Putting Our Abilities To Work
A Disability Employment Summit
Speakers and Panelists
Governor Deval Patrick
Governor Deval Patrick was elected in November of 2006. He brings to the Governor's office a broad range of leadership experience at the top levels of business, government and non-profits. Hoping for the best and working for it, as his grandmother used to counsel him, his life has traced a trajectory from the South Side of Chicago to the U.S. Justice Department, Fortune 500 boardrooms, and now the Massachusetts State House.
Patrick came to the Commonwealth in 1970 at the age of 14. An excellent student despite the difficult circumstances of poor and sometimes violent Chicago schools, he was awarded a scholarship to Milton Academy through A Better Chance, a Boston-based organization.
Read Governor Deval Patrick's full bio at the Mass.gov website (opens in new window)
Andrew J. Imparato
Andrew J. Imparato is the first full-time President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), a national non-profit, non-partisan membership organization of people with disabilities, their family members and supporters that was founded in 1995. AAPD pursues its mission of political and economic empowerment of all people with disabilities through public policy advocacy and programs fostering leadership development, mentoring and career exploration, voting and civic participation, and member benefits. Since Imparato joined AAPD in 1999, the organization has more than quadrupled its membership, its annual budget, and its staff size. With more than 100,000 members, AAPD is the largest cross-disability membership organization in the U.S.
Read Andrew's full bio at AAPD website (opens in new window)
Kevin G. McGuire
Kevin's professional training and diversified experiences have provided him with a wide range of knowledge and skills. A graduate of Boston University and the Georgetown University Law Center, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History, and a Juris Doctorate.
Kevin has developed his skills through hands-on experience in government and disability law. He has conducted over 500 conferences, trained over 25,000 facilities staff people, and lectured widely to conventions, TV audiences, public sector workshops, and corporate compliance executives. He has also consulted on building projects with construction budgets in excess of $16 billion. Kevin has compiled an impressive resume through working with corporations, legislative offices, and state agencies, including:
- Financial analyst, IBM Corporation
- Staff Assistant for Senator Edward M. Kennedy
- National Director of the Tuition Advance Fund Information Center, Boston University
- Staff Assistant for U.S. Congressman, Hamilton Fish, Jr.
- Assistant District Attorney for the District Attorney's Office, Bronx, New York
- Written/produced public service announcements for the Governor's Office, State of California
- Summer Legal Associate, Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission
- Summer Legal Associate, Boston Center for Independent Living
Charles Carr
Appointed by Secretary Bigby in August 2007, Charles Carr is the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC). Over the past 30 years he has dedicated his career as an advocate of advancing independence for people with disabilities through his many roles – social, economic policies and programs, and now government.
Commissioner Carr, who was paralyzed in a diving accident at 14, started his advocacy for disability policies and programs early making him one of the Nation’s leaders in the independent living movement.
Read Charlie's full bio at mass.gov (opens in new window)
Dr. Jay Himmelstein
Dr. Himmelstein is a Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health and Internal Medicine at UMass Medical School. He also serves as Chief Health Policy Strategist for UMass Medical School’s Center for Health Policy and Research. His professional career in research, policy development and service is dedicated to improving health care and health outcomes for those served by the public sector.
Currently, Dr. Himmelstein leads the Disability and Employment Policy Group for the Center for Health Policy and Research and is the principal investigator on the Massachusetts Medicaid Infrastructure and Comprehensive Employment Opportunities Grant (MI-CEO) funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This multi-year project aims to maximize employment opportunities for people with disabilities — through applied research, policy analysis and infrastructure development at the state and national level.
Read Jay's full bio at umassmed.edu (opens in new window)
Jean Flatley McGuire, Ph.D.
Assistant Secretary for Disability Policy and Programs
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Dr. McGuire brings a 30-year history of work in disability across public and private sectors. In her current role, she is responsible for six disability agencies’ operations, policies and budgets, including the Department of Mental Retardation, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, the Massachusetts Commission of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and the Chelsea and Holyoke Soldiers Homes and for oversight of the MassHealth Office of Long Term Care; Responsible for guiding all disability policy development across the EOHHS Secretariat including within the Departments of Public Health and Mental Health, and for providing guidance on disability policy and program improvements in the Commonwealth to the EOHHS Secretary and the Governor.
