National Council on Disability Welcomes New Executive Director Aaron Bishop

Oct. 20, 2010

WASHINGTON—National Council on Disability (NCD) Chairman Jonathan Young, announced today that Aaron Bishop of Washington, DC, will become NCD’s new Executive Director on November 15. NCD is an independent federal agency charged with advising the President, Congress, and other federal officials and entities on all policies, programs, practices and procedures affecting people with disabilities. NCD’s mission is to further the goals enshrined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for all people with disabilities.

According to Young, “NCD is delighted to have selected Aaron Bishop as its new Executive Director. Mr. Bishop, a well-respected disability advocate in his own right, comes to NCD directly from the United States Senate, where he has been on the Hill since 2003 and top disability policy adviser to Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi, who is the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions since 2005. His legislative background and disability expertise will be a very nice addition to the NCD staff. We look forward to working with Mr. Bishop. He holds great promise for NCD.”

“We also want to thank Joan Durocher for serving as NCD’s interim Executive Director until a permanent director could be chosen. Ms. Durocher has been promoted to NCD’s General Counsel and Director of Policy,” Young said.

Biography of Aaron Bishop

Aaron Bishop is currently a Professional Staff Member for the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee for Senator Mike Enzi. He has almost 20 years of experience working with and for individuals with disabilities in both the direct practice and public policy sectors. In his capacity as Professional Staff Member, Aaron handles disability related issues. Most recently he was a legislative assistant for the HELP Committee when the committee was chaired by Senator Judd Gregg.

Mr. Bishop began his career in high-school while acting in marketing videos for the Attainment Company, a production and marketing firm that creates products that assist individuals with developmental disabilities with daily living skills. As an undergraduate student he worked as a counselor for the Mental Health Center of Dane County, providing mentoring services for children with mental health disorders. After completing his graduate degree he served as a project coordinator for the Waisman Center University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, managing projects that advanced the rights of individuals with disabilities.

Mr. Bishop moved to Washington in 2001 accepting a position as the Site Coordinator for the National Service Inclusion Project for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) before becoming the Director of Technical Assistance for AUCD. In January of 2003, he received a Kennedy Foundation Public Policy Fellowship to work on federal disability policy and legislation and was placed as committee staff for Senator Judd Gregg, Chairman of the HELP Committee.

In addition to these positions, he has worked as a researcher at several laboratories across the country. He has also held conducted numerous presentations on disability and race, and has volunteered with several sports and charitable organization such as the Madison Memorial Youth Basketball League, the Committed 100 Black Men Helping Boys, and People First of Wisconsin.

Furthermore, Mr. Bishop recently spent 10 months in Australia, where he conducted a comparative policy analysis of the Australian health care system and new health care delivery model in Massachusetts. Specifically the analysis compared polices relating to the individual cost of health care services and supply of quality health care services for people with disabilities.

Mr. Bishop received his Master’s of Science in Social Work degree, with an emphasis in public policy, and two Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.