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ICDL's CEO, Dr. Guenzel, speaks at the ANISA World Autism Acceptance Day event.
Dr. Jeffrey Guenzel has been the leading ICDL since 2013.
Dr. Guenzel is a professional counselor, psychotherapist, and a leader. As a counselor and psychotherapist, he has a wide range of experience counseling adults and children for over 30 years with specialized expertise in child development, child and adolescent behavioral health, and autism. As a leader, he has a proven track record of leadership in both the public and private sectors.
Prior to joining ICDL, Dr. Guenzel served as the Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families and previously served as the Director of the New Jersey Division of Child Behavioral Health. In these positions, he led many innovative initiatives including restructuring the New Jersey service delivery system for children with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Prior to his appointments with the State of New Jersey, Dr. Guenzel was the inaugural Executive Director of the Partnership for Children of Essex, a not-for-profit agency providing Wraparound care management services for children with complex behavioral health challenges. Under his leadership, the agency became one of the largest Wraparound agencies in the nation gaining him national recognition.
Dr. Guenzel has worked as a counselor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now Rutgers University), the Mental Health Clinic of Passaic, and in private practice.
Dr. Guenzel has lectured and/or provided consultation on mental health and autism in-person throughout the world including Australia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Haiti, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and in most states in the United States of America. His lectures and consultation have focused on clinical practice, leadership, and promoting systemic change. In addition, Dr. Guenzel has presented to and worked with many more groups around the world live-online.
Dr. Guenzel earned his B.A. degree in Psychology and his M.A. degree in Counseling from Montclair State University and his Doctorate in Education from Spalding University.
Dr. Guenzel has a valuable combination of clinical knowledge and skills coupled with a proven track record of successful leadership. Underpinning these skills is a life-long commitment to serving others.
On a personal note, Dr. Guenzel has been married since 1993 to his high school sweetheart, Amy (Dr. Amy Guenzel). They have three wonderful adult children and have lived in the same home in northwest New Jersey since 1994. Dr. Guenzel's vision for life was certainly informed by being legally blind for many years of his life. During that period of his life, Dr. Guenzel competed internationally as a member of the United States Paralympic swim team. Although he remains visually impaired, his eye sight is much better now. Dr. Guenzel enjoys anything handyman related, cooking, the outdoors, and spending time with his kids and family.
Ekaterina (Katya) Sidor, MA, DIR-Expert
Ekaterina (Katya) Sidor, MA, DIR-Expert
Deputy Director
Deputy Director
Native of of Eastern Siberia, Russia, Katya has always been passionate about education and human development. Before joining ICDL, Katya worked in the field of International Education, developing international programs, providing student advisement, and placing students in international internships. Her work at San Francisco State University involved working with K-16 administrators to create a pipeline to the San Francisco State Chinese Flagship Program, which is one of 27 Language Flagship programs in higher education nationally designed to change the way Americans learn languages.
Katya holds a degree in Applied Linguistics from Irkutsk State Linguistic University (ISLU) as well as a Master’s degree in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management from SIT Graduate Institute. As a part of her studies at ISLU, she studied at the Northeast Normal University, Chang Chun, China. Her degree from SIT Graduate Institute focused on international education, social justice and non-profit management.
Katya joined ICDL in 2012 as the Academic Coordinator for the ICDL Graduate School. In this role, she coordinated many aspects of the PhD in Infant Mental Health program, bringing together and supporting students of various backgrounds from around the world. Katya was a part of the team that successfully transitioned the ICDL Graduate School to Fielding Graduate University in 2014.
In 2014, Katya became the Executive Assistant to the ICDL CEO, Jeffrey Guenzel. Over the next four years, she utilized her expertise in higher education, international project management, and non-profit management to help the ICDL DIRFloortime® Training Program grow by nearly 300%. During this time, the training program established a coordinated network of international training providers that greatly expanded the reach of the program, including offering courses in over ten different languages (currently ICDL offers courses in over 20 different languages).
In her current role as Deputy Director for ICDL and as a DIR Expert, Katya is able to connect her passion for education and human development as she leads the organization into the future. In addition to leading many of ICDL's initiatives, Katya has also taught DIRFloortime courses live-online and in-person around the world. She is committed to helping ICDL reach its vision of a world where individual differences are embraced and everyone achieves their fullest potential.
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