AAPD-

WASHINGTON, DC, June 20, 2005— The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), a national membership organization dedicated to promoting the economic and political empowerment of all people with disabilities, announces its Board for the coming year. This slate of candidates was presented by the AAPD Nominating Committee to the AAPD Board of Directors at its recent meeting and unanimously adopted.

The following individuals will serve terms of three years each commencing July 1, 2005: Joyce A. Bender, CEO/President of Bender Consulting Services, Inc.; The Honorable F. Ralph Boyd, Jr., Executive Vice President, Community Relations, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; Alison A. Hillman, Director of the Americas Advocacy Initiative, Mental Disability Rights International; Ambassador Bradley Holmes, former U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy; Gregg Howard, Vice President, Independence Technology, a Johnson Johnson company; and Frances W. West, Director of the Worldwide Accessibility Center for IBM.

Joyce A. Bender is the CEO/President of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. (BCS). Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, BCS is a national technology consulting firm specializing in creating competitive employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the information technology, engineering, finance/accounting, and general business areas both in the United States and Canada. Bender is the 2003 recipient of the Bush Administration's New Freedom Initiative Award and the 1999 President's Award received from President Clinton at the White House, for her efforts in furthering the employment and empowerment of people with disabilities. In 1985, Joyce survived a life-threatening accident caused by a misdiagnosis of epilepsy. Due to her personal experience living with both epilepsy and a hearing disability, she founded Bender Consulting Services, Inc. in 1995 and Bender Consulting Services of Canada, Inc. in 2001. Bender also hosts the radio show, Disability Matters.

Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. is Executive Vice President, Community Relations of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and Chairman of the Freddie Mac Foundation. He started at Freddie Mac as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Boyd was a senior partner with the national law firm Alston & Bird LLP, leading its Washington, DC litigation practice. He previously served as the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. From 1997-2001, he was counsel and then partner in the trial and litigation department of Goodwin Practer LLP in Boston, and before that, served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Boston U.S. Attorney’s office.

Boyd, who has served on nonprofit boards and foundations, has a long history of involvement in community matters and has a particular interest in working with children and young people. He also serves as a member of the board of trustees of the National Housing Partnership Foundation, and is the U.S. member of the Geneva-based United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a U.N. human rights treaty body.

Alison A. Hillman, an attorney with an international human rights background, is Director of Mental Disability Rights International’s (MDRI) Americas Advocacy Initiative, and designs and implements MDRI’s advocacy support programs, human rights monitoring, and litigation in the Americas. In collaboration with Center for Justice and International Law attorneys, she presented the first-ever petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights challenging on-going abuses in a psychiatric institution; as part of it, she produced video evidence depicting the abusive treatment and conditions at the institution in Asunción, Paraguay, which won a 2005 documentary film award from Canada’s International Disability Film Festival. Hillman is lead investigator and primary author of Human Rights & Mental Health in Argentina, a joint report with Human Rights Watch, presenting a legal analysis of the conditions and treatment endured by people with mental disabilities locked inside Argentina’s institutions, and lead investigator and primary author of Human Rights & Mental Health in Peru, which documents abuses against people with mental disabilities in mental health and social services in Peru.

Hillman has lectured about mental health and human rights at the Fifth Course on Mental Health and Development, served as guest lecturer for Masters Seminars in public health, law, and psychology at Cayetano Heredia University, presented findings and recommendations to the Coalition for Human Rights in Health in Peru, and advised consultants to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on mental health reparations for Peru’s populations affected by the political violence.

Ambassador Bradley P. Holmes has over twenty years of domestic and foreign experience in regulation, policy and legal matters affecting the global communications industry, and is recognized worldwide by public and private sectors as an expert on telecommunications, information technologies and general communications matters. From 1989 to 1993, he served as United States Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, a position equivalent in rank to Assistant Secretary of State with the title of Ambassador. Working with other key cabinet and government agencies such as the FCC, Department of Commerce, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Pentagon, and National Security Agency, he developed and directed U.S. telecommunications policy as an integral part of U.S. foreign policy.

From 1984 to 1989, Holmes served in key policy positions at the Federal Communications Commission; in 1987, he was nominated by President Reagan to be a Commissioner. In 1994, he became a partner in the consulting practice of Coopers & Lybrand and for three years served as Managing Director of the firm’s Global Telecom Group. Subsequently, he became President of Project OXYGEN Network Ltd., and then Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs of ArrayComm, Inc. Most recently, Holmes was Chief Operating Officer of NY3G Partnership, a communications company developing broadband mobile and fixed wireless services for New York City, the second largest wireless market in the U.S.

Gregg Howard is a Vice President and a board member with Independence Technology, a Johnson & Johnson company whose mission is to develop products and services for people with disabilities. He joined Johnson & Johnson in 1975 and for the next sixteen years held various positions in Sales, Sales Management, and Trade Marketing. In 1991, he joined Rhone Poulenc Rorer as Vice President Sales, and then in 1995 he joined Revlon as Vice President Sales. He returned to Johnson & Johnson in 1996. In his current position, Howard works on all the complex reimbursement issues related to the INDEPENDENCE™ iBOT™ Mobility System. He has spent considerable time on Capitol Hill and has testified before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Veteran's Affairs. He is also responsible for developing relationships with disability leaders and major disability associations throughout the country.

Howard is the father of a young adult with multiple disabilities and has advocated extensively in the area of disability on behalf of his son. Howard is also a former winner of the Paralyzed Veteran's of America Corporate Patriot Award and also was a member of a work group with the CDC initiative "Healthy People 2010".

Frances W. West is Director of the Worldwide Accessibility Center for IBM, where she is charged with the responsibility of establishing IBM leadership in accessibility by promoting IBM technology, thought-leadership, products and solutions on a worldwide basis. Her team is based in IBM Research but works across all divisions of IBM.

Previously, West was Director of Channels, Alliances and Business Development for the Lotus Software Group, and Director of Global Financial Services Solutions in the IBM Global Services organization. West has also held numerous management positions in the IBM Sales and Marketing organization and was responsible for hardware and software sales, business partner/alliance management and strategic investment in emerging markets. A highlight earlier in her career was serving as the Business Unit Executive of the Banking, Financial Services, Securities and Insurance Unit for the IBM Greater China Group.

At its recent meeting, the AAPD Board also elected its Officers, who are serving one year terms: for Chair: Helen Roth; for Vice-Chair, Margaret Staton, Founder, ELA Foundation; for Treasurer, Cheryl Sensenbrenner; for Secretary, The Honorable Tony Coelho; and for Immediate Past-Chair, James Weisman, General Counsel, United Spinal Association.

In addition to the newly-elected members, other members-at-large are: Kathleen Behan, Partner, Arnold & Porter; James J. Billy; Wendy Elliott-Vandivier, disability rights advocate; Marilyn Hamilton, Vice President, Global Planning & Strategic Services, Sunrise Medical; The Honorable Judith Heumann, World Bank; Vail Horton, Keen Mobility; Edward Kennedy, Jr., Marwood Group; The Honorable Lynn Rivers; Debra Robinson, Speaking for Ourselves; Michael Takemura, Hewlett-Packard; Fred Weiner, Special Assistant to the President for Planning, Gallaudet University; and Tony Young, Assistant Vice President, Governmental Affairs & Workforce Development, NISH.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country’s largest cross-disability membership organization, promotes the economic and political empowerment of all 56 million children and adults with disabilities in the U.S. It was founded in 1995 to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For additional information, including AAPD member benefits, visit AAPD website.