[Nfbnet-members-list] National Federation of the Blind elects Mark Riccobono President

[Danielsen, Chris]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Federation of the Blind elects Mark Riccobono President

Baltimore, Maryland (July 11, 2014): The National Federation of the 
Blind (NFB), the nation's largest organization of blind Americans, 
has elected Mark Anthony Riccobono as its new President, the Chief 
Executive Officer of the organization. The election took place on 
July 5 at the national convention of the NFB, held in Orlando, 
Florida. Mr. Riccobono succeeds longtime President Marc Maurer, who 
announced last fall that he would not be seeking the office of 
President again. First elected to the Presidency in 1986, Dr. Maurer 
has been reelected every two years and his twenty-eight years in 
office make him the longest serving President in the seventy-four 
year history of the organization. Since 2007, Mr. Riccobono has 
served as Executive Director of the National Federation of the Blind 
Jernigan Institute, the research and training arm of the NFB. Prior 
to assuming that position, he served as the Jernigan Institute's 
Director of Education, where he pioneered its innovative STEM 
(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education 
programs such as the summer Science Academies and the Youth Slam. He 
is also a past president of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin.
In his acceptance remarks to the convention, Mr. Riccobono said in 
part: "The Presidency of the Federation demands commitment, 
sacrifice, strength, energy, imagination, insight, and above all, 
love; and I pledge to give each of those fully. In this moment, the 
only way that I know to appropriately thank Dr. Maurer, Mrs. Maurer, 
and the thousands of other members of the Federation who have built 
this foundation we stand on and who have given of themselves to make 
our lives better, is to build our Federation with the same love and 
determination that they have demonstrated. With my pledge of 
commitment, I invite each of you to express your gratitude to Dr. 
Maurer by being an active contributor to the next great phase of our 
movement and by answering the call to help me to fulfill the promise 
we make to each other: Together with love, hope, and determination we 
will transform dreams into reality."
With the election of Mr. Riccobono, Anil Lewis will assume the 
position of Executive Director of the NFb Jernigan Institute. Mr. 
Lewis is a past president of the National Federation of the Blind of 
Georgia and past member of the Board of Directors of the National 
Federation of the Blind. He was most recently Deputy Executive 
Director of the Jernigan Institute.

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About the National Federation of the Blind

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the 
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise 
the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create 
obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life 
you want; blindness is not what holds you back.






Christopher S. Danielsen, J.D.
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
Office: (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
Mobile: (410) 262-1281
E-mail: <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the 
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise 
the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create 
obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life 
you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

To make a donation to the National Federation of the Blind 
Imagination Fund campaign, please visit 
<http://www.nfb.org/ImaginingOurFuture>www.nfb.org/ImaginingOurFuture.

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