Invited Speakers 

Adithyan (Dithu) Rajaraman has been blessed to teach, interact with, and learn from children and adolescents with and without disabilities for 15 years. Dithu completed his Doctoral training in Behavior Analysis at Western New England University, under the advisement of Dr. Greg Hanley. In the fall of 2022, Dithu joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, where he serves as Director of Behavior Analysis Research within TRIAD: the Autism Institute at Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. In his current position, Dithu works alongside neurodivergent professionals and advocates, behavior analysts, students, and public-school educators on a broad research agenda aimed at refining and scaling trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming approaches to functional assessment and intervention for dangerous behavior. This research aim is intimately connected to the goal of being able to provide safe, dignifying, yet highly effective behavior-analytic services to underrepresented individuals in underserved communities. 

Dr. Megan DeLeon (Miller) is a renowned behavior analyst, author, and speaker. As the creator of the Do Better Movement and founder of the Do Better Collective, she is dedicated to advancing the field of behavior analysis. With a Ph.D. in Special Education and Behavior Analysis from The Ohio State University, and years of experience as an adjunct professor, Dr. DeLeon is a respected expert in her field. In addition to co-authoring several journal publications and book chapters, she is the co-author of the influential book "7 Steps to Earning Instructional Control." Her passion for empowering others in the field led her to launch the #dobetter professional development movement in 2018, offering training and resources through an online community, webinars, and a podcast. As an invited speaker for organizations worldwide, Dr. DeLeon shares her expertise in best practices for early intervention and addressing challenging behavior. She is dedicated to making a meaningful impact on the field of behavior analysis and the lives of those it serves.

Troy Fry, M.S., BCBA, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Science and Mathematics from North Dakota State University, and a Master’s Degree in Behavioral Analysis and Therapy from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Additionally, he attended the doctoral program in Human Development and family Life at the University of Kansas.  Over the past 35 years, Troy has worked with children and adults with moderate to severe developmental disabilities, including autism, in schools, clinics, hospitals and residential programs across North/South America, Europe and Asia. Over his professional career, Troy has held the positions of teacher, consultant, clinical director, and chief executive officer. He is currently the CEO and CCO at Essential for Living, P.A.

Dr. McGreevy was a special education teacher for eight years, working with children and young
adults with moderate-to-severe developmental disabilities. He received the Ph.D. degree in
Education from Kansas University under the guidance of Ogden R. Lindsley.
Dr. McGreevy served as an assistant research professor in the Institute for Community Studies and
the Department of Special Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and as an assistant
professor in the Department of Special Education at Louisiana State University. He taught courses
in applied behavior analysis, as well as, curriculum and instruction for students with moderate-tosevere
disabilities. From 2005-2014, Dr. McGreevy served as an assistant professor in the Behavior
Analysis Program at the Florida Institute of Technology.
He is the author of Teaching and Learning in Plain English, an introduction to Precision Teaching,
and the founder and first editor of the Journal of Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration
Charting. He is a recipient of the Ogden R. Lindsley Lifetime Achievement Award of the Standard
Celeration Society. He is also the author of nine journal articles and a book chapter on teaching
verbal behavior. He is also the first author of Essential for Living, a functional, life skills curriculum,
assessment, and professional practitioner’s handbook for children and adults with moderate-tosevere
disabilities.
For the past 30 years, Dr. McGreevy has provided consultations for children and adults with
developmental disabilities and hands-on training for their families. He has also provided
consultation and training for school districts, residential programs, and hospitals in the United
States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, UAE, and Brazil

