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• Owen Doonan on July 31, 2016

  I graduated BU in 1961. Acquired the Citgo Building and saved the sign in the 80’s and with my fellow trustees provided the Citgo building to BU for its Bookstore and structured BU’s acquisition gift of the 500 Commonwealth corporation stock. including almost half the commercial property across the street from the Citgo building and the large parking lot behind! After working as VC and Investment Banking consultant for over 30 years I became disabled in the mid 90’s and refocused my efforts on improving the vocational rehabilitation system to serve entrepreneurs with disabilities and to find an answer to the disconnect for Professionals and executives seeking to return to meaningful work after experiencing mid career disabling conditions. My research found that these bright and capable minds were experiencing unemployment at twice the rate of mainstream people with disabilities approximation 95% and VR Counsellors in interviews found them to be between difficult to impossible to place. As the Secretary of the MA VR Council I took it upon myself to research other issues and in an attempt to reform the VR system to include reforming the brain injury system, researching the disconnect that faced students with average to above average intelligence in transitioning from secondary to post secondary education without SPED / 766 supports to guide them in vocational determinations and in providing appropriate assistive technology devices to enable competitive ability to learn. I further was instrumental in providing state and federal funding for the development of the MA AT Council, the AT Loan program and AT programs in the north east to enable schools to swap equipment and refurbish durable medical equipment. In 2012 I retired from the MA VR Council but continue to serve the AT Council as a specialist in developing Methodology for the assistive return to competitive ownership of businesses for entrepreneurs with disabilities as well as designing programs for seniors to remain independent and working as senior entrepreneurs with disabilities. My latest endeavor is a virtual work platform to enable professionals and executives to return to meaningful work as collaborative consulting self employed consultants. This program is designed to provide a no cost support system with exposure to businesses that are encouraged to try these consultants out and hire them at no charge from us. The uniqueness of this program is designed to support small and new businesses with time shared workers and if needed a full fledged virtual support incubator that can deliver services worldwide. We encourage collegial collaboration with students, professors and graduates that are focused on the development of new products and services that serve the greater good within the disability world and encourage social venture donations and investments in uplifting and empowering our most disadvantaged people, those of us who chose to live meaningful and lives that are enriched with competitive independence.

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