Derek Shields
President
ForwardWorks Consulting
Derek Shields is President of ForwardWorks Consulting, a program management consulting company focused on disability inclusion in the workplace. With twenty-five years of experience, Derek has worked with global accommodations programs, wounded warrior transition services, vocational and rehabilitation projects for Social Security beneficiaries and veterans, and employer disability inclusion initiatives. All of this work is centered on improving quality of life for youth and adults with disabilities in the workplace, community and home.
Derek also serves as the Director of the National Disability Mentoring Coalition, a membership organization focused on increasing the awareness, quality and impact of mentoring as a disability inclusion strategy. In this role he connects service providers to learn and share best practices to forward mentoring as a disability inclusion strategy.
A certified Project Management Professional, Derek earned his undergraduate degree from Bucknell University and his Masters in Management and Disability Services from the University of San Francisco.