Dr. Guercio has spent much of his career researching effective staff training protocols and behavior intervention strategies for staff and clients in treatment settings for clients with severe aggression. Since obtaining his master’s and doctoral degrees in behavior analysis and therapy from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Dr. Guercio has worked in settings serving as Director of Behavioral Services for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, and as Vice President of Clinical Services and Research at the Judevine Center for Autism/TouchPoint Autism Services in St. Louis. He also serves as adjunct faculty in the behavior analysis department at Washington University and  St. Louis University. He has also given more than 500 presentations at behavioral conferences and authored and/or co-authored over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as written several book chapters related to the treatment of intensive behavioral issues. He has authored or co-authored 5 books; Assessment of Adult Core Competencies: Teaching Skills to Adults with Autism and Severe Behavioral Challenges; Assessment of Adult Core Competencies: A Workbook for Assessing and Intervening with Severe Problem Behavior; Behavioral Relaxation Training Clinical Applications with Diverse Populations; PAADS; Protocols for Adolescents and Adults with Severe Disabilities in the Transition to Adulthood; and A History of the Behavioral Sciences: Theoretical Underpinnings and Historical Development. Dr. Guercio serves on the Board of Editors of Behavior Analysis Research and Practice; Behavior Analysis and Practice; Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and a reviewer for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Research in Developmental Disabilities. In his career, Dr. Guercio has helped design and run a program for individuals with sexually deviant behavior and substance abuse issues and has developed an entire treatment protocol based upon that program.  In his current role at Benchmark Human Services, Dr. Guercio serves as the Clinical Director. He oversees the continuing education and clinical consistency across the behavior analysts across all the 20 states that Benchmark does business in. He develops and delivers behavioral services for clients with significant aggression and high-risk behavioral needs, many of whom have been institutionalized in forensic settings for more than 20 years, often under mechanical restraints and heavy medication. Through Dr. Guercio’s leadership, many clients’ have achieved higher levels of autonomy and become more active participants in their communities. Dr. Guercio currently serves on the ABAI Licensing Committee and is a board member of the Missouri Association for Behavior Analysis.

John Staubitz, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA is the Director of Behavior Analysis in Education for TRIAD within the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and is an Assistant in Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. John began his career as a special education teacher and behavior analyst working with children and adolescents in public schools, homes, and clinics who presented with severe and complex behavior needs. John has directed TRIAD’s school-based behavior consultation and technical assistance programming funded through grants with the Tennessee Department of Education since 2015. He has co-authored publications related to the assessment and treatment of severe and complex behavior, the application of machine learning and sensors to enhance the assessment of behavior, and intensive reading intervention for children with behavior disorders. John remains passionate about improving outcomes for children, adolescents, and adults who present with severe and complex behavior, and is particularly interested in improving the safety, efficiency and acceptability of assessment and intervention processes available to practitioners and caregivers.

Johanna (Joey) Staubitz is an assistant professor of the practice in Vanderbilt University’s top-ranked Department of Special Education, the mission of which is to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities by preparing exceptionally competent teachers, related service providers, and researchers. Joey is a former special education teacher and school-based behavior analyst, and her experience in those roles remains fundamental to her approach to practitioner preparation and scientific inquiry. She currently directs the applied behavior analysis program, teaches courses in the experimental, theoretical, and applied branches of behavior analysis, and supervises students in clinical fieldwork experiences designed to prepare them to conduct effective, safe, and socially valid assessment and intervention procedures in special education settings. Joey’s research focuses on adapting and evaluating assessment and intervention procedures to support the social, emotional, and academic skills of children with emotional and behavioral disorders in special education settings. Her collective efforts in practitioner preparation and research align with her own driving mission: to improve all children’s access to high-quality behavioral services as part of the free and appropriate public education to which they are entitled.

Dr. Cammilleri is a Board Certified and Licensed Behavior Analyst, as well as a Licensed Special Education Administrator. He completed his doctoral work in Developmental and Child Psychology at the University of Kansas in 2002. While completing his graduate studies, he served as the Principal of Century School in Lawrence, KS. Upon graduation, he served as a Behavior Analyst for the Somerset Hills Learning Institute in Far Hills, NJ. For the next 10 years, Dr. Cammilleri served as the Director of the Jane Justin School in Fort Worth, TX. After moving back to New England, Dr. Cammilleri served as the President/CEO of Crossroads School in Marlborough, MA from 2014 to 2019. Currently, Dr. Cammilleri is a Senior Consultant and the Director of Education at FTF Behavioral Consulting where he helps organizations build behavior analytic capacity in the areas of cultural design, instructional design, staff training, policy development, and the practical functional assessment and skill-based treatment of severe problem behavior.

Dr. Cammilleri specializes in the design of individualized curriculum sequences, the use of measurement systems to assess the effectiveness of those sequences, and in the staff training required for the implementation of both. He is best known for leadership that promotes the virtues of citizenship, friendship, and scholarship – the elements of an inclusive community whose members care for their world and one another, and enjoy a lifelong love of learning.

