WID welcomes John Lancaster to our Board of Directors. Active in the development of the human and civil rights of people with disabilities throughout the world, Mr. Lancaster will enrich our organization with his decades of public service and experience promoting disability rights internationally.

Since 1974, he has worked as a civil rights attorney on issues related to the integration and empowerment of people with disabilities. Mr. Lancaster served in government from 1981-1987 for Governor Harry Hughes of Maryland as the Director of the Office for Individuals with Disabilities and again from 1991-2000 with the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.  From 1995-2000, he distinguished himself in the Clinton Administration in the formulation of disability employment policy as the President’s Committee’s Executive Director. He served as a representative for disability employment policy in discussions between the European Union and the United States under the New Trans-Atlantic Agenda. From 2000 – 2004, he served as a policy advisor to the Vietnamese Government and the U.S. Agency for International Development in developing disability law, policy and programs in Viet Nam.

Recently retired as the Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living, Mr. Lancaster currently serves as the Treasurer and Member of the Board of Trustees for Handicap International Federation, is on the Board of the United States International Council on Disabilities and assists in advocating for the ratification and implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

President Barack Obama has nominated Mr. Lancaster for the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace.  Confirmation of his nomination is pending in the United States Senate.