Mr. Oscar Ruiz has more than fifteen years of experience in non-profit and international organizations, as well as the Federal government working on the topic of disabilities; diversity and inclusion in Latin America and the United States. Mr. Ruiz was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After graduating from high school, Mr. Ruiz decided to expand his horizons and went to get his B.A. in Political Science at the University of Florida. After graduating from college in 2001, he decided to start his professional career at the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), working with grassroots development projects in Latin America. At the IAF he created the first disabilities outreach program at the agency. Mr. Ruiz participated at the UN Second AdHoc Committee on the Convention for Persons with Disabilities in 2003 and organized the first Afro-Latino panel at the Annual National Council of La Raza (current name is Unidos US) in 2004.
After working at the IAF for several years, Mr. Ruiz decided to pursuit a JD. After graduating from law school in 2008, he returned to Washington, DC, to start a new endeavor at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), promoting the topic of diversity and inclusion at the organization. At the IDB he helped established the first Disability Accommodation Fund and organization-wide telework policy. After his time at the IDB, he went back to the Federal government to work at the Department of Transportation, Office of Civil Rights. Currently, Mr. Ruiz works as a Disability and Equal Employment Opportunity Subject Matter Expert for the US Department of Defense (DoD). His task at DoD is to promote and create policies to improve diversity and accessibility for the military personnel. In addition to the vast experience working in topics to promote diversity and equity supporting the under-represented groups, Mr. Ruiz has written and published several articles in academic journals. He has been invited to speak on different topics for various domestic and international organizations like the World Bank, IDB, Library of Congress, International Youth Foundation, just to name a few.
