Bio of President and CEO

Allan I. Bergman is president and CEO of Anixter Center in Chicago. The mission of Anixter Center, founded in 1919, is to enhance the ability of individuals living with or at risk of disabilities to live, learn, work, and play in the community. At dozens of locations across greater Chicago, the agency provides an array of innovative services to 5,000 children and adults with disabilities of all kinds. Anixter Center also advocates for the rights of people with disabilities to be full and equal members of society. Anixter Center is one of the largest community-based providers of rehabilitative services in Illinois and, according to Crain’s Chicago Business, the 13th largest nonprofit in Chicago.

Prior to joining Anixter Center, Mr. Bergman served as the President/CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America in McLean, VA. The Association is the only national voluntary association in the country, along with 41 Chartered State Affiliates, dedicated to creating a better future through brain injury prevention, research, education and advocacy. Under Mr. Bergman’s leadership and guidance, the Association served as the national leader and catalyst in bringing multi-disciplinary groups to the table to address issues affecting those in the brain injury community and to unify the field through public policy advances, organizational development, enhanced public visibility and development of the National Information Center on Brain Injury. He is a man committed to inclusion and collaboration, not only within the field of brain injury but across all disability groups.

Mr. Bergman is a leading public policy analyst and advocate on behalf of people with disabilities and chronic conditions and their families. He played a critical role when Congress voted to reauthorize the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Act in 2000. He was also the only individual invited to testify before both Committees of the House and Senate during development and implementation of the landmark Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999.

Mr. Bergman is a nationally recognized expert on disability policy with an emphasis on health care and long-term services and supports issues including Medicaid, Medicare and managed care. He has served as co-chairperson of the Long-Term Services and Supports Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, a coalition of over 120 national disability organizations. In this role, he has been a significant contributor to the development of major personal assistance and long-term care reform proposals and was a major player in the development of the Medicaid Community Supported Living Arrangements option enacted in OBRA'90 and the personal care amendment eliminating the need for physician prescriptions and nurse supervision in OBRA '93. Mr. Bergman also founded and co-chaired the Consortium Task Force on Children and Families through which he spearheaded a national family support agenda culminating in the passage of the Families with Children with Disabilities Support Act of 1994. He was a co-founder and charter member of the Coalition on Disability and Aging. He also provided leadership in the 1987 reauthorization of the Development Disabilities Act, which resulted in amendments focusing on state service systems and the lack of services to persons with developmental disabilities attributable to physical impairments. He also has served as a consultant and faculty member for the National Conference of State Legislatures for over fifteen years on a variety of disability policy issues including family support, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Medicaid financing, personal assistance services and the implementation of the US Supreme Court decision in the Olmstead case.

Mr. Bergman’s leadership represents over 35 years of experience as a state agency employee, service provider and advocate on behalf of people with a variety of disabilities/chronic conditions as well as an association manager. He has served as the Executive Director of ARC-Colorado, ARC-San Francisco, and ARC-Dallas. He began his work as a Rehabilitation Counselor and Program Manager for the Texas Commission for the Blind and also served as Executive Director of the Austin (Texas) Cerebral Palsy Center. Prior to his position at the Brain Injury Association of America, he served as the Deputy Director and Director of Governmental Activities and the Director of State Federal Relations at United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc. in Washington , DC . As a non profit and association management leader, he maintains membership in the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and is an appointed member of its Key Philanthropic Organizations Committee.

He has visited services, met with people with disabilities and family members and provided consulting and training in 47 states. He has also consulted in Canada, Israel and Australia. An articulate and inspiring speaker, he is a self-described advocate and change agent. He is the parent of a young woman with disabilities and the stepparent of a young woman with disabilities from a progressive neurological condition. Mr. Bergman and his family live in Chicago’s northern suburbs.