Speaker Biographies

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Troy R. Justesen
Troy R. Justesen is the associate director for domestic policy at the White House. He assists the Offices of Domestic Policy and Public Liaison with the President's New Freedom Initiative and other issues pertaining to people with disabilities. Justesen comes to the White House after serving as the deputy executive director of the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education. Prior to this position he served as a policy analyst in the director's office at the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education.

 

In the mid-1990s, Justesen served more than three years in the Disability Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice working on enforcement issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. He also worked at the Utah State University-affiliated Center for Persons with Disabilities on issues involving children and youth with disabilities, including assistive technology, personnel preparation, and special education. During this time, Justesen was appointed by Utah's governor to serve on the state's policy oversight board for the agency responsible for waiver programs and other services for people with developmental disabilities.

 

Fred G. Kramer
Fred Kramer is director of community employment and training for Marriott International, Inc. His career with Marriott began in January 1981 in hotel operations, where he spent four years in various human resources capacities. He transferred from hotels to Marriott's corporate office where he spent two years with the community employment and training department, focusing on the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit programs. Kramer then spent one year as a regional human resources manager in Courtyard by Marriott’s mid-Atlantic region.

 

In December 1987, Kramer left Marriott to work for NHP Inc., a publicly traded property management company, as the human resources manager for the property employees. In January 1995 he was appointed corporate director of human resources HR, and was responsible for all HR functions at NHP. Kramer returned to Marriott in August 1997 to take a role in his current capacity.

 

Robert H. Pasternack
Robert H. Pasternack was sworn in as assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services on August 8, 2001. In this position, Pasternack serves as principal adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Education on all matters related to special education and rehabilitative services.

 

Prior to being sworn in, Pasternack served as state director of special education for the New Mexico State Department of Education since 1998. He has worked with students with disabilities and their families for more than 25 years, increasing parental involvement in all aspects of education, particularly special education. As state director, Pasternack led the development and implementation of state regulations for special education and created a variety of statewide initiatives designed to improve results for students with disabilities. These include dropout prevention; a statewide inclusion initiative; research-based professional development; research-based screening and assessment in reading; entrepreneurship programs; mental health in the schools; and various programs targeted toward low incidence disabilities.

 

Barbara L. Perkins
Barbara L. Perkins is the director of the Zwingle Resource Center at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. She has more than 25 years of experience as a librarian and library consultant, and recently celebrated her four-year anniversary as library director for the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. As part of a national organization that supports the continuing education and training needs of college and university trustees, Perkins has daily contact with college presidents, board members, and other senior administrators across the country.

 

Prior to her current position, Perkins directed information center operations for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, and United Way of America.  She was also database manager for the National Rehabilitation Information Center. 
 
Paul Wehman
Paul Wehman is the director of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He also is professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, with joint appointments in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling, and is chairman of the division of rehabilitation research. 

 

Wehman pioneered the development of supported employment at VCU in the early 1980s, and has been heavily involved in the use of supported employment with people who have severe disabilities, such as those with severe mental retardation, brain injury, spinal cord injury, or autism. He has written extensively on the transition from school to adulthood and on special education as it relates to young adults; has published over 150 articles, 24 book chapters, and authored or edited 33 books. He was recognized as one of the 50 most influential special educators of the millenium by a national survey coordinated by the Remedial and Special Education journal in December 2000.