Howard Renensland
CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mitchell E. Marovitz
COO, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors
Anna Pakman
Vice President Business Development, Treasurer of the Board of Directors
Ron Levinson
Vice President Programming and Production
Nadine O. Vogel
Vice President Marketing
Gary C. Norman
Legal Counsel
Senior Advisors
Rick Boggs, Senior Advisor
Rick Boggs is known as an actor/musician, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. As a motivational speaker he has addressed tens of thousands of people across the United States, speaking on topics that include diversity and equal opportunity employment. He co-founded CatchItCam, the company that created the most popular hands-free video recording system seen on national television, and founded Sound Adventures, Inc., a digital audio recording company. He served on the Boards of The Accessible Theater Association, and Guide Dogs of the Pacific.
As an active member of the Media Access Office, he co-produced the Media Access Awards for three consecutive years. He currently serves on the Boards of The Blind Children’s Center, Music To The Rescue and the Consumer Advisory Board of KCET. Additionally he serves as co-vice-chair of the Tri-Union National Performers with Disabilities Committee. In 1993, he received commendations from the Mayor of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the California Legislature, and the Governor of California. He has received awards from National Easter Seals, the American Foundation for the Blind, the California State Board of Guide Dogs, and the California Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. In 2003, the American Association of Disabled People (AAPD) as one of America’s top 30 emerging leaders recognized him.
In the early 1990’s his efforts to make professional audio recording technology accessible inspired leading developers to make changes to their recording software, which opened new employment opportunities for blind audio engineers. In 1999, Mr. Boggs founded We See TV, which is committed to train and employ disabled persons in technical positions. For this, Rick received the prestigious California Governor’s Trophy at the National Business Leadership Conference in 2003. Rick Boggs became totally blind at age five due to detached retinas caused by Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
Dr. Fred Fay, Senior Advisor
Dr. Fred Fay is an icon in what has been termed the disability movement, Dr. Fay is the Co-Founder of Justice For All, Co-Founder of the American Coalition of Citizens With Disabilities, Co-Founder of the American Association of People With Disabilities, Co-Founder of the Washington Architectural Barriers Project, and Co-Founder of the Boston Center for Independent Living. Dr. Fay is a past Chairman of the Justice For All Telecommunications Committee.
He is a pioneer in using computer technologies and the Internet to improve communication among national, state, and local organizations. He received his bachelor’s degree, his master’s degree, and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He has received numerous awards including the prestigious Henry B. Betts Award. He chaired Americans with Disabilities for Clinton/Gore in 1996 and he retired as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee’s Disability Advisory Committee.
Chester Finn, Senior Advisor
Chester Finn is recognized throughout the United States and at The United Nations as a tireless and effective advocate for all people with disabilities, He has been involved in the self-advocacy movement since 1992 working in the areas of employment, policy development, and community inclusion. Mr. Finn was instrumental in bringing self-determination to New York State eventually became an advisor for the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State in 1999. Mr. Finn became involved in the national self-advocacy movement in 1994. He became the Chair of Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered in 2002. Mr. Finn himself is blind.
Anthony Hughes, Senior Advisor
Anthony Hughes served as Vice President Philip Morris Management Company (now Altria), Financial Communications and Investor Relations World-Wide. Prior to that he was Executive Vice President Burson-Marsteller, the worlds largest public relations company (part of WPP) where he was in charge of Financial Communications and Investor Relations Globally. He as as advisor to major listed companies and financial institutions throughout the U.S. Also advisor to listed companies, government and financial institutions in Norway, Sweden, Italy, France, Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and the Caribbean. He is a graduate in accounting, Hendon Technical Institute, London and has a B.Sc, English, Columbia University.