Read Jean's full bio at mass.gov (opens in new window)
Laura Stout
As Director and Business Advisor in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Executive Office, Laura supports the Chief of Staff and the CEO on a variety of business and organizational issues. Laura has been with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts for 21 years working in both the Health Care Services and Finance Divisions. In addition to her experience in business relations, Laura has a broad background in finance, operations and provider contracting. She graduated from the company's Finance Development Program in 2003.
Working with community organizations to help set their strategic direction is important to Laura. She is a strong advocate for the disability community, where she brings a voice and works closely with those who are disabled, and need support to achieve their personal and professional goals. She’s been active for more than 30 years with Little People of America, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides support and information to people of short stature and their families. In addition, Laura has been a Board of Director member with Outdoor Explorations of Medford, Massachusetts, an inclusive disability organization that inspires personal growth through outdoor adventures and spent numerous years volunteering on the Board of Directors of South Shore Mental Health, a non profit mental health community organization located in Quincy, Massachusetts. Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Emmanuel College and a Master's in Health Care Administration from Simmons College.
Oswald "Oz" Mondejar
Oswald "Oz" Mondejar is the Vice President for Human Resources & Community Relations of Partners Continuing Care, Inc. (PCC), the non-acute care services division of Partners HealthCare. PCC includes rehabilitation and long term care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and a home care and hospice organization.
Prior to joining Partners HealthCare in 2001, Oz Mondejar led the U.S. government’s New England Region recruitment program for the Social Security Administration. He has worked as a Human Resources Executive in a number of different industrial environments including manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality and finance. He also owned and operated Mucho Gusto, an award winning restaurant.
Oz Mondejar is active in his community, serving on several non-profit boards and as an advisor to others. He is an appointed member of several Massachusetts commissions on employment of individuals with disabilities.
Oz Mondejar is the recipient of a number of awards recognizing his expertise, including: the Sheraton Corporation’s Presidents Award, the Social Security Administration Commissioner’s Citation, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Teacher of the Year Award, the Partners for Youth with Disabilities’ Christopher Dunne Award and the Kraft Family MVP recognition for community service, and he was listed among Hispanic Executives Making an Impact in Boston’s 20 on the Move.
Dr. Jennifer Lerner
Dr. Jennifer Lerner is Professor of Public Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government as well as Director of the Harvard Laboratory for Decision Science. This inter-disciplinary laboratory, which she co-founded with two members of the economics faculty, draws primarily on psychology, economics, and neuroscience to study human judgment and decision-making. Lerner’s particular area of expertise involves the effects of emotion on judgment and decision making.
Professor Lerner publishes her research widely in scientific journals -- summaries of which appear in popular print (e.g., The New York Times) and broadcast media (e.g., Good Morning America). She serves on numerous scientific review boards, including the Decision, Risk, and Management Science panel for the National Science Foundation as well as the editorial boards for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and the Journal of Behavioral Decision Research. She has received several awards for her research, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). In a White House ceremony, the National Science Foundation and the President of the United States annually award the PECASE as the highest national honor for investigators in the early stages of promising research careers. Taken together, awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have nearly continuously funded her training and research.
Professor Lerner joined the faculty at Harvard and received tenure as a full professor in 2007. Prior to Harvard, she was the McCandless Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University.
Lerner lives on Harvard’s campus with her husband, daughter, and dog. She has a chronic, debilitating disease, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, which has affected her daily without remission since she was 15 years old. Her first hand experiences of living with a disabling disease while pursuing a demanding career have led to an interest in sharing her story with others – especially the role that vocational rehabilitation services have played in her development.
