President Bush Appoints Four New Members to the Board April 6, 2005
President George Bush has appointed four new members to the U.S. Access Board: Tricia Mason of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Philip G. Pearce of College Station, Texas, Daniel O. Rios, P.E., of McAllen, Texas, and John O. Woods, Jr., P.E., of Alexandria, Virginia.
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 Mason is a Community Programs Specialist for the Wyoming Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities. She also serves as National President for Little People of America (LPA) a non-profit organization for individuals of short stature and their families. As LPA’s representative, she is an active member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A117.1 Committee, which maintains design standards for accessible buildings and facilities. She holds a degree in Textiles and Merchandising from the University of Wyoming. |
 Pearce is the owner and manager of Ready Access Services, LLC, an accessibility consulting firm in College Station, Texas. He was also recently appointed a member of the Texas Architectural Barriers Advisory Committee. He is a Registered Accessibility Specialist and an Accessibility Inspector/ Plans Reviewer. Previously, he served as Executive Director of the Texas 4-H Youth Development Foundation and with the Texas Cooperative Extension. He has extensive experience in corporate management, administration, and financial planning and accounting. Pearce earned a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics and a Master of Business Administration in Finance, both from Texas A&M University. |
 Rios is Senior Vice President at S&B Infrastructure, Ltd. in McAllen, Texas, a company that provides planning, engineering, and construction management. He oversees major transpor ta tion engineering projects throughout Texas and was previously employed by the Texas Department of Transpor ta tion. His experience in engineering design and construction management has included projects involving environmen ta l analysis, roadway design and traffic planning, utility relocation, right-of-way mapping and property acquisition, and drainage design. Rios holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&I University. |
 Woods is President of Woods - Peacock Engineering Consultants, a firm he co-founded in 1999. He has over 30 years experience in structural engineering. Active in various professional, community and civic organizations, Woods has served as president of the Consulting Engineers Council of Metropolitan Washington, president of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, and is a director of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. He was a member of the Commission for the Disabled in Alexandria and the Governor’s Council for the Needs of the Handicapped. He graduated from The Citadel with a degree in Civil Engineering and earned a Master of Science at Duke University. Woods served in Vietnam as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and was shot down in a rescue mission in 1967. He spent three years in rehabilitation as a result of the injuries he received.
The new members will be sworn in at a meeting of the Board to be held May 11, 2005. The Access Board is an independent Federal agency committed to design that is accessible to persons with disabilities. It is structured to function as a coordinating body among Federal agencies and to directly represent the public, particularly people with disabilities. The Board is comprised of 13 members representing the public who are appointed by the President and representatives from 12 different Federal departments. The new appointees succeed public members Marilyn Golden of Oakland, California, Marc Guthrie of Newark, Ohio, Kenneth Schoonover of Lansing, Illinois, and Soy Williams of Miami, Florida, each of whom served two terms on the Board. Public members of the Board are limited to two terms. |