[Nfb-krafters-korner] Fwd: [Ct-nfb] Retirement of Dr. Maurer

[Blindhands at aol.com]

Joyce  Kane
_www.KraftersKorner.org_ (http://www.krafterskorner.org/) 
Blindhands at AOL.com   

 
  
____________________________________
 From: PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu
Reply-to: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org
To:  ct-nfb at nfbnet.org
Sent: 12/1/2013 7:26:23 P.M. Eastern Standard  Time
Subj: [Ct-nfb] Retirement of Dr. Maurer


From: "Fredric Schroeder"  <fschroeder at sks.com>

Friends:

Over the weekend, I  participated in a meeting of the board of directors
of the National  Federation of the Blind. The meeting was held at our
national headquarters  in Baltimore.



As you know, Dr. Marc Maurer has been our  national president since
1986. He has served as president longer than any  of our previous
presidents and has guided us through a period of  unprecedented growth
and change. It was under Dr. Maurer's leadership that  we established
the Jernigan Institute and all of the programs that have  been so
successful in demonstrating the truth of our assertion that  given
proper opportunity and training, blind people can live and work as  others.



In particular we have developed many programs designed  to provide blind
children and youth with the skills and confidence they  need to compete
fully in their education and to develop their life  ambitions. We have
conducted the Youth Slam, Science Academy, and more  recently theBELL
programs.



In the area of technology under  Dr. Maurer's leadership we developed
the KNFB Reader Mobile allowing blind  people to have immediate access
to print with nothing more than a cell  phone and special software. And
then there was the Blind Driver Challenge.  There is no question that
lack of access to reliable transportation remains  a major barrier for
blind people. Yet, the Blind Driver Challenge showed  that we could
develop the technology to enable a blind person to drive a  car, not
simply sit passively in a car that drives  itself.



These are the expressions of Dr. Maurer's leadership.  Yet at the heart
of his leadership is his spirit and his belief in every  blind person.
He has inspired and encouraged us, faced the most difficult  challenges
with resolution and strength, and he has kept us together, and  never
let us waiver in our belief in our own right to live normal,  productive
lives.



On Saturday afternoon Dr. Maurer told the  board that it is his
intention to not seek reelection to the presidency  next summer at our
national convention. He feels the time is right to  transition to the
next president, the next individual who can lead us for a  quarter century 
or
more. Dr.
Maurer is in good health and believes that  it is important that he step
down from the presidency while he is able to  assist with the transition. 
Dr.
Maurer told the board that he, Dr. Maurer,  plans to support Mr. Mark
Riccobono as the next president of the National  Federation of the Blind.



Mr. Riccobono presently serves as the  Executive Director of the
Jernigan Institute. He is an accomplished  individual with the strength
and wisdom to assume the serious  responsibility of leading our
movement. He has brought to his work the  imagination and competency we
demand from our president.



We  are truly fortunate that within the Federation we have individuals
who are  able and willing to give all they have to furthering our move
toward true  equality. The demands of the NFB presidency are
unimaginable. We require  our leader to give all of his time, all of his
imagination, and all of his  personal reserve of judgment to leading our
organization. This is what Dr.  Maurer has done for the past 27 and a
half years, and it is what Mark  Riccobono will do for the time of his
presidency.



The  transition brings to an end one chapter in our history and what a
glorious  chapter it has been. We cannot face the loss of Dr. Maurer's
leadership  without a sense of sadness; but the transition to a new
president is not  just the absence of what we had before. The transition
heralds a new  chapter in our history and with it, new opportunities-the
chance to take  all that has come before and build something bigger and
more powerful than  we have ever known.



Please join me in thanking Dr. Maurer for  his leadership, his
friendship and his faithful devotion to our cause; and  please join me
in wishing Mark Riccobono the very best as he seeks to take  the
foundation that is all that has come before and build upon it the next  
great
chapter in our  history.


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