About Maureen
Dr. Maureen Dunne is a globally recognized neurodiversity expert, thought leader, public policy professional and champion. She currently serves as the neurodiversity expert for the LEGO Foundation’s $20 million Play For All global accelerator social impact fund targeting neurodiversity inclusion. She is also the co-founder of the first neurodiversity social impact investment association and the CEO of Autism Community Ventures, a neurodiversity inclusion consultancy and social impact firm.
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Dr. Dunne’s work has been featured in top-tier media, including Forbes, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, DiversityQ, NYTimes, TechCrunch, and Bloomberg (forthcoming), and she is a frequent keynote speaker, including Community College Day at the National Science Foundation, multiple Fortune 500 companies, the opening announcement for the Andy Warhol Exhibit, and the upcoming 2022 global Stanford Neurodiversity Summit with her keynote focussed on "Investing In Neurodiversity to Build a More Inclusive Future." She is also an invited key panelist at the 2022 Atlantic Festival in Washington, DC to talk about Neurodiversity Inclusion during a Diversity & Inclusion session, moderated by New York Times Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, John Donvan.
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Maureen is also an elected official and education advocate, promoting neurodiversity inclusion with leadership roles at the local, state, and national levels. She currently serves as Board Chair at College of DuPage (one of the largest single campus community colleges), as President of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association (a statewide legislative advocacy and trustee education organization that represents 48 member colleges serving over 700,000 students), and as Board Director of the Association of Community College Trustees, where she helps guide policy and advocacy efforts affecting more than 12 million community college students in the United States and beyond.
As President of the ICCTA, Dr. Dunne recently wrote and showed leadership in getting support to pass the first ever Neurodiversity Inclusion Statement to be officially adopted by a statewide higher education association. Official policy and governance resolutions based on this pioneering statement from the state of Illinois are now being considered for adoption at colleges across the state and country.
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A former National Science Foundation Fellow, Kauffman Entrepreneur Fellow, and Women 2.0 Founder to Watch, Dr. Dunne has written or been featured in hundreds of articles and received her doctorate degree from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
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