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Nancy J. Bloch is chief executive officer and ex-officio Board member of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD).
The NAD was established in 1880 by deaf leaders who believed in the right of the
American deaf community to use sign language, to congregate on the issues important
to them, and to have its interests represented at the national level. These
beliefs remain true to this day, with American Sign Language as a core value. As a nonprofit federation, the mission of the NAD is to preserve, protect, and promote
the civil, human, and linguistic rights of deaf Americans.
The advocacy scope of the NAD is broad, covering the breadth of a lifetime and impacting
future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health
care, technology, telecommunications, youth leadership and more. On the global
front, the NAD represents the U.S.A. as an affiliate of the World Federation of
the Deaf, an international human rights organization.
Bloch is the first female executive leader of the NAD, a post she has held
since 1992. Prior to the NAD, she was director of the Management Institute and adjunct professor in the School of Management at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. At that time, she was also president of GNB Consultants, a management and technology
consulting enterprise. Raised in Miami, FL and deaf since birth, Bloch holds
a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Miami and a Master
of Arts degree in Counseling and Guidance from Gallaudet University. She resides
in Annapolis, MD with her husband Gerald "Jerry" Nelson; they enjoy being on the
Chesapeake Bay during boating season.
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Bill Stark has been Director of the DCMP (formerly the Captioned Media Program) since 1991.
In 1992, he submitted a "Feasibility Study Relating to the Establishment of a Descriptive Loan Service" to the U.S.
Department of Education, recommending that the program’s captioning services be expanded to also provide description
of educational media for students who are blind or visually impaired. In 2006 this service became a reality, and
the DCMP was born.
Stark holds BS and MS degrees in education and information technology, and is a certified teacher with a decade
of college teaching experience. He has an additional twenty-five years of administrative experience in media and
community service programs in residential schools for the deaf and blind. Professional highlights include directing
the writing and illustrating of the first-ever deaf hero comic book for international distribution, being taught how
to caption films by Dr. Malcolm Norwood ("the father of closed captioning"), and directing national accessible media
awareness campaigns in partnership with such organizations as the National Education Association, Scholastic, and the
Public Broadcasting System.
Stark has received consumer service awards from national organizations and served as a consultant and advisory board
member for many programs. Numerous articles written by him have been published in professional journals and appear online.
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