Dr. Deschamps currently serves as a senior research associate at TransCen, Inc. a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to improving educational and employment outcomes for people with disabilities. She provides technical assistance to staff of Maryland PROMISE, a five-year initiative addressing the needs of youth, ages 14-16 receiving Supplemental Security Income and their families. She also coordinates the Mid-Atlantic ADA (American with Disabilities Act) Leadership Network, providing professional development to ADA trainers in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Previously, Dr. Deschamps provided support to Maryland counties through the Maryland Seamless Transition Collaborative (MSTC), which provides youth with disabilities the opportunity to participate in enhanced career assessments, paid job experiences, support services, and leadership activities. Dr. Deschamps also collaborates with other TransCen team members to design relevant online training opportunities for transition practitioners.

Dr. Deschamps previously served as Director of Training and Evaluation for TransCen’s ADA Information Center for the Mid-Atlantic Region before becoming a Transition Specialist with the Fairfax County Public School system in Northern Virginia for nine years where she provided consultation, training, and technical support to special education personnel in Career and Transition Services. She also served as a consultant to the Johnson Scholarship Foundation in Florida where she advised the Board of Directors on disability programming specifically related to the transition from school to life after school and career development for college students with disabilities. Dr. Deschamps has also taught children with learning and emotional disabilities.Dr. Deschamps received her B.A from and her doctorate in Special Education from The George Washington University specializing in disability policy and transition from school to work for students with disabilities. She lives in Northern Virginia and has two adult children.

Rick Fiery is the co-founder of InventiveLabs which is located in Amesbury, Massachusetts. InventiveLabs is a research lab and business incubator that helps people with learning differences find their passions and take a gap year, explore careers or create a new business in an all-accepting environment. Rick has a passion for helping young adults with learning differences find alternative paths to success and believes with the right environment and supports, people with learning differences can achieve substantial success. Prior to InventiveLabs, Rick was the CEO of several startup companies that he created and grew before selling them to strategic buyers. One of his software companies grew to where it had subsidiaries in 6 countries and products sold in over 60 countries. He also ran the finance department for a large multinational software company generating over $330 million before departing to do another startup. Rick has a Bachelors and Masters in civil engineering from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Dr. Horowitz, Ed.D., is the director of LD resources and essential information at the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD). Prior to his arrival at NCLD in 1996, he served as the associate director of the Learning Diagnostic Center at Schneider Children’s Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center (LIJMC) in New Hyde Park, NY. He also held the position of assistant unit chief, educational supervisor, and grand rounds chairperson of the Center for Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Dr. Horowitz has taught at primary, secondary, and college levels, and worked as a consultant to school districts throughout the New York City metropolitan region. His interests include: neurobiology of learning, educational assessment, fetal alcohol effects in children, language-based learning disabilities, disorders of hyperactivity and attention, and learning disabilities in adolescents.Dr. Horowitz is a regular presenter at professional conferences in the field of special education, and is frequently cited in the popular press on topics including parenting children with special needs, LD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, assessment and evaluation, and LD throughout the lifespan. 

He has provided leadership on many of NCLD’s key projects and programs, including national summits, Every Child is Learning, Get Ready to Read!, Living with LD, Recognition & Response, LD Talks, LD News, LD Insights, Research Roundup, Transitioning to Kindergarten Toolkit, and the Early Learning Observation & Rating Scales. He is also a co-author of the recently released NCLD’s 2014 State of Learning Disabilities report.Dr. Horowitz completed his master’s degree at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and received his doctorate in learning disabilities from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York, NY, with a specialization in learning disabilities and neurosciences in education.

Dr. Horowitz lives in Hempstead and Woodstock NY with his wife. They have four young adult children.

Chris is the Founder and CEO of Rosemark Capital Group and the Founder of Rosetta. Chris founded Rosetta in 1998 and was its Chairman & CEO until May 2013 and Non-Executive Chairman from May 2013 until his departure from the company in December 2013. Throughout Chris’ 28-year management career, he has been focused on developing and deploying breakthrough marketing and operational solutions based on intellectual property scaled through technology. This fascination motivated him to found Rosetta and pilot its aggressive growth trajectory, and now forms the basis for Rosemark Capital Group.

In 2010, Rosetta became the largest independent digital agency in the world and was named the #1 agency to watch by Advertising Age. In 2011 Rosetta was sold to the Publicis Groupe. Prior to founding Rosetta, Chris co-led the retail marketing practice at First Manhattan Consulting Group and prior to that, spent 10 years in marketing management at Johnson & Johnson, leading the Band Aid and Tylenol Brand franchises.

Chris is a lecturer at Princeton University in Technology & Entrepreneurship and a guest lecturer at New York University. He is a Board Member of Princeton Day School, The New School University, and the James and Diane Burke Foundation. He has written numerous articles, addressed industry conferences and served many Fortune 500 CEOs in the pharmaceutical, financial services, and consumer packaged goods industries.

Chris received his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School with Honors. He lives in Princeton, NJ and Shelburne, VT with his wife and their three sons.

Alyssa is an experienced business executive with a career spanning the financial services, strategy consulting, consumer retailing and non-profit sectors in the US and UK. Alyssa is the Associate Director of the Entrepreneurship Initiative at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an Adjunct Professor and Entrepreneur-in-Residence. She also works extensively with the local business leaders and entrepreneurs to ensure a close connection between the activities on campus and the needs of the broader professional community.

