About Us

US Business Leadership Network Overview

The US Business Leadership Network (USBLN®) is a national non-profit, non-partisan business to business network promoting workplaces, marketplaces, and supply chains where people with disabilities are included. The USBLN® serves as the collective voice of over 60 Business Leadership Network affiliates across the United States, representing over 5,000 businesses. Additionally, the USBLN® Disability Supplier Diversity Program® (DSDP) is the nation's leading third party certification program for disability-owned businesses, including service-disabled veterans.

BLN affiliates are business organizations headed by a lead employer who exemplifies these practices and shares experiences with other members-employers-within the state or region. These activities include career fairs, disability mentoring and internship programs, and training programs including disability business etiquette, accommodation, and other disability issues deemed significant to employers. Businesses join BLN affiliates to learn how to expand their diversity recruiting efforts to include people with disabilities - not as a social model but as a business case to recruit talent and better serve their customers. BLN successes serve the workplace, marketplace, supply chain and the economy.

USBLN® Corporate Member & Partnership Opportunities Fact Sheet - (DOC l PDF)

Our Mission, Vision and Values

Mission
The US Business Leadership Network (USBLN®) embraces the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the labor force and marketplace; assists in career preparation for and employment of people with disabilities, improves customer experiences for people with disabilities, and promotes the certification and growth of disability-owned business.
Vision
The USBLN® builds workplaces, marketplaces and supply chains where people with disabilities can realize their full potential and be respected for their talents, economic self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship.
Values
The following value statements are the foundational ideals under which the USBLN® operates. The USBLN® will consistently strive to achieve them, while encouraging all BLN Affiliates, corporate members, strategic partners, vendors and other key stakeholders to do the same.
- Employer-to-Employer Collaboration
  
  Principle: The USBLN® believes its mission should be driven by the needs of employers, working closely with other employers, to create disabilities inclusive cultures that increase their talent pools, attract and retain customers and enhance entrepreneurship and economic opportunities for people with disabilities.
  
  Employers participating with BLN's locally and with the USBLN® nationally are dedicated to improving the economic independence of people with disabilities and their families by sharing promising practices and creating new opportunities in the workplace, marketplace and supply chain.
- Integrity and Accountability
  Principle: The USBLN® lives its Mission with honesty and integrity, openness and accountability, and ethical behavior and responsible stewardship of all resources entrusted to it.
  The USBLN® promotes these values in its interactions with the public and its BLN Affiliates, corporate members, vendors, and partners, and among the USBLN®.s Board of Directors, consultants and staff. The USBLN®.s finances are independently audited and it does not tolerate conflicts of interest. It adheres to its Mission while periodically reviewing it for relevance and accuracy.
- Affiliate Network Relations
  Principle: The USBLN® supports the BLN Affiliate Network with technical assistance, communication and sharing promising practices.
  The USBLN® values and supports a sustainable BLN Affiliate Network through ongoing dialogue, cross-affiliate communications, technical assistance, fund development and national branding of the BLN Affiliate Network.

History

The Business Leadership Network (BLN) was originally established in 1994 through the President’s Committee on Employment with People with Disabilities (PCEPD – small federal agency whose chair and vice chairs were appointed by the President) with a national business advisory board chaired by Tom Donohue, the President of the US Chamber of Commerce.
The Network was created through various Governor’s and Mayor’s committees on disability and based on the premise that business responds to their peers, and underscoring that employers should be recognized as valued customers of the vocational rehabilitation system.
Recognizing the need for a national policy to ensure that people with disabilities are fully integrated into the 21st Century workforce, the PCEPD was closed and Congress authorized the creation of the Office on Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the U.S. Department of Labor.
ODEP was authorized in the Department of Labor’s FY 2001 appropriation.
After ODEP was created business leaders within the BLN affiliates met the annual national conference in 2002 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and voted to establish a national organization known as the US Business Leadership Network®.
The creation of the national organization was intended to assist the development and growth of affiliates across the U.S.
In 2004, the USBLN® affiliates elected representatives from affiliates across the U.S. to serve as the first USBLN® Board of Directors.
In April 2007, the USBLN® secured John D. Kemp as its first Executive Director and General Counsel.
In January 2010, the USBLN® launched the first and only third-party certification of disability-owned businesses, inclusive of service-disabled veterans.
In January 2011, John D. Kemp announced his resignation and the USBLN® Board of Directors named Jill Houghton as the Acting Executive Director for 12 months.
In October 2011, the USBLN® Board of Directors appointed Jill Houghton as the Executive Director at their in-person Board meeting at the USBLN® 14th Annual Conference & Expo.
The US Business Leadership Network® (USBLN®) is the national disability organization that serves as the collective voice of over 60 Business Leadership Network affiliates across North America, representing over 5,000 employers. The USBLN® helps build workplaces, marketplaces, and supply chains where people with disabilities are respected for their talents, while supporting the development and expansion of its BLN affiliates.

Our Board Members

Learn more about the USBLN® Board of Directors

Our Team

Learn more about the USBLN® Team