Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

President Obama has announced appointments to the Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities:

Peter H. Bell, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual DisabilitiesPeter H. Bell is the Executive Vice President for Programs & Services at Autism Speaks, a position he has held since 2007. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Bell was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Cure Autism Now, where he helped to establish the Autism Treatment Network. Prior to his work at Cure Autism Now, Mr. Bell held a number of marketing positions at McNeil Consumer Healthcare from 1992 to 2004. Mr. Bell serves on numerous boards and commissions, including as Co-Founder and President of Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism and chair of the Community Advisory Committee for the International Society for Autism Research. Previously, in 2007, he served as Chair of the Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs for autism research. He is also the father of a child with autism. Mr. Bell received a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. 

Jack Martin Brandt, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual DisabilitiesJack Martin Brandt is the Disability Policy Specialist for the Partnership for People with Disabilities at Virginia Commonwealth University, a position he has held since 2010. In this role, Mr. Brandt’s work focuses on developing and promoting evidence-based and person-centered practices to improve outcomes in self-advocacy for people with intellectual and development disabilities. Previously, Mr. Brandt was the Disability Rights Advocate at the Virginia Office for Protection & Advocacy from 2008 to 2010, a Disability Policy Consultant for the State of Virginia from 2006 to 2008, a Virginia Governor’s Fellow at the Office of Community Integration for People with Disabilities in 2006, and a Congressional Intern for the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee in 2005. Mr. Brandt serves on the Virginia Community Integration Advisory Commission and the Virginia Statewide Independent Living Council. In 2006, Mr. Brandt received the Jackie Crews Award for Excellence in Leadership from the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities. Mr. Brandt received a B.A. from James Madison University and is pursuing a  Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University.