John McEachin
President
John McEachin, a psychologist and BCBA-D, has been providing behavioral treatment to individuals with autism for more than 40 years. He received his graduate training under Professor Ivar Lovaas at UCLA on the Young Autism Project. During his 11 years at UCLA, Dr. McEachin served in various roles including Clinic Supervisor, Research and Teaching Assistant, and Acting Director. His research has included the long-term follow-up study of young autistic children who received intensive behavioral treatment, which was published in 1993.
In 1994 he joined with Ron Leaf in forming Autism Partnership, which they co-direct. In 1999 they published A Work in Progress, a widely used behavioral treatment manual and curriculum for children with ASD. Dr. McEachin has lectured throughout the world and co-authored numerous books and research articles. He consults regularly to families, agencies, and school districts nationally and internationally, assisting in the development of treatment programs and providing training to parents, staff, and classroom personnel. Dr. McEachin’s dedication to the advancement of behavioral treatment through research and quality training led to the co-founding of the Autism Partnership Foundation with Dr. Ron Leaf.
Missy Olive
Vice President
Melissa Olive, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is the Chief Clinical Officer of Cultivate Behavioral Health and Education. Cultivate acquired Applied Behavioral Strategies that Missy founded and directed from 2010 until 2020. Prior to working in the ABA space, Missy spent 9 years conducting research and training special education teachers and behavior analysts at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Nevada, Reno.
Missy currently serves as a Guest Reviewer for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and the Review Journal on Autism and Developmental Disorders. She also served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Early Intervention for 8 years, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education for 10 years, and Young Exceptional Children for 12 years.
Missy has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters focusing on assessment and treatment of challenging behaviors, communication intervention, feeding disorders, and ethical issues for behavior analysts.
Missy currently serves on the CTABA Board of Directors and Chairs the CTABA Public Policy and Legislative Outreach Committee (PPLO). She previously served as a Member at Large on the Executive Council for CTABA. Missy previously served on the Executive Board as a Member at Large for the Division of Early Childhood, a sub-division of the Council for Exceptional Children. Missy also served as President of the Texas Council for Exceptional Children.
Her current research interest lies in assessment and treatment of feeding disorders, assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior, ethical issues in the delivery of ABA services, and ABA services in school settings.
Toby Mountjoy
Treasurer
Toby Mountjoy is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and holds a Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis with over 23 years of experience working with individuals with ASD. His main role is overseeing the Autism Partnership operation in Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines and Singapore with over 240 staff, including psychologists, consultants and therapists, he has also provided consultations to school districts, agencies, and families worldwide. Mr. Mountjoy has also contributed chapters to publications such as “Sense & Nonsense” and “It’s Time for School”. In 2007, he founded the charitable Autism Partnership Foundation and Aoi Pui School to offer more services for children with Autism.
Pegeen Cronin
Secretary
Dr. Pegeen Cronin is a licensed psychologist who has been working in the field of developmental disabilities for over 20 years. Her career began at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. under the expert instruction and guidance of Dr. BJ Freeman. At UCLA Dr. Cronin became an Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the Autism Evaluation Clinic (now the UCLA CAN Clinic). In addition to providing comprehensive best practice evaluations to individuals suspected of having a development disability, during her tenure she trained and supervised many psychology and psychiatry trainees. She also co-authored successive center grants for the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART) including for the Simons Simplex Consortium. Her work in research also included recruitment and diagnostic evaluations to provide well-characterized participants to the variety of CART research projects.
Now in private practice, Dr. Cronin continues to provide diagnostic evaluations for individuals of all ages and supports families to navigate access to intervention and services. She also provides consultations, presentations and trainings, including for the gold-standard measure, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2nd Edition (ADOS-2), and most recently enjoyed the opportunity to provide a book chapter to Dr. Justin Leaf’s Handbook of Social Skills and Autism Spectrum Disorder (2017). It is a pleasure to be a member of this council to support others’ professional development to learn and to work with individuals and families affected by ASD.
Robert Ross
Member-at-Large
Dr. Bob Ross is the Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Research at Behavioral Education Assessment and Consultation Inc. (BEACON Services of Massachusetts and BEACON of Connecticut). BEACON Services provides intensive behavioral educational services to children diagnosed with PDD/autism and behavioral and learning challenges. Dr. Ross received his doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University and his master’s in applied behavior analysis from Northeastern University. Dr. Ross is the co-director of the BCBA certification programs at Cambridge College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. In addition to his teaching and research roles at BEACON, Dr. Ross consults with programs and works directly with individuals diagnosed with autism as part of his caseload responsibilities at BEACON. He has presented more than 100 applied research poster presentations, workshops, and symposia at ABAI conferences and authored articles on topics such as instructional practices in autism treatment, activity schedules, and application of ABA beyond autism treatment
Michael Gerbosi
Public Member
Michael Gerbosi is a professional writer living in Los Angeles. An active advocate for ABA, he serves as President of the award-winning non-profit Autism education, ABA advocacy and service referral portal www.lafeat.org. His son was diagnosed with ASD before age 3 and has received ABA therapy since 2016
Amy Gravino
Member-at-Large
Amy Gravino, M.A., is an autism sexuality advocate and Relationship Coach in the Center for Adult Autism Services at Rutgers University. She is also the President of A.S.C.O.T Consulting, which offers autism consulting, college coaching, and mentoring services for organizations, schools, individuals on the autism spectrum, and their families. Amy is an international speaker who has given TED talks, spoken twice at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day, and presented worldwide to audiences on a variety of topics related to autism, with a dedicated special focus and research on the subject of autism and sexuality. Ms. Gravino obtained her Masters degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University in 2010 and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Specialisterne USA, Yes She Can, Inc. and the Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City, as well as the Scientific Advisory Board of Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research (SPARK). She is an award-winning writer whose work has been featured in Spectrum, the leading online news source for autism research, Reader’s Digest, special education textbooks, and other outlets. Visit www.amygravino.com to learn more.