Connie Garner is the CEO of Garner Public Policy Strategies and serves as the Executive Director at Allies for Independence. She brings decades of legislative and public policy expertise across a range of social issues.  She is well-known for her leadership and advocacy within the disability community, including 17 years as Policy Director for Disability and Special Populations on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), working under Senators Kennedy, Dodd, and Harkin. She has significantly contributed to a wide array of important legislation, including the CLASS Act; the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008; the 2006 and 2009 reauthorization of the $2 billion Ryan White CARE Act; the Family Opportunity Act of 2006; the 2005 reauthorization of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); and the 1999 Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act. In addition, at the U.S. Department of Education, Garner served as Director of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council for Children with Disabilities and as the Secretary of Education’s principal liaison on interagency health care matters.