Stephen Kuusisto, Senior Advisor
Professor Stephen Kuusisto, who has been blind since birth, is the author of Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening and the acclaimed memoir Planet of the Blind, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”. He has also published Only Bread, Only Light, a collection of poems from Copper Canyon Press. Recognized by the New York Times as “a powerful writer with a musical ear for language and a gift for emotional candor,” Steve has made numerous appearances on programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline NBC, National Public Radio and the BBC.
A graduate of the “Writer’s Workshop” at the University of Iowa, and a Fulbright Scholar, Steve holds a dual faculty appointment at the University of Iowa where he teaches courses in creative nonfiction in the English Department and serves as a public humanities scholar in the U of Iowa’s Carver Institute for Macular Degeneration. He speaks widely on diversity, disability, education, and public policy. His essays and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines including Harper’s’ The New York Times Magazine; Poetry; and Partisan Review. He is currently working on a collection of prose poems for Copper Canyon Press entitled "Mornings With Borges" as well as a collection of political poems about disability. Visit his website at www.stephenkuusisto.com.
Gary T. Phillips, Senior Advisor
Gary Phillips, currently working as a consultant, recently retired as Vice President Corporate Human Resources at Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc. Novi, Michigan. Since 1994. he was responsible for human resource functions worldwide, reporting to the Chairman & CEO of a $2.7 Billion automotive Tier 1 & 2 supplier. He has enjoyed a long and successful career in Human Resources with prior postings at Gencorp Automotive, Libbey-Owens-Ford Co., GTE Mobilnet, Inc. and at various divisions of GTE. Mr. Phillips is a Disabled Vietnam Veteran and a lifetime member of the D.A.V. He currently resides in Toledo, Ohio with his wife Barbara and four children. His expertise in Human Relations and all business issues is most welcome.
Dr. Scott Rains, Senior Advisor
Dr. Scott Rains is the Director of Programs and Services at SeniorNet, an international peer education network of seniors teaching technology to seniors that is based in San Jose, California. His responsibility includes oversight of SeniorNet’s 200+ Computer Learning Centers in the U.S., curriculum development, and international expansion. In that role he is also called upon to consult on Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. His focus has been the tourism industry.
His research on the topic of Universal Design and the travel and hospitality industry has included appointment as Resident Scholar at the Center for Cultural Studies of the University of California Santa Cruz (2004-05). Professional presentations include the pre-conference workshop on travel and Universal Design at the Adaptive Environments Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2005), the keynote address at the first International Accessible Tourism Conference in Taipei, Taiwan (2005), and a plenary presentation at the NICAN conference on Easy Travel in Perth, Australia (2004). He is co-convener of the second International Accessible Tourism Conference scheduled for November 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand and consultant for the September 2007 World Assembly on the U. N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Seoul, South Korea. Rains’ scholarly work includes editorship of the first body of research on travel and disability in the field of Disability Studies with the publication of the 2006 (Vol. 2 Issue 2) of the Review of Disability Studies. He has been invited to edit a follow-up volume after contributing to the Disability Studies Quarterly (March 2007).
He consults with travel agents and tour operators worldwide. Dr. Rains is currently working with a three-nation accessible tourism consortium (Turismo para Todos) in South America and assisting the Brazilian government in the formation of maritime tourism policy. His daily column is the Rolling Rains Report on Travel, Disability & Universal Design at www.RollingRains.com.
Brad Saul, Senior Advisor
Brad Saul is the founder and CEO of Matrix Media, a multi media company which focuses on radio entertainment with recent projects including “Animal Planet Radio,” “The HGTV Design Minute,” and “Travel Channel Radio.” In addition, Matrix has launched two new radio networks over the past 12 months. The first network is UBC Radio Network and the second is EBN Radio Network. With over 30 years of experience in radio entertainment, Mr. Saul has pioneered a number of broadcast firsts. He introduced many innovative concepts to radio such as home shopping, NBA Radio Network, in-flight audio and video advertising, the first radio station in an amusement park, and more than 50 shows in syndication. He holds a BS and MA in Radio, Television and Film from Northwestern University.