Frank G. Bowe, Ph.D., LL.D., Keynote
Bio: Dr. Frank Bowe, Dr. Mervin Livingston Schloss Distinguished Professor at Hofstra University, has agreed to be our keynote speaker. Among Dr. Bowe’s many distinguished accomplishments, as executive director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD), he led public demonstrations in 1978 to prevent a presidential veto of that year's amendments, which created the authority for independent living centers. He wrote the initial version of what is now section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, requiring that federal agencies procure hardware and software that is accessible to and useable by people with disabilities. Since 1975, he has played a role in virtually all major disability-related legislation enacted by the United States Congress. To learn more about Dr. Bowe, see his website at: http://people.hofstra.edu/faculty/frank_g_bowe/

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Salvador Avila
Bio: Salvador Avila is Head of Reference at the Las Vegas Library of the Las Vegas - Clark County Library District, Las Vegas, NV. In 2003, he was named Criticas Librarian of the Year, will serve on ALA Council 2005 - 2007 and teaches Library Skills at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

Marvelene Beach
Bio: Chief of Collections and Management Diversity Committee Liaison, Ocean County Library, has been a major contributor to the success of the Diversity Initiative and Outreach Services development.

Valerie Bell
Bio: Supervising Librarian of Branch Services and Co-Founder of the Ocean County Library's Diversity Initiative and Committee has an extensive background in building community focused library services and organizational diversity development.

Ingrid Betancourt
Bio: Director of the Multilingual Materials Acquisition Center at the Newark Public Library in New Jersey, a statewide information clearinghouse and resource center on library services and materials in selected world languages established in 1991. Ms. Betancourt is a former president of REFORMA, The National Association to Promote Library Services to the Spanish-Speaking and a founding member of the Northeast Chapter. She served as Co-Chair of the National Steering Committee for the first REFORMA National Conference in 1996. She is known as an advocate for library services to underserved populations, serves as consultant on library services and programs for culturally diverse communities and has been a speaker on these subjects at state and national levels.

Deborah Blackwell
Bio: Supervising Branch Library Assistant and Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee at Ocean County Library, has expertise building Community partnerships and across cultures training.

Cathi Finnen
Bio: Branch Manager and Past Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee is the current Chair of the Ocean County Library's Human Relations Commission.

Lila Fredenburg
Bio: Lila Fredenburg has been a librarian since 1998. Prior to that she practiced employment law and human resources administration for several Fortune 500 corporations. She has been Human Resources Librarian at Princeton University since 1999. She is an active member of the LAMA division of ALA and is a representative to the ALA Recruitment Assembly. She has also contributed a chapter to Human Resources Management in Today's Academic Library recently published by Libraries Unlimited .

Fred Gitner
Bio: Fred J. Gitner is currently Coordinator of the New Americans Program at Queens Borough Public Library in Jamaica, NY, which serves residents of Queens whose first language is not English, after having served since 1996 as the Program Assistant Head. Prior to that, he worked as Library Director of the French Institute/Alliance Française in Manhattan, for over ten years. He holds an MLS from Rutgers University. Mr. Gitner is active in professional organizations and is a member of the American Library Association and the New York Library Association. He is a co-editor of "Bridging Cultures: Ethnic Services in the Libraries of New York State" published by NYLA in 2001. He has made presentations at the Public Library Association, New York Library Association, New Jersey Library Association, and at the 2001 IFLA conference.

Mary Kay Jou
Bio: Mary Kay Jou, is the Training Director of the International Institute of New Jersey. She provides cultural competency training and coordinates the IINJ Multicultural Speakers Bureau. Ms. Jou has been invited to speak on Cultural Competency at statewide, national and international conferences.

Allan Kleiman
Bio: Currently, Allan M. Kleiman is the Head of the Reference Department at the Westfield Memorial Library in Westfield, New Jersey and is the President of the New Jersey Library Associations Special Population Section. Allan has been working directly in providing library services to older adults since 1974 when he started as an Adult Services Librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library. From 1981 to 1995, he was Chief of the library’s SAGE/Service to the Aging Program. He has been active in the New York and New Jersey library associations as well as the American Library Association, where he is currently the Chair of the ALA/RUSA Library Service to an Aging Population Committee. Allan had been a speaker and workshop leader on older adults at statewide programs in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Iowa and Arkansas as well as a frequent voice at the American Library Association, the Public Library Association and the Canadian Library Association. He has also been a speaker at the Library of Congress Center for the Book, Ulverscroft’s VIP Conference, IFLA and Co-Chaired ALA’s Pre-White House Conference on Aging in 1995. He is a Library Journal cover boy and his article on “The Aging Agenda,” as well as his IFLA paper on “Global Graying: Successful Strategies for Bridging Information Gaps with the Elderly Population ,” remain two of the standards in the field.

Paula Lefkowitz
Bio: Paula Lefkowitz holds a bachelor's degree in English and history from New York University and a master's degree in library science from Rutgers University. She has been head of children's services at Parsippany Public Library for sixteen years and is currently president of NJLA's Children's Services Section. Her professional specialties are children's literature and outreach.

Christine Lisiecki
Bio: Christine Lisiecki has been a Librarian with the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped for over 18 years. During her tenure she has worked with individuals with a variety of disabilities. She has also presented workshops on "Sensitivity Training for working with People with Disabilities" to public libraries in NJ. An article she wrote on Assistive Technology was published in Computers in Libraries.

Len LoPinto
Bio: Len LoPinto received his MLS degree from Pratt University. He began his public library career in 1978 at the Brooklyn Public Library. Len was Director of the Westwood Public Library from 1989- 2000. He was appointed Director of the Paramus Public Library in 2000. Mr. LoPinto has been active in ESL programs since 1980. He is Chairperson of the BCCLS Literacy Committee, a member of Literacy Volunteers of Pascack Valley. He was instrumental in founding ESL programs in Bergen County Libraries.

He is married and is the father of three children.

Elaine McConnell
Bio: Director of the Ocean County Library since 1984 and Past President, NJLA is deeply committed to making a difference. Through her vision and leadership the library's Diversity Initiative has flourished and has received national recognition and acclaim.

Nick Montalto
Bio: Dr. Nicholas V. Montalto has served as President & CEO of the International Institute of New Jersey for 25 years. Founded in 1918, the Institute is New Jersey’s largest multicultural immigrant service organization. It has helped to integrate generations of immigrants to life in New Jersey and to build greater understanding between newcomers and native-born Americans. Dr. Montalto holds a doctorate in immigration/ethnic history from the University of Minnesota. He has written and published extensively in the field of intercultural education and has served on many boards, including those of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, the Hudson County Coalition of Nonprofit Organizations, and the Hudson County Commission on Human Relations. He was also a member of the 1999 class of Leadership New Jersey. Prior to coming to the Institute, Dr. Montalto taught in the New York City school system and at Barnard College and the University of Minnesota. He also taught English with the Peace Corps in Iran.

Homa Naficy
Bio: Of Iranian decent, Homa Naficy is the Coordinator of The American Place program at Hartford Public Library, Connecticut. The program, incepted in April 2000, helps people realize their goal for secure immigration, citizenship and literacy.

Mark Winston
Bio: Mark Winston is Associate Professor at Rutgers University, School of
Communication, Information, and Library Studies. He has published more
than twenty-five articles in peer-reviewed journals, on various aspects of
leadership, management, and diversity, as well as two books, Managing
Multiculturalism and Diversity in the Library: Principles and Issues for
Administrators and Leadership in the Library and Information Science
Professions: Theory and Practice. His assignments as a diversity
consultant have included work with a number of public and academic
libraries and the Association of Research Libraries.