Andy Bondy, Ph.D.
Andy Bondy, Ph.D., has over 40 years of experience working with children and adults with autism and related developmental disabilities. He served as the Director of the Statewide Delaware Autistic Program for more than a dozen years. He and his wife, Lori Frost, pioneered the development of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). He has designed the Pyramid Approach to Education (with Beth Sulzer-Azaroff) as a comprehensive combination of broad-spectrum behavior analysis and functional communication strategies.
This approach has been cited as a model program for preschool and school-aged children within public and private school settings. He has published numerous articles, several books as well as been an invited presenter at conferences around the world. He is the co-founder of Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc., an internationally based team of specialists from diverse fields providing guidance and services around the world. He also currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.
Dr. Charles Popper
Dr. Popper is co-founder and CEO of TechPar Group, a technology advisory services company that delivers strategic and tactical IT advisory services to investors, vendors, and users. TechPar Group has grown from three partners to a team of more than 50 consultants, delivering services to more than 125 clients. Prior to founding TPG, Dr. Popper was Vice Chairman and Chief Technologist for Orama Partners, a boutique investment bank servicing and investing in high-tech start-ups. Prior to this, he was Vice President, Corporate Computer Resources, and CIO at Merck & Co., Inc. from October, 1991 through January, 1999, where he was responsible for all areas of computer and telecommunications technology at Merck, including application development, technical support, and operations. In this position he was responsible for an annual operating budget of about $400 million, in addition to a capital budget of about $100 million. Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Popper was a Partner in the Management Consulting Practice of Deloitte & Touche. Dr. Popper received his B.A. (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard, in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.
Dr. Saul Axelrod
Saul Axelrod is Professor of Education at Temple University. He received his doctorate from Florida State University in Special Education in 1970 His major interests include applying behavior analysis principles to behavioral problems exhibited by people with handicaps and increasing the academic development of children of poverty. Dr. Axelrod has served on the boards of editor of several journals, including Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Journal of Behavioral Education, and Behavior Modification. He has written numerous journal articles and book reviews. He is an author or editor of Behavior Modification for the Classroom Teacher, Behavior Analysis and Treatment, and How to Improve Classroom Behavior. In 2006, Dr. Axelrod was the first recipient of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's Michael Hemingway Award for Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis. In 1991 he was elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association. In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis. In 2009, he received Florida State University's Distinguished Alumnus Award, Distinguished Educator category.
Erin Richard, MA, BCBA
Erin Richard, MA, BCBA, is the Director of Adult and Transition Services at Alpine Learning Group, a private,non-profit program providing behaviour analytic services to learners with autism and their families in Paramus, NJ. She has specialized in working with adolescents and adults with autism in employment, educational, community, and home settings for the past decade. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and holds both teacher of the handicapped and elementary teacher certifications in New Jersey. She holds a B.A. from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and a Masters degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell College in Caldwell, New Jersey. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Caldwell College’s Applied Behavior Analysis program. Ms. Richard has presented at many local and national conferences on a variety of topics including preparing learners for adulthood, assessing and reducing problem behavior, and teaching leisure skills.