Mike C. Collins
Disability Consultant & Former Executive Director, National Council on Disability

Mike C. Collins is a Disability Consultant and former Executive Director of the National Council on Disability; Mr. Collins was appointed to this position in 2007 by the President of the United States. Previously, Mr. Collins was the first executive director of the California State Independent Living Council, created in 1997. Mr. Collins was a key participant in California’s efforts to implement changes in state policies resulting from the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision that has increased the demand for community-based services. He is an expert in emergency preparedness and homeland security for people with disabilities—active at local, state, and national levels. He is a long-time disability advocate who is familiar with disability and long-term care-related programs and services, the wide variety of disability civil rights laws, and vocational rehabilitation practices and regulations at the federal and state levels.  Mr. Collins has also been a trainer, and administrator of a statewide agency working with people with disabilities.

Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Aging and Diversity
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Health Policy and Administration in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina and is the Associate Director of Aging and Diversity in the Institute on Aging at Chapel Hill.  On July 1, 2003, she was appointed Director of the Institute's Center for Aging and Diversity.  She earned both her master's and doctorate degrees in sociology from Northwestern University, received training in family therapy from the Family Institute of Chicago, Institute of Psychiatry, Northwestern University, and also received additional training in family issues and Alzheimer's disease from the Harvard Geriatric Education Center.  Dr. Dilworth-Anderson’s research and publications have included both theoretically and empirically-based topics on ethnic minority families, with emphasis on older African Americans.  She has received funding to support her research from the National Institute on Aging, the Administration on Aging, and the March of Dimes Birth Defect Foundation and sits on the Board of Directors for the Alzheimer’s Association.

Stephen F. Gold, J.D.
Attorney

Stephen F. Gold is one of the foremost attorneys in the disability rights movement and specializes in the civil rights of persons with disabilities. He is co-author, with Diane Coleman, of the Not Dead Yet amicus brief quoted in 1997's Supreme Court decision.  He has been recognized as the “Godfather” of the Olmstead Supreme Court decision, having first constructed the legal theory under the ADA that unnecessary institiutionalization was discrimination.  As the attorney for Idell S. and Helen L., he sued and won against the state of Pennsylvania on grounds of the ADA for segregating people in nursing homes rather than providing them with attendant services in their own homes. Mr. Gold is in private practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Michael Humphrey
Manager, Sonoma County In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority

Michael Humphrey has been the Manager of Sonoma County In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Public Authority since his appointment by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in March 2002. The IHSS Public Authority serves as the employer-of-record for the purpose of collective bargaining for IHSS providers, and also provides a registry and referral service for IHSS providers and consumers. Prior to his current position, Michael served 12 years as the Executive Director of Community Resources for Independence (CRI), an Independent Living Center providing support services and advocacy for persons with disabilities in Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, and Napa Counties. Michael currently serves on the California Olmstead Advisory Committee and the Legislative Committee for the California Association of Public Authorities. He served on the Steering Committee for the California Health Incentives Improvement Project from 2002-2008 to address employment and health care options for persons with disabilities. He was a gubernatorial appointee to the California State Independent Living Council and served as its first Chair from 1994-96. Michael regularly testifies before the California State Legislature and other political bodies on various disability issues. He is recognized as a knowledgeable resource regarding Personal Assistance Services, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and other disability related laws and programs.

Erica C. Jones
Director, Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center

Erica C. Jones has been the Principal Investigator and Director of the Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center, currently called DBTAC - Pacific ADA Center, since 1991. The DBTAC - Pacific ADA Center is one of ten Regional centers nationally that have been set up to provide information and referral, training, consultation, and technical assistance to the business, state and local government, and disability communities about their responsibilities and rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  For the past twenty-five years Ms. Jones has been dedicated to working with large and small communities, in both the public and private sector, as a change agent, facilitator, and collaborator toward the total inclusion and equality of persons with disabilities for the enhancement of society.  As Director of Public Affairs for the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, her responsibilities included directing and conducting a national public affairs program working closely with government entities, the Administration, U.S. Congress and the public.

Bob Kafka
Co-Director, ADAPT

Bob Kafka is a National Organizer and ADAPT Co-Director, Institute for Disability Access.  From 1974 to 1980 Mr. Kafka was the Director of Handicapped Student Services at the University of Houston.  He also served as Executive Director of the Texas Paralyzed Veterans Association (TPVA) in 1978 and as TPVA President from 1987 to 1991.  Mr. Kafka was also involved with Houston's Coalition for Barrier Free Living (CBFL) serving as Chair of the Architectural Barriers Committee and then as president in 1979.  During his presidency of CBFL the group received the grant to start one of the first independent living centers in the country, Houston Center for Independent Living.  From 1981 to 1983 Mr. Kafka worked as a VISTA volunteer with the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities (CTD) and from 1984 to 1987 he served as on the Board of the Coalition, creating and chairing its Personal Assistance Services Task Force for five years.  In the mid-80s Mr. Kafka was elected to the board of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD) and in 1981 he co-founded the Southwest Wheelchair Athletic Association, and acted as its President until 1991.  In 1984 he co-founded ADAPT of Texas and has served in the capacities of local, state and national organizer ever since.

