Biography

Rex Pace has over 30 years of experience making the built environment accessible to people with disabilities and is currently at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity’s Senior Advisor for Accessible Design. He works on issues related to the Fair Housing Act, Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Architectural Barriers Act (ABA). Rex came to HUD from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) where he managed their National Accessibility Program to ensure the accessible design of federal facilities.

Prior to GSA, Rex worked at the U.S. Access Board where he was a senior accessibility specialist and oversaw the technical assistance program. While there, he was a co-lead on the rulemaking to set standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment. His federal experience also includes the U.S. Department of Justice's Disability Rights Section. He was extensively involved in enforcement efforts, developing technical assistance documents, and promulgating regulations for the 2010 ADA Standards. Before joining DOJ in 2006, he operated a consultancy specializing