About Us
[ Overview ] [ History ] [ Board of Directors ] [ Our Staff ]
US Business Leadership Network Overview
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. The USBLN® recognizes and supports best practices in the employment and advancement of people with disabilities; the preparedness for work of youth and students with disabilities; marketing to consumers with disabilities; and contracting with vendors with disabilities through the development and certification of disability-owned businesses.
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, supplier chain and the economy.
History
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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.
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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.
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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)
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ODEP was authorized in the Department of Labor’s FY 2001 appropriation.
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After ODEP was created business leaders within the BLN affiliates met the annual national conference and voted to establish a national organization known as the US Business Leadership Network®.
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The creation of the national organization was intended to assist the development and growth of affiliates across the U.S.
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In 2004, the USBLN® affiliates elected representatives from affiliates across the U.S. to serve as the first USBLN® Board of Directors.
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In April 2007, the US Business Leadership Network hired John D. Kemp as its first Executive Director and General Counsel.
Our Board Members
Learn more about the USBLN® Board of Directors
Our Staff
Learn more about the USBLN® Staff