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2025 National APSE Board of Directors At-Large Candidate

CLICK to meet all nominees before the election ends on March 10.

Please describe your history/nature of involvement/interest in promoting competitive integrated employment in your state. Additionally, explain why you are passionate about competitive, integrated employment for people with disabilities:

Suad Bisogno is the CEO of Integrated Resources Institute, an employment service provider that also provides education, training and advocacy. She has been serving on the California APSE board since 2020. She also sits on the California TASH board. She has been a part of larger stakeholder groups that have worked to eliminate sub-minimum wage, developed the California Office for Employment First, and developed new types of employment services, including the Coordinated Career Pathways Service, which allows for the very first time, the development of a Person Centered Career Plan and funding for Customized Employment Services. She worked to develop a California centric ACRE curriculum that has now supported in the training of over 300 employment professionals in California. Most recently, Suad has developed grants that have led to partnerships with California APSE to allow for trainings and technical assistance with SME.

Suad has a passion to promote competitive integrated employment services throughout the state and federal government. Suad is good at recognizing bottlenecks and coming up with creative solutions to address those issues. Suad is eager to provide the national board support to further promote our mission.

What best represents your position/lived experience?

Family Member of a Person with a Disability; Service Provider or Manager

What skills, knowledge, or lived experience do you have that will contribute to strengthening and growing the financial health of APSE and promoting its mission to advance employment and self-sufficiency for all people with disabilities?

Suad runs a non profit that employs 300 employment specialists and provides support to over 400 persons with disabilities with an operating budget of 15 million dollars. Suad has helped ensure that her organization is in good financial health, as when she took over leadership, the organization was operating at a loss for 3 years. Part of her effort was not to “cut back” but instead, ensure that the funding source was paying for services more appropriately and developed a better recordkeeping and accounting team.

Suad sits on many boards and advisory committees as is known for asking good questions that help guide ensure that the work we do is in line with the goals outlined and always thinks about the people we support.

Suad has a brother with a disability and has a passion for supporting people with disabilities to live their best lives.

What relevance does/should APSE and its chapters/members have in national and state conversations regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion?

Suad believes that the work we do is inherently part of the DEI movement. She speaks to this during her organizational trainings, community meetings and ACRE trainings. She is inspired by advocates such as Keri Gray, who highlight intersectionality and disability. She believes the work we do is part of a civil rights movement. We have made progress, but have a lot of work that still needs to be done. We see direct supports and accommodations as part of the equity discussion. We won’t stop doing the work we do until employment sites have the same ratio of employment for people with disabilities in their workforce as there is in society (currently at 26%), The work we do offers opportunities should not be limited to integration as the true goal is inclusion.

Biography

Suad Bisogno is the CEO of Integrated Resources Institute, a non profit dedicated to the employment and inclusion of people with disabilities. Suad started her career in this field back in 2007 as a direct support professional in employment and supported living services. She was fortunate enough to be trained by visionaries in this field that believed the work we did was part of the civil rights movement.

Suad had the pleasure of being able to provide direct supports to people with disabilities over the course of her career. She uses the philosophy of “Good Enough for Me’ to ensure that the supports she provides would be the supports she would want to receive.

Suad moved around Southern California a bit and was able to support several organizations in developing person centered employment 1st services. Her belief is that there are no competitors for employment support services. Waitlists are too long, and unemployment rates for people with disabilities are too high.

Suad sits on several different boards and committees. She serves on the CA APSE and CA TASH board. She is part of several workgroups that have created and expanded employment services for persons with disabilities.

On her free time, Suad loves to hike and explore the outdoors. She is an avid music lover, with a large vinyl collection and goes to about 2 concerts a month, typically with her best friend and husband, Tony. She is a mother that enjoys watching her little ones grow. She has a 7 y/o son (Apollo) who loves to question everything and play Fortnite, and a 5 y/o son (Zef) who has a desire to give and be goofy.