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The National Advisory Board of the CDS provides a global perspective on the direct care workforce in America. Representatives from major national organizations provide us guidance in the development of upcoming CDS curriculum and workforce development tools.
Gail Bottoms is a native of Griffin, GA, and former president of People First of Georgia. In the mid 1990’s Gail became active in the disability rights movement and began speaking around the country on behalf of the rights of people with disabilities. From 1997 through 2000 she was president of People First in the Peach State. Her interaction with disability rights activists and her work with People First inspired her drive and desire to be a poet. She has recently published her first book of poetry, “from the inside out.” A CD comes with the book on which she reads her poems.
Gail is a mother, a daughter, a wife and now a grandmother who fills her poetry with her life and her feelings. She has spoken before the Georgia State Legislature as well as to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on behalf of people with disabilities. Gail also has spoken and been a part of leadership workshops around the country. Gail recently became affiliated with the Institute on Human Development and Disability at the University of Georgia as part of the Institute’s speakers’ bureau.
Valerie J. Bradley is president of the Human Services Research Institute since its inception in 1976. As president of HSRI Ms. Bradley has overall responsibility for the development and management of all HSRI projects in mental health, developmental disabilities, drug and alcohol abuse and other human service programs. Her current responsibilities include:
·Principal Investigator – Technical assistance project funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide information and consultation to state developmental disabilities agencies and CMS regional offices regarding quality assurance and quality improvement in HCBS waivers.
·Project Director – National collaboration with the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services to collect and analyze national performance indicators for services to people with developmental disabilities.
She was president of the American Association on Mental Retardation in 2005-2006 and was chair of the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation, 1994-2000.
Ms. Bradley has a Master’s in Political Science, 1966, from the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Occidental College in California.
Lisa Burck has been the project director of the Direct Support Professional Opportunity and with The Arc of Mississippi for two years. She has 15 years of experience in the field of service to people with disabilities and her passion is making life better for people with disabilities by making the people who support them better.
Lisa has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Southern Mississippi, a master’s degree in public administration from Troy State University, and a Master’s degree in severe disabilities with an emphasis on deafblindness from USM. She is the Mississippi representative to ANCOR (American Network of Community Options and Resources) and is on the advisory board of the Mississippi Deafblind Project and Creative Community Living Options.
In addition to her work on the CDS National Advisory Board, she sits on the local boards of the Salvation Army and Gulf Coast Family Counseling. She is a member of the Pascagoula Rotary Club and teaches Sunday school and bible study to both high school age youth and elderly women. Lisa and her husband Charles have been married 30 years and have three grown children and two grandchildren.
For the past 11 years David has served as Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living in St. Paul, MN. The center serves a seven-county metropolitan area. As an independent contractor, David served as chief lobbyist for the Minnesota Association of Centers for Independent Living (seven years) and for the Association for Supported Living Residences (one year).
David also contracts his services to government agencies, school districts, corporations and nonprofit organizations as a private consultant focusing on disability issues. He has more than 35 years of varied experience in the field of disabilities. For seven years David coordinated the day-to-day operation of Minnesota's Partners in Policymaking project. Concurrent with these responsibilities, he also served as a senior planner, special grants coordinator and Director of the Minnesota office of the World Institute on Disability.
Additionally, he has been employed as a public policy analyst, staff development director, community residential services director, case management specialist, direct service provider, and in various paraprofessional capacities. David's services are regularly sought as a special consultant, public speaker, evaluator and author.
Mary Held works at the Indiana University Center on Community Living and Careers. She coordinates the Indiana Direct Support Professional Development Initiative through a contract with Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) Division of Disability and Rehabilitation Services (DDRS). The Project Focus is on Recruitment and Retention of Direct Support Professionals in Indiana to improve the quality of services and supports provided to individuals and their families.
She earned her Ph.D at Indiana University in Curriculum and Instruction, her Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling at Syracuse University and a B.S. in Special Education at Syracuse.
Joseph M. Macbeth has been the Assistant Executive Director at NYSACRA since 2000 and has worked in the field of disabilities for 25 years. While at NYSACRA, he has been responsible for implementing and advancing all of the organization’s workforce development activities. Prior to his work at NYSACRA, Mr. Macbeth worked for a human services organization where he was responsible for the development, utilization and administration of all "non-traditional" residential and day services programs. Through a variety of state grants, Macbeth started a New York State Chapter of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals that consists of nearly 1,000 individual members and 27 supporting and affiliate organizations.
