{"id":492,"date":"2013-01-02T19:58:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T03:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10124\/?page_id=492"},"modified":"2025-07-25T22:52:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:52:28","slug":"board-of-directors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/?page_id=492","title":{"rendered":"Board of Directors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Chris Araque, adult on the autism spectrum<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Michael Bernick, Attorney; Former&nbsp;Director of California\u2019s Labor department, EDD; &nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Autism-Job-Club-Neurodiverse\/dp\/163220696X\">Autism Job Club<\/a>&nbsp;author; parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Will Bernick, recent &nbsp;Cal State University East Bay&nbsp;graduate; works in data entry; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCYyd5KcOyQLeavo9ggl5eww\">AASCEND TV<\/a> Host; adult on the autism spectrum<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Camilla Bixler, AASCEND Co-chair; City College of San Francisco faculty, retired; Support for Families honoree; SF Mayor\u2019s Office of Disability honoree; Star Academy founding board member; parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ronald Bixler, City College of San Francisco faculty; background in financial planning; Star Academy founding board member; parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jennifer Brooks, adult on the autism spectrum<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cassindy Chao Bierhaus, former tech and finance executive turned professional matchmaker and relationship coach; <em>Ancient Wisdom Modern Love<\/em> founder and author; parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ronan Dunlop, parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jack Fagan, Canon Director of Operations, Grace Cathedral; <strong>Previously:<\/strong> Co-chair San Francisco Mayor\u2019s Disability Council; Director of Operations, Hamilton Families; Associate Executive Director, The Arc of San Francisco<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lawrence Fung, <span style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Associate Professor of Psychiatry &amp; Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine; Director, Stanford Neurodiversity Project; parent<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keith Halperin,&nbsp;Sr. Technical Recruiter; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCYyd5KcOyQLeavo9ggl5eww\">AASCEND TV<\/a> Host<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Brian Jacobs, venture capital investor, founder of Moai Capital and Emergence Capital, Lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stacey Kennedy, a performer and creative artist, singer on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smule.com\">Smule.com<\/a>&nbsp;(with the nickname <em>SoundSavvyKnine<\/em>), AASCEND TV commentator, adult on the autism spectrum with the co-existence OCD traits that altogether make her very talented!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Steve Medina, parent\/advocate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paul Nussbaum, Handyman; writer; autism speaker; US Air Force veteran; Leader\/Organizer of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/expedition-autism.com\/\">Expedition-Autism<\/a>; adult on the autism spectrum<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>David Van Etten, Retired businessman; parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jacob Wang, Office Worker, adult on the autism spectrum<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Franz Wolf, AASCEND Treasurer; Insurance specialist; previously, legislative aide to Congresswoman Jackie Speier<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gregory Yates, AASCEND Co-chair; handyman; zen student; brain science writer;\u00a0adult on the autism spectrum<br><br>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pamela Buttery (emeritus), Real estate developer; 20 year board member of CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates; parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>David Platzer (emeritus), Medical Anthropology PhD; previously Experience Researcher at Adobe Design<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adam Pollack (emeritus), Autastics founder (see <a href=\"http:\/\/autastics.org\">Autastics.org<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jennifer Schwartz (emeritus), community volunteer; previously in pharmaceutical sales with Pfizer; parent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dan Simpson (emeritus), University Recruiter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>James Ullrey, IT specialist; adult on the autism spectrum, deceased<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Archive photo of the AASCEND Board (2018):<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/aascend.org\/?attachment_id=2162\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2162\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1005\" height=\"423\" src=\"http:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/AASCEND-Board-2018.jpg\" alt=\"AASCEND Board\" class=\"wp-image-2162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/AASCEND-Board-2018.jpg 1005w, https:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/AASCEND-Board-2018-300x126.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/AASCEND-Board-2018-768x323.jpg 768w, https:\/\/aascend.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/AASCEND-Board-2018-500x210.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1005px) 100vw, 1005px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archive photo of the AASCEND Board (2018):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-492","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aascend.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}