Alyssa began her career on Wall Street as a commercial lender for Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank), and later joined management consultants McKinsey & Company as a specialist in the financial services sector. Alyssa moved to McKinsey’s London office and remained with the firm until leaving to launch her own entrepreneurial venture, the Great Little Trading Company (GLTC Ltd). GLTC became a brand leader in children’s products; in addition to receiving various industry awards and recognition as one of the UK’s 100 fastest growing mid-market companies. After stepping down from day-to-day management of the company, Alyssa became an advisor to entrepreneurial start-ups throughout the UK and an active member of the London Business Angels network.

Upon returning to the US in 2007, Alyssa expanded her interest in entrepreneurship and began advising non-profit organizations. She also launched New Venture Mentors, a platform to support aspiring entrepreneurs from underserved communities.

An active member of the local community, Alyssa’s other interests include the education, opportunities for the intellectually disabled, and the advancement of underprivileged women and girls. She has served on the boards of the National Children’s Museum, Compass DC, ProInspire, and Working Families (UK), and on the Maryland advisory board of Best Buddies International. She is also an active supporter of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, Teach for America DC, NFTE (the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship), and BUILD.

Alyssa received her B.A. from Harvard University in Government and her MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and four children.

Dr. McLeod is the Executive Director of the Aspire Program of Massachusetts General Hospital (“MGH”), a program serving individuals with the autism spectrum disorder. He is also a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard University, in addition to being engaged in private practice, Dr. McLeod has served as the Executive Director of the MGH Aspire program since 1991. He was previously employed jointly as the Chief Psychologist at the MGH Charlestown HealthCare Center until 2013. However, since August 2013, Dr. McLeod has devoted himself full time to the Aspire Program. Dr. McLeod was also employed form 1995 to 2006 as the Clinical Supervisor at Harvard University’s “Inventing the Future” Program where he supervised students in the “Risk and Prevention Program” of the Graduate School of Education. Prior to serving in these capacities, Dr. McLeod was a staff psychologist at Dana Group Associates, serving individuals with ADHD and The Germaine Lawrence Diagnostic Center where he performed psychological testing.

Dr. McLeod has been awarded the Emerson Award for excellence in research amongst fellows at the Massachusetts General Hospital as well as the Judge Ruffin Award for excellence in youth work given by the Charlestown District Court.Dr. McLeod completed his master’s and doctorate degrees in Clinical Psychology from Boston University and received his bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.

Dr. McLeod lives in Medway, Massachusetts with his wife, Jeanne, a clinical social worker. He has one child, two cats and a newfound interest in curling.

William R. Stixrud, Ph.D., is a clinical neuropsychologist who has been in private practice since 1985. He is also a member of the Adjunct Faculty of the Children’s National Medical Center, and he holds a faculty appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the George Washington School of Medicine. He has previously held an appointment at the Georgetown University Medical School, and he has served as a consultant to the Division of Neuropsychology at the National Institutes of Health.

For the past 20 years, Dr. Stixrud has been extensively involved in the training and supervision of psychologists and learning specialists. He is also a frequent lecturer on topics related to neuropsychological assessment, learning, and executive disorders, brain development, brain-based learning, motivation, and the effects of stress and sleep deprivation on the brain. He is the author of a book, Plain Talk About Early Education and Development, and he has authored book chapters and/or articles on children with epilepsy, adolescent brain development, self-esteem, homework, and the effects of Transcendental Meditation on students with ADHD.

Dr. Stixrud has been quoted often in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Barron’s and Vogue. He is also a rock and roll musician and plays in the band, Larry 2.0.Dr. Stixrud received his doctorate degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota. He did his pre-doctoral internship in Pediatric and Clinical Psychology at the Children’s Hospital of Boston, as a fellow of the Harvard Medical School, and he received his post-doctoral training in Clinical Neuropsychology at the Tufts-New England Medical Center. Prior to entering private practice, Dr. Stixrud worked as a staff neuropsychologist at the Children’s National Medical Center and the Georgetown University Medical School.

Dr. Stixrud lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with his wife. They have two adult children and one grandchild.

Jennifer is a Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, leading the Firm’s Navy and Marine Corps Headquarters & Operations subaccount. Her team supports clients around the world, with concentrations in the Pentagon, Quantico, and Norfolk; and across the Pacific including San Diego, Hawaii, and Okinawa. Jennifer also drives significant change through the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion initiatives as senior advisor for the DiverseABILITY Forum and Disability Agenda.

Jennifer joined Booz Allen in 2000 as an Associate in the Honolulu office. Recognized as a “Booz Allen Woman of Distinction” in 2003, she developed the Firm’s Defense Pacific Strategy and helped expand the Firm’s business into Guam and Japan. Before joining Booz Allen, Jennifer led an e-commerce project for American Management Systems (AMS); helped standardize processes across the largest and fastest growing Ski Resort management firm in the US, and served as Special Projects director establishing an oil refinery in Thailand.

Prior to entering the private sector, Jennifer served as a Special Operations Officer in the United States Navy. She is a qualified Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Officer, Diving Officer, Naval Parachutist, and Surface Warfare Officer. Jennifer Graduated “With Distinction” from the Naval Surface Warfare Officer School and was a Distinguished Naval Graduate from Naval Officer Candidate School.

A National Merit Scholar, Jennifer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Wesleyan University. She earned an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, completing her studies at the Sasin Business School at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

John Sheffield is a technology entrepreneur focused on early-stage and growth startups. John co-founded and served as president of Seven Bridges Genomics (SBG), which develops and operates an informatics platform for biotechnology and healthcare research with high-throughput DNA sequencing data. He is now a partner at Linnaean Company, which operates a portfolio of web businesses and provides operational and strategic consulting services for entrepreneurial companies.

John received his BA in Social Studies from Harvard College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. He also earned an MSc in Applied Statistics from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. John resides in Cambridge, MA.