Connie Garner, M.S. draws on decades of legislative, health, government agency, and consulting work to help clients develop strategies to address disability and education issues. Widely recognized for her leadership and advocacy, Connie has impacted policy on a national level. For 17 years, she was Policy Director for Disability and Special Populations to the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), where she worked with the late Senator Kennedy and former Senators Chris Dodd and Tom Harkin. In that position, she directed or significantly contributed to efforts to draft and enact important federal legislation, including the CLASS Act, the major long-term care legislation that is part of the Affordable Care Act; the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008; the 2006 and 2009 reauthorization of the $2 billion Ryan White CARE Act; the Family Opportunity Act of 2006; the 2005 reauthorization of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); and the 1999 Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act. In addition, at the US Department of Education, Connie served as Director of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council for Children with Disabilities and as the secretary of education's principal liaison on interagency health care matters.
