National Down Syndrome Society Names Kandi Pickard President & Chief Executive Officer

The National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS), the leading human rights organization for all individuals with Down syndrome, has named Kandi Pickard as president and chief executive officer (CEO) effective immediately. Ms. Pickard most recently served as interim president and CEO, where she set a clear vision for the future of NDSS with her push to address caregiving and adult issues. As she takes on the permanent president and CEO role, her focus will be on working side-by-side with all constituency groups ready to tackle issues across the lifespan.

NDSS Chairman of the Board, Gordon Spoor, emphasized Kandi’s insight into the disability movement. According to Mr. Spoor, because of her experience as a mother in the community as well as her experience with NDSS, Ms. Pickard was the most exceptional choice for president and CEO.

The mission of the National Down Syndrome Society is to be the leading human rights organization for all individuals with Down syndrome. The organization provides state-of-the-art, comprehensive programming to all individuals with Down syndrome and their families. The organization envisions a world in which all people with Down syndrome have the opportunity to enhance their quality of life, realize their life aspirations, and become valued members of welcoming communities.

This was reported by the National Down Syndrome Society on July 11, 2019.

Contact information: Joshua Harlow, Vice President of Communications, National Down Syndrome Society, 8 East 41st Street, 8th Floor, New York, New York 10017; 405-850-4471; Email: jharlow@ndss.org; Website: www.ndss.org

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COVID-19 Risk Management Plan August 11, 2021

We are excited to return to sunny southern California for The 2021 OPEN MINDS Management Best Practices Institute at the picturesque Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa, August 23-26, 2021. To help plan your in-person attendance, visit https://openminds.com/live-mbpi/ for a schedule of events happening throughout the week.

The resurgence of the COVID Delta variant has certainly created new challenges for the country and for our families. Fortunately, the available COVID vaccinations have been very successful in preventing symptomatic infections and illness. But I did want to let you know that our team at OPEN MINDS is committed to making our executive events as safe as possible and have an active risk management plan in place. I wanted to share with you the key elements of our plan:

Masking. Every participant will receive a mask as part of their registration materials. Unvaccinated people will be required to wear masks – and vaccinated attendees will be encouraged to wear masks. If the local or state governments have more restrictive standards (including mandatory masking or requiring proof of vaccination) at the time of our institutes, we will follow those standards.

Social Distancing. We are working with the event venue to hold all sessions in the largest possible rooms with seating as far apart as possible. In order to accomplish this, we ask that you select in advance the sessions you plan to attend in-person at the event venue. This will assist us with room and seating arrangements.

Outdoor Events. Where possible, we will use outdoor spaces for networking events and smaller sessions.

Hand Sanitation. Hand sanitation stations are available throughout the event venue and hand sanitizer is included in your registration materials, courtesy of our partner, Qualifacts+Credible.

Virtual Sessions. Every session will be partially or fully available in a virtual capacity:

We are livestreaming via GoToWebinar our plenary sessions – keynote addresses and plenary panels. You can participate online from your hotel room (or from your home office if you can’t attend on-site). We will be accepting questions from both the onsite and online audiences.
Each executive seminar is being offered at two separate times, one live at the event venue and the other exclusively for virtual attendees.
We are recording the audio for each session – and will post the audio along with presentation materials after each session.
A virtual exhibit hall will be available with access to all exhibitor contact information, product demos, and engagement opportunities.

We will continue to monitor any changes in the CDC recommendations for the continued safety of the public. If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to reach out to a member of our team at events@openminds.com or by phone at 877-350-6463. We look forward to seeing you at The 2021 OPEN MINDS Management Best Practices Institute.

Monica E. Oss
Chief Executive Officer
OPEN MINDS

National Down Syndrome Society Names Kandi Pickard President & Chief Executive Officer

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COVID-19 Risk Management Plan August 11, 2021

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