TARA CUNNINGHAM, MPA

CEO

Tara is an Ashoka Fellow and an internationally recognized, award-winning, neurodivergent CEO and Social Entrepreneur working for people with disabilities.

Over the past 20 years, Tara has been appointed to various non profit, SME and governmental boards, advised non profits, corporate social responsibility programs, social enterprises, government agencies, the European Commission, politicians and philanthropic foundations throughout the US and Europe on how to create sustainable social impact and recently Co-Founded the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship at NYU School of Law.
 
In 2017 Tara began working as the CEO of Specialisterne USA to drive their proven neurodiversity employment model into exponential growth. She grew the organization from 2 -7 employees and increased revenue over 1200%. My clients included, Salesforce, Goldman Sachs, TDBank, Deloitte, PwC, P&G, IPG Mediabrands / Kinesso, AT&T, and MITRE.

Tara's 20+ years in the disability sector ranged from early intervention through disability inclusive employment. I’ve keynoted, moderated and spoke on panels worldwide, including Moderator at United Nations World Autism Awareness Day. 
 
Tara is an Adjunct Professor at Ocean County College, and guest lectures at Temple University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, Montclair University, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin.

She lives in Toms River, NJ with her saint of a husband Mark and three amazing children Eoin, Charlie and Emilia. In her spare time, she is a terrible singer, seamstress, gardener, and barber.