trainers. Provide oversight to all curriculum development activities including adaptation of all materials for self-advocate audiences and creation of alternate formats.
Executive Director Self-Determination Resources, Inc. 2003-2004
Portland, Oregon
Served as chief administrative officer of non-profit, full service brokerage. Responsible for all operations of brokerage serving adults with developmental disabilities. Managed a 4.1M annual budget, 15 staff members and numerous subcontractors. Collaborated with Board of Directors comprised entirely of self-advocates and family members of people with developmental disabilities. Reorganized agency to reduce paperwork for brokers in order to increase time spent with individuals. Implemented quality improvement plan to ensure achievement of agency goals and compliance with new CMS quality management standards. Oversaw redesign of information technology systems utilized state-wide to improve integration of agency accounting system and consumer tracking system.
Assistant Director Self-Determination Resources, Inc. 1998-2003
Portland, Oregon
Assisted in managing daily operations of a full service brokerage serving as many as 800 children and adults with developmental disabilities annually. Activities included supervising and training staff, resource development, oversight of information tracking and reporting, insuring compliance with Oregon Administrative Rules and SDRI strategic plan, and the development and application of quality assurance plan. Personally brokered services to 10 of SDRI's consumers including providing person-centered planning and individual budget development. Instrumental in the growth of SDRI from a RWJ pilot project to a fully operational model brokerage including fiscal intermediary services. Developed training curricula used state-wide. Participated on multiple advisory committees. Fostered development of new independent local fiscal intermediary services, support groups and in-home support services. Coordinated development of comprehensive database to track all customer support plan activity.