Dr. Ghaemmaghami has been applying the principles of behavior analysis to produce meaningful changes in the lives of children and adults with and without developmental disabilities in both home-based and center-based settings for over 10 years. Her practice focuses on building skills of communication, toleration, and cooperation with various social, academic, leisure, and health-related expectations, addressing various topographies of challenging and interfering behavior in various contexts including selective eating and sleep-related problem-behavior. Prior to starting her studies at Western New England, she was the Clinical Supervisor in charge of the implementation and evaluation of the Provincial Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention Program for children with autism in Northern Ontario, Canada. This experience has inspired her interest in research related to the practicality and social acceptability of treatment procedures and effects.

Andy Bondy, Ph.D., has almost 50 years of experience working with children and adults with ASD and related developmental issues. For more than a dozen years he served as the Director of a statewide public-school program for students with ASD. He and his wife, Lori Frost, pioneered the development of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). He designed the Pyramid Approach to Education as a comprehensive combination of broad-spectrum behavior analysis and functional communication strategies. He is a co-founder of Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc., an internationally based team of specialists with offices in 16 countries. Each team consists of specialists from many fields working together to promote the integration of the principles of applied behavior analysis within functional activities, including an emphasis on developing functional communication skills. He currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the BOD for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He was the recipient of the 2012 Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) Award for International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis.

Jo-Anne B. Matteo began her career as a public school speech-language pathologist in Connecticut in 1980. She 
received her B.A. in Communication Disorders from Southern Connecticut State College in 1979, M.S. in SpeechLanguage Pathology from Adelphi University in 1980, and an advanced degree in Administration and Supervision from 
Southern Connecticut State University in 1983. As a former special education administrator, she has been involved in 
staff and program development. She is the founder of a public school program for preschool and elementary children 
who present with significant special needs in the areas of communication, cognitive, social, behavioral and motor 
development. Many of her students have been diagnosed with Autism and other related developmental 
exceptionalities. These students used PECS to improve functional communication skills while they took part in a 
classroom that was implementing the Pyramid Approach to Education. Jo-Anne has presented extensively at various 
conferences and workshops to parents and professionals in the areas of speech-language development, functional 
communication and program design. She is also an active member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing 
Association. Jo-Anne has a passion for teaching all students to communicate!

Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., is the Executive Director of the EPIC Programs in Paramus, NJ.  Dr. Gerhardt has over 40 years of experience utilizing the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis in support of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders in educational, employment, residential, and community-based settings. He has authored or edited a number of publications, including “The Handbook of Quality of Life for Individuals with ASD” (Springer, 2022), which he co-edited, and “Clinician’s Guide to Sexuality and Autism” (Academic Press, 2024). He has presented nationally and internationally on these and related topics.  Dr. Gerhardt serves as Co-Chairman of the Scientific Council for the Organization for Autism Research and is on numerous professional advisory boards including the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.  He currently serves as Affiliate Faculty in the Institute for Applied Behavioral Science at Endicott College.  Dr. Gerhardt received his doctorate from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey’s Graduate School of Education.

Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LABA is the Dean of Institute for Applied Behavioral Science and Director of the Ph.D. Program in ABA at Endicott College, where she has been for 13 years. She also does research with the team at Melmark. She received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1990. She previously worked for 16 years at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University. Her interests center on defining best practice and humane ABA techniques, integrating compassionate care and cultural responsiveness into service delivery, enhancing the ethical conduct of practitioners, training staff to be effective at collaboration, and understanding caregiver experience. She serves on the Scientific Council of the Organization for Autism Research, on the board of Association for Science in Autism Treatment, on the editorial board of Behavior Analysis in Practice, on the ABA Ethics Hotline, and as an advisor to the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

Originally from Oklahoma City, Dr. Natalie Williams Awodeha holds a B.A. in Psychology from The University of Oklahoma, an M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling from Langston University, and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education & Supervision from Ohio University. As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Dr. Williams Awodeha serves as faculty at California State University Los Angeles, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and National University. Research interests include cultural and linguistic inclusion in Applied Behavior Analysis, employment for people with disabilities, and peer-to-peer support groups for women of color with mental health concerns. Dr. Williams Awodeha is currently reorganizing her personal and professional life around the eight domains of wellness (i.e., emotional, physical, occupational, social, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial) and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations in the LA area. More recent special interests include psychedelic integration and disability justice as tools for liberation.