National Council on Disability announces new Vice Chair

For Immediate Release

June 4, 2024

WASHINGTON — Today the National Council on Disability (NCD) announces the designation of Councilmember Emily Voorde as NCD’s new Vice Chair.

NCD Chair Claudia L. Gordon selected Voorde, who has served on the Council since November 2022, to serve in the position she previously held.

“I’m proud to announce our new Vice Chair will be Emily Voorde, who brings an abundance of experience, ideas and energy into this critical role,” said Chair Gordon. “Emily is passionate about NCD’s rich history and important mission, and as an alumna of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House Office of Public Engagement where she served as the liaison to Disabled Americans, she is well-experienced to help NCD advance our advice to policymakers.

“I’m honored to have been asked to serve as the National Council on Disability’s Vice Chair by Chair Claudia Gordon,” said Voorde. “This Council has the opportunity to advocate for critical, long-recommended updates to disability rights and regulations on behalf of disabled Americans,” she said. “I feel immensely privileged to serve alongside Chair Gordon, my fellow Council Members, and the NCD staff.”

Both Gordon and Voorde were appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and took the oath of office as Councilmembers on Nov. 17, 2022. Gordon was Vice Chair under previous Chairman Andrés J. Gallegos and became acting chair when he died Dec. 1, 2023.

Gordon was later announced as Council Chair by the White House on April 5, so designated by President Biden.

The Council includes Chair Gordon, Vice Chair Voorde, Hoskie Benally, Jr., Sascha Bittner, Theo Braddy, Shawn Kennemer, Risa Rifkind and Neil Romano.

Appointments to NCD are made by the President of the United States, the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, the Speaker of the House, and the House Minority Leader pursuant to section 451 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (Pub. L. 113–128).

Read all of the Councilmember biographies at ncd.gov/council-members.

Biography

Emily Voorde is Vice Chair of the National Council on Disability. She is the founder and CEO of INTO Strategies, a disabled-led firm bringing people into moments, movements, and campaigns. Emily served in the White House Office of Public Engagement as the Biden-Harris Administration’s liaison to Disabled Americans and K-12 educators. Voorde’s personal passions and professional expertise center on justice for individuals with disabilities and equitable access to education. Her career began as an AmeriCorps member and 2nd grade teacher in Pascagoula, Mississippi. In the summer of 2019, Voorde returned to her hometown of South Bend, Indiana to support Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s run for President, serving as Chasten Buttigieg’s full-time body woman on the campaign trail. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Voorde served as an Associate Director with the University of Notre Dame’s Sara Bea Center for Students with Disabilities. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame, a Masters of Education from the University of Notre Dame, and a Masters of Public Policy in Education from Vanderbilt University.

About the National Council on Disability (NCD): First established as an advisory Council within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Rehabilitation in 1978 and Department of Education in 1979, NCD became an independent federal agency in 1984. In 1986, NCD recommended enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. Since enactment of the ADA in 1990, NCD has continued to play a leading role in crafting disability policy, and advising the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policies, programs, and practices.

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