[Nfbv-fairfax] Fw: [Nfbv-announce] Retirement of Dr. Maurer

[Wanda Taylor]

Please see email message below.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fredric Schroeder" <fschroeder at sks.com>
To: "NFBV Announce" <nfbv-announce at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2013 11:12 AM
Subject: [Nfbv-announce] Retirement of Dr. Maurer


> 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 the BELL 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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