Jessica Green was the answer to the last post. Can you guess the star of this post?

On Thursday, May 21st , 2009, Down Syndrome Indiana awarded this star and the New Albany Wal-Mart a Star Award for their outstanding efforts to advance employment opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome. This star views employment of individuals with a disability as a career changing opportunity and devotes much of his time to working with nonprofit and civic organizations. This star’s work is impressive because he wants to make sure that Wal-Mart not only hires individuals with a disability but also works with them to retain their position and to move up in the company; not just leave the challenge of long term advancement to “job coaches” from outside agencies.

This star has also led the effort to have Wal-Mart begin working with nationally known consultant, James Emmett to redesign technology at 3 Southern Indiana and 9 Kentucky Wal-Mart locations to make it more user friendly to its employees with a disability. James Emmett has also worked with such major corporations as Walgreens and Best Buy.

In addition to this, this star traveled to Washington D.C. in February 2009 and met with legislators to discuss the need for meaningful employment by individuals with a disability under the new ABLE legislation that is being proposed. He also attended a 3 day Affiliates in Action Conference to learn more about Down syndrome.

This star is a store manager for the New Albany Wal-Mart. He also serves on the board of Directors for the Down Syndrome Support Association of Southern Indiana (DSSASI). This star’s inspiration for his work on behalf of individuals with Down syndrome began with the hire of Mark Hublar, a 44 year old individual with Down syndrome that is employed full time by the New Albany store.