Andrew J. Imparato

Executive Director of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities  

Andrew Imparato has served as executive director of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) since 2013. As a disability rights lawyer and policy professional with more than 25 years of experience in government and advocacy roles, Imparato has worked with bipartisan policymakers to advance disability policy at the national level in the areas of civil rights, workforce development, and disability benefits. Prior to coming to AUCD, he was senior counsel and disability policy director for Chairman Tom Harkin on the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Before that, he spent 11 years as President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, a national organization working to grow the political and economic power of the disability community. Imparato’s perspective is informed by his personal experience with bipolar disorder.

Since joining AUCD, a national network of over 100 university-based programs that conduct research, training and advocacy to improve the quality of life of children and adults with disabilities, Imparato has helped the organization nearly triple its budget, broaden the scope of its advocacy and expand its leadership capacity. In recent years, AUCD has connected in a deeper way with the broader civil rights community and with private sector partners like the Council on Foundations and the US Business Leadership Network, helping the network share its expertise with a broader group of stakeholders.

Imparato’s work has been recognized by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Transportation, the US Junior Chamber of Commerce, the National Council on Independent Living, the National Association of the Deaf, and the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation. He has testified nine times before Committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives and has been interviewed on a wide range of disability issues by national television, radio and print media. He cultivates grassroots activism on social media and is known for seeking out and mentoring emerging leaders with disabilities.

Imparato co-authored articles that have been published in the Stanford Law and Policy Review and the Milbank Quarterly, and wrote a chapter on the Supreme Court’s disability rulings in The Rehnquist Court: Judicial Activism on the Right (Hill & Wang 2003). He has been an adviser on accessibility, recruiting and corporate social responsibility to Centene, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner, Walmart, Anthem, and other leading businesses. He currently serves on the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars program, the Centene National Disability Advisory Council, and the Ruderman Family Foundation’s International Advisory Council. Imparato graduated summa cum laude from Yale College and with distinction from Stanford Law School. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, historian Elizabeth Nix, Ph.D. They have two sons. Gareth is a writer in Los Angeles and Nicholas is an undergraduate at Pomona College in Claremont, California.

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