Lois Cooper
As Vice President of Employee Relations and Diversity for Adecco Group North
America, Lois Cooper leads a team that provides human resources support to
3,200 full-time employees and an average of 120,000 temporary employees per
week for the nation’s largest staffing company. She is also responsible for
developing strategic diversity initiatives that support the organization’s business
strategies and positively impact the bottom line.
Ms. Cooper has more than 20 years of human resources experience in organizations across a variety of industries. Her career has included positions in the advertising, financial services and entertainment industries. In these positions she developed expertise in a number of areas, including change management, organizational design and development, and recruitment.
Ms. Cooper is a 2006 honoree of the Network Journal’s 25 Influential Black Women in Business Awards. She has been featured as Diversity Journal’s "Front-Runners" in Diversity Leadership Series 2006 and honored as one of Diversity Journal’s Women Worth Watching in 2007. Ms. Cooper is a featured speaker for the World Diversity Leadership Summit, and has spoken at Conference Board events and a series of Diversity Profit Generations teleseminars. She has also been quoted in Diversity Spectrum, Diversity Best Practices’ Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) Insights and was recently interviewed regarding the glass ceiling for women on ABC radio in San Francisco.
Ms. Cooper received her BA from American University in Washington, D.C and her MBA from Baruch College in New York City.
Adecco respects, values and practices effective diversity management to capitalize on the strengths of a diverse workforce and continue to be a human resource industry leader. Working with a diverse group of employees with various backgrounds and perspectives creates a competitive advantage, and ultimately, global success.
James R. Salzano
Jim Salzano is Executive Vice President of The Clarks Companies, N.A. He has been part of the Clarks management team that has led the company from just over $200M in revenues to a $700M share of the North American market. CCNA products are sold throughout North America in 13,000 retail locations, as well as, 240 company owned stores. CCNA is part of C & J Clark Limited, a footwear company based in the United Kingdom. Established in the United Kingdom in 1825, Clarks is one of the oldest privately held companies in the world. Products are globally distributed with worldwide sales of 40 million pairs.
Jim is originally from Rochester, New York and moved to Boston in 1995 to join Clarks. While in Rochester, he held positions with Paychex, Price Waterhouse, and spent 14 years working for Altier Shoes – a family owned footwear retailer. Jim now has over 30 years of experience in the footwear business.
He is also active in the community. He was previously President of the Board of Directors for Triangle. Triangle is a private, non-profit organization with a mission to provide vocational, residential and social development services to adults with disabilities.
In addition he is Vice Chairman-Elect of the Board for The Two Ten Foundation and chaired the Strategic Planning Committee. The Two Ten Foundation began 70 years ago and is committed to strengthening the footwear community with financial, social and educational support and services while nurturing community building and volunteerism.
He currently serves on the Board of FDRA – Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America. A non-profit organization promoting the free flow of footwear into the U.S. and throughout the world. FDRA represents footwear retailers, distributors, manufacturers, suppliers and international trade associations.
He also serves on the Board of Roca. Roca is an outcomes-driven, high performing youth development organization in Chelsea, Revere, East Boston, and Charlestown, serving very high risk young people and young parents ages 14-24. Based on a belief that every one belongs and can succeed in the world.
At Clarks Jim has been actively involved with the First Step program which gives internship opportunities to ‘people with abilities’. This program is aimed at ensuring that opportunities within the Clarks organization are presented to all people with a passion to work. This program provides a confidence building work experience, along with a paycheck, and ultimately the chance at permanent employment at the company.
CCNA was honored with an Exemplary Employer Award from the Massachusetts Governors Commission on Employment of People with Disabilities for the work that has been completed within the First Step program.
In 2002, the Boston Business Journal named Jim "Citizen of the Month".
In December 2007 he was awarded the AA Bloom award at the annual Ten Two Footwear Foundation dinner in New York City. The award recognizes an individual in the industry for outstanding volunteerism.
In 2008, the Boston Globe nominated Clarks as one of the "Top 100 Places To Work".
Jim graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology and now resides in Walpole, Massachusetts, with his wife Shana, and children Nathaniel and Luca.