ML Strategies, LLC, a wholly-owned consulting subsidiary of Mintz Levin, has added veteran policy advisor Constance Garner as Vice President for Disability Policy & Education Policy. She will be based in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Garner draws on decades of legislative, health care, government agency, and consulting work to help clients develop strategies to address disability and education issues. For 17 years, she served as Policy Director for Disability and Special Populations to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). Ms. Garner served as the Executive Vice President for Policy at United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) and in the U.S. Department of Education as Director of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council for Children with Disabilities and as the principal liaison on interagency health care matters for the Secretary of Education. She most recently was Policy Director in Foley Hoag’s Government Strategies Practice Group.

“Connie is a passionate advocate who, for almost two decades, has worked to effect positive change through disability and education policies. She demonstrates that same commitment and tenacity on behalf of her clients,”  said Susan W. Berson, Managing Member of the Washington, D.C. office and the Division Head for Communications, Health, MLS and Antitrust. “Connie’s background in health care, in particular, dovetails with the firm’s nationally recognized health law practice. We are delighted to welcome her to the Washington, D.C. office.”

“As policy questions continue to arise from Washington, clients need counsel who they can rely upon to help them navigate through the opportunities and challenges. Connie brings a strong, insider’s perspective of how Washington works to her clients,” said Stephen P. Tocco, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of ML Strategies. “Connie is a veteran who has had a hand in creating policy directly improving the lives of others. She is an asset to everyone she works with and we are pleased to have her joining our team.”

Ms. Garner’s federal experience includes time as the lead Democratic committee architect for the CLASS Act, the major long-term care legislation that is part of the Affordable Care Act; enactment of the landmark Mental Health Parity Act 2008; the 2006 and 2009 reauthorizations 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.

Ms. Garner has also practiced as both a hospital and public health clinical nurse specialist, including as the nursing administrator for maternal-child health inpatient hospital units in the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. areas.

She holds BS and MS degrees in Nursing from George Mason University, and an ED.S in Special Education policy from George Washington University. She is also certified as a Pediatric and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.