Key Team Members

Andrew J. Houtenville, Senior Research Associate

Andrew J. Houtenville, Ph.D., is a public finance economist and has extensive experience using national survey data and administrative records to examine patterns and trends in the prevalence, health and employment of people with disabilities and the influence of state and federal policies. He has published in the areas of disability statistics, disability employment policy, employment trends, poverty, income mobility, elderly migration, student achievement, education finance, and parental involvement. From 2003-2007, Dr. Houtenville was the Principal Investigator of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, as well as, several other Federal research grants. Dr. Houtenville holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of New Hampshire and is a former National Institute on Aging Post-Doctoral Fellow.

At New Editions consulting, Dr. Houtenville is currently working on Federal contracts to conduct cross-disability research in support the Interagency Committee on Disability Research and the development of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Long Range Plan.

Christine Domzal, Ph.D., has extensive experience in survey research methods, questionnaire design, program evaluation, data analysis and policy analysis. She also has substantive expertise in social psychology, attitude and opinion research, and disability policy. She has a thorough understanding of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and the OMB Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) requirements for research and development programs. All of her research experience has involved evaluation and program analysis for the purpose of program improvement, and she has designed several planning and evaluation efforts, including defining the scope of the review, organizing and synthesizing evidence, and developing questions for expert panels. She also has survey research management experience including responsibility for projects from initial client consultation to final reporting. Dr. Domzal holds a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from The George Washington University.

Ravi Sharma, Ph.D., has fifteen years experience conducting public-policy relevant economic research related to public finance, healthcare and labor economics. His areas of expertise include program evaluation, cost-effectiveness analyses, policy analyses, joint public/private enterprises, and actuarial analyses. At New Editions, Dr. Sharma is leading research projects to examine ways to integrate disabled persons into the workforce, including the option of self-employment, for the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the Department of Labor. For the Social Security Administration, he is conducting research on effective ways to target outreach to promote the Ticket to Work program among SSDI & SSI beneficiaries.

Ms. Eckel currently serves as New Editions Project Director of the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employer Marketing contract from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration. This project includes surveying stakeholders for the development of marketing materials and conducting a series of employer forums in high growth industry groups.

She recently managed a NIDRR funded contract for the purpose of coordinating information between the national network of ADA Technical Assistance Centers and NIDRR and other Federal Agencies with enforcement responsibilities. In this role, Jennifer worked to promote the Centers efforts on a national level including developing promotional materials, identifying media opportunities and providing daily news updates on legal developments and emerging issues affecting the Centers. To better identify service delivery and research needs, she developed an on-line consumer survey that assisted the Centers in developing research proposals and training responses.

Robin Toliver is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and a Certified Government Meeting Professional (CGMP) experienced in conference coordination and project management. Her experience includes work on the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel, the Department of Education, National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research and the Interagency Committee on Disability Research. Before joining New Editions, she worked on the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs/TRICARE Management Activity, TRICARE Management Activity Privacy Office, and Department of Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Department of the Army. Ms. Toliver works closely with the program management staff to oversee the coordination of all logistical and administrative components of conferences including researching and selecting the meeting site, arranging travel and lodging, coordinating food and beverage activities, developing and managing conference websites and online registration, designing and developing conference brands/logos and handout material, coordinating audiovisual requirements including, web casting, video teleconferencing, etc. Her experience also includes coordinating accessible conferences including arranging sign language interpreters and personal care attendants, assistive listening devices, wheelchair and scooter rentals, preparing conference material in alternate formats including large print and Braille, arranging wheelchair lift transportation services and computer-aided real time captioning services, and providing onsite facilitation of management. She also provides post conference services including processing participants’ expense reimbursement requests, compiling conference evaluations, preparing reports and reconciling vendor invoices and conference expenditures.

Ms. Becker provides New Editions Consulting, Inc. with a technical and design background that includes work in both traditional and new media, such as creating marketing collaterals and designing web pages and mid-level scripting. Her degree is in Communications/Public Relations with minors in Marketing and Design. She began her career as a traditional designer, creating logos, marketing materials, large-format displays and multi-media presentations. She has been designing, coding and maintaining web sites since 1996. Ms. Becker continues to add to her education by taking courses from a local technical school as well as Macromedia University. Since 2000, she has worked to ensure that her sites are functional, attractive, useable and still fully accessible by following 508 rules, W3C WAI and Usability standards, Bobby guidelines, and using CSS wherever possible. Some of the sites she has designed and helped maintain include the Newspaper Association of America, the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers, eOriginal, the Presidents Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities (now known as the Office of Disability Employment Policy), the Americans with Disabilities Technical Assistance Centers, the Employer Assistance & Recruiting Network (EARN), the U.S. International Council on Disabilities, and numerous small sites for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. She has also developed web based training for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Ms. Turner is experienced in contract administration, proposal preparation, financial budgeting, and accounting. She develops business proposals and assists managers in preparing technical proposals. She is the contact with clients for all contractual and financial issues. Ms. Turner monitors all contract budgets and develops estimates-to-complete for project managers. She assists the accounting department with invoice generation, accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll. Ms. Turner also performs various tasks on contracts such as formatting, conference support, editing, and research.

Nick is responsible for the design and implementation of custom software solutions for New Editions' customers. Using any of a variety of languages such as C++, C#, JAVA, AJAX, Visual Basic (VB), and .NET, he works with the customer to determine the specific technical requirements and from that creates the deliverable to meet these needs.

Nick has over five years experience working on public and private contracts for organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Veterans Administration, IRS, US State Department, AOL, and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Because many of these organizations are required to provide information technology that is accessible to users with disabilities Nick has become proficient in the use and technical operation of many major assistive technologies and can ensure compliance with accessibility standards such as W3C and Section 508.