Elizabeth Leef
U.S. Administration on Aging

Elizabeth is the Center's Administration on Aging liaison, as she has recently taken a position with the U.S. Administration on Aging within the U.S Department of Health and Human Services as an Aging Services Program Specialist. Elizabeth serves as a Project Officer managing grants within the Office of Planning and Policy Development and acting as a disability liaison. Prior to her position at AoA Elizabeth worked with the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) as a Health Care Policy Analyst. One of her duties was staffing the NCIL PAS sub committee which focused on changing the institutional bias in the United States. Prior to this, she completed internships with U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and with the Office on Disability at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington DC. Paraplegic as a result of a car accident at a very young age, Elizabeth has extensive experience within the Independent Living Movement working as a peer counselor and an independent living specialist in three centers as well as serving on the Statewide Independent Living Councils in both Colorado and New Mexico. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado.

Liz Pazdral
Executive Director, California State Independent Living Council

Liz Pazdral was recruited by the SILC away from the Independent Living (IL) Unit of the California State Department of Rehabilitation. Extremely knowledgeable about the IL movement from many perspectives, she had worked 13 years at IL Centers in California and Canada including 4 years as an Executive Director. Liz started her disability rights career in the 1980's, featured in an Emmy-Award winning documentary. In 1995 she testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disability policy regarding the employment provisions of the ADA. Her career has highlighted disability rights issues regarding employment, the ADA, earthquake response, and women's health. Currently she mentors a teenager with a disability, serves on the Office of Disability and Health Steering Committee, the blue ribbon advisory committee for the Center for Personal Assistance Services at UCSF and on the Board of Directors for the California Alliance for Women. Liz lives near Sacramento with her husband and daughter.

Lee Schulz
Executive Director, IndependenceFirst

Lee Schulz is the current Executive Director of IndependenceFirst, a Center for Independent Living serving southeastern Wisconsin.  Mr. Schulz has worked in the independent living movement for 21 years and is an energetic and creative advocate for individual’s rights and systems change. He has been with IndependenceFirst since 1986, when it was then known as the Southeastern Wisconsin Center for Independent Living.  Mr. Schulz specializes in training Center staff on fund development and organizational development and currently serves on the Operational Subcommittee of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL).

Liz Sherwin
Board President, APRIL

Liz Sherwin is the current Board President of APRIL and has been the Executive Director of the Illinois/Iowa CIL since 1988.  Ms. Sherwin has previously served her community and people with disabilities in the following capacities: Commissioner and Member of Bi-State Regional Commission's Personnel and Finance Committee; Executive Committee Member of Rock Island County's NAACP; President of Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois; Board Member of Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living; Board Member of Statewide Independent Living Council of Illinois; and Board Member of the Illinois Interagency Transportation Committee.

Fernando Torres-Gil, Ph.D.
Acting Dean, UCLA School of Public Affairs

Fernando Torres-Gil, Ph.D., is Acting Dean of the UCLA School of Public Affairs (SPA), where he also serves as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. He holds appointments as Professor of Social Welfare and Public Policy in the School and is the Director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging.  Professor Torres-Gil is an expert in the fields of health and long-term care, the politics of aging, social policy, ethnicity and disability.  He is the author of six books and more than 80 articles and book chapters.  His academic accomplishments parallel his extensive government and public policy experience, including being appointed by President Clinton as the first Assistant Secretary for Aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  As the Administration’s chief advocate on aging, Torres-Gil played a key role in promoting the importance of the issues of aging, long-term care, and disability, in consolidating federal programs for the elderly and in helping baby boomers redefine retirement in a post-pension era.  He also worked with HHS Secretary Donna Shalala in overseeing aging policy throughout the federal government, managing the Administration on Aging and organizing the 1995 White House Conference on Aging; in addition to serving as a member of the President’s Welfare Reform Working Group.

Douglas J. Usiak
Executive Director, Western New York Independent Living Project

Douglas J. Usiak is the Executive Director of the Western New York Independent Living Project family of agencies (WNYILP) in Buffalo, NY. He has served two terms as Chairperson of New York State Independent Living Council, and as its Interim Executive Director. In 1993, Mr. Usiak directed the consumer assessment and information dissemination component of Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer. He helped to create AZtech, a consumer-controlled primary and secondary marketing organization specializing in universal design of assistive technology to serve people with and without disabilities.  In 2000, the WNYILP became the first Independent Living Center to be awarded a federal grant to operate the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Independent Living Management (RRTC-ILM). Mr. Usiak is the Project Director and Principal Investigator of the RRTC-ILM and has served as technical consultant on independent living philosophy and management for disability groups across the US and internationally.