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GPDD Executive Director

Biography of María Reina,
GPDD Executive Director, Burton Blatt Institute

Following an open, international competitive process, María Verónica Reina was selected to serve as Executive Director of the GPDD by the Global Partnership on Disability and Development (GPDD) and the Burton Blatt Institute leadership, in February 2008. From 2006 – 2008, Ms. Reina was the Director of International Projects at BBI's Washington, D.C. office. Before joining the Burton Blatt Institute, Ms. Reina served as President of the Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR), where she oversaw programs in Engineering Research and E-Learning, as well as the International Disability Rights Monitor Project, a landmark international research process that documents and assesses the situation of people with disabilities worldwide. Ms. Reina has diverse experience working on disability research and advocacy and development, including an intensive dedication to the United Nations (UN) Ad Hoc Committee for the Disability Convention.

Ms. Reina is an educational psychologist, a specialist in learning disabilities, and a renowned international disability rights advocate. Prior to working in the United States, Ms. Reina’s advocacy work focused on raising the international community’s awareness of and involvement in the Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Ms. Reina has organized Inter-American campaigns on the Convention aimed at the media, governments and other nongovernmental organizations, including the "Susana Abalo defense" campaign. In addition, she has chaired international disability rights meetings and conferences, moderated the International Disability Caucus communications, and managed the Spanish translation and distribution of Disability Convention documents throughout Latin America.

Ms. Reina’s experience also includes work with the Inter-American Institute on Disability, the Institute for International Disability Advocacy, the Institute for International Cooperation and Development, Argentinean Disabled People Organization CILSA, and University Institute San Martin, where she was adjunct professor.

A graduate of the Catholic University of Santa Fe, Argentina, Ms. Reina received a specialization in Special Education for School Integration and a Master's degree in Open and Distance Learning and Teaching, at the Spanish University UNED.

About Burton Blatt Institute of Syracuse University (BBI)

The Burton Blatt Institute (BBI), located at Syracuse University (SU) in Syracuse. New York - United States, will build the premier organization to advance civic, economic, and social participation of people with disabilities in a global society by creating a collaborative environment—with entrepreneurial innovation and best business practices—to foster public-private dialogue, and create the capacity to transform policy, systems, and people through inclusive education, the workforce, and communities.

BBI, takes its name from Burton Blatt (1927–85), a pioneer in humanizing services for people with mental retardation, a staunch advocate of deinstitutionalization, and a national leader in special education. Blatt was Dean of the School of Education and Centennial Professor at Syracuse University, served as director of SU’s Division of Special Education and Rehabilitation, and founded the Center on Human Policy to promote a more open and accepting society for people with disabilities.