He has also been instrumental in assisting almost 2,000 Direct Support Professionals and Frontline Supervisors achieve advanced training through the College of Direct Support. He continues to be an advocate for the advancement of the direct support professionalism and has forged organizational relationships between New York’s community college system and local services organizations (employers). In addition to his activities with NYSACRA and the Direct Support Professional Alliance of New York State (DSPANYS), Macbeth sits on the board of directors for the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and the American Network of Community Options & Resources (ANCOR) Foundation Board where he developed a concept paper called ‘Careers That Matter Most’.
Colleen McLaughlin is the Training and Consultation Specialist at The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities. Colleen works with the Boggs Center Self-Directed Supports team in the development and provision of training and technical assistance activities with families, consumers, DDD, providers, professionals and community groups. She provides training in Person-Centered Thinking and Essential Lifestyle Planning across the state. Colleen also provides training and technical assistance with regard to workforce development, career paths, and statewide pre-service trainings for Direct Support Professionals.
Colleen came to the Boggs Center from the Institute on Disabilities/UCEDD at Temple University where she was an evaluation coordinator. While at Temple she worked on Pennsylvania’s Independent Monitoring for Quality (IM4Q) Project and The Partnership, a statewide training and technical assistance project for self-advocates and family members. She has experience as an American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) trainer, providing education regarding use of the SIS nationally.
Colleen earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Science in Education Degree from Clarion University. In 2003, she received a Masters of Education in Counseling Psychology from Temple University.
Charles Moseley is the Director of Special Projects for the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services. Prior to this position, he was the Co-Director of the National Program on Self-Determination, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, at the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability (UCED).
Before coming to the university, Dr. Moseley was the Director of the Vermont Division of Developmental Services where he led the efforts to close the state’s institution, transition services to individualized community-based alternatives, and restructure service delivery to incorporate self-directed services.
Holly Riddle is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities. She holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center. She has been a member of the North Carolina State Bar since 1988 and served as a member of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law. She has served on many advisories to the State of North Carolina, and worked on diverse national initiatives with the Beach Center on Families and Disability, University of Kansas; Virginia Commonwealth University’s Regional Research and Training Center on Supported Employment, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, and the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities. During the 19 years that she has directed the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Council has served as a beacon for moving the state towards contemporary policies and practices. Under her leadership, the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities has earned state and national recognition for advancing a wide variety of innovations in systems change, advocacy, and capacity building.
India Sue has served as the Workforce Development Manager for the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services since March 2003. Prior to that she was the Human Resources, Training and Workforce Development Director for the second largest MR residential facility in Virginia for over five years. India Sue has over 20 years of experience in Human Resources Management, both public and private, which has been instrumental in developing the Workforce Plan for the Department in Virginia. Married and the mother of two, India Sue and her family reside in a small community outside of Richmond, VA.
Lynn Rivas is the co-executive director of the Consumer Directed Services Network, an organization dedicated to training and empowering workers and supporting the right of people with developmental disabilities to have choice and opportunity, as well as, to live integrated lives in the community. Dr. Rivas received her Ph.D. in 2007 from the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied the relationship between The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Independent Living Movement. A longtime labor activist, she has worked with various unions, accumulating experiences that have given her an enduring interest in the dynamics of caring labor. Dr. Rivas' relevant publications include: "Invisible Labors: Caring for the Independent Person."; "In Global Woman: nannies, maids, and sex workers in the new economy" edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild; and "A Significant Alliance: The Independent Living Movement, The Service Employees International Union and the Establishment of the First Public Authorities in California" published by the World Institute on Disability.
Dr. Peggy Terhune has been the Executive Director/CEO of The Arc of Stanly County, Inc., and Arc Services, Inc. -- now renamed Monarch -- since June 1995. Monarch provides residential, vocational, community, and behavioral health services to people of all ages with intellectual disabilities, mental illness, and substance abuse issues. She has worked with people with disabilities for over 35 years. Peggy was awarded the 1998 Outstanding Professional Achievement Award, presented by the National Council of Executives of the Arc, and the 2002 Carey S. Fendley Award for Executive Excellence presented by The Arc of North Carolina. In 2007 she received the National Conference of Executives Award for Executive Excellence, which is the highest honor The Arc can confer on an Executive Director of a chapter of The Arc.
Peggy is a founding board member of North Carolina Providers Council and past president of NCE. She also serves on The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Social Work Department Community Advisory Board, the National Board of Directors for the Council on Quality and Leadership as the representative from The Arc of the United States, on the CenterPoint Area Providers Network Council and the PBH Network Council.
Peggy received a BS degree in Occupational Therapy from Indiana University, a Masters in Business Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology, and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
In addition to her career, Peggy is mother to seven grown children and wife to Bob. Peggy and her husband fostered children with disabilities for six years, and she continues to provide community service in a number of ways. For fun, Peggy is an adjunct professor for Strayer University in the MBA program. In her spare time, she enjoys needlepoint, knitting, reading, and travel.