Richard Petty is Co-Director of ILRU and will have primary responsibility over the Learning Collaboratives (T1) and will collaborate on the CIL survey (R2) and all knowledge translation activities provided by ILRU. Mr. Petty has extensive experience forming and leading large, successful national collaborative projects. He has led ILRU’s ongoing Disability, Diversity and Intersectionality project which began in 2017, identifying CILs that were exemplary in serving persons with disabilities from minority backgrounds. Through the project those exemplars trained and provided TA to other CILs to help them improve services to individuals with minority backgrounds.

Mr. Petty has served as the executive director of the National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services at Boston College and as director of the ILRU New Community Opportunities Center, a national center that fosters innovative community programs and youth transition. He has directed the IL-NET, the national project that provides training and technical assistance on programming and management to CILs and SILCs, organizations that foster community independence. Mr. Petty directed the ILRU Community Living Partnership, which provided training, publications, and consulting for CMS Real Choice Systems Change grantees implementing innovative home and community services programs. Mr. Petty holds an MBA degree from the Bauer School of Business at the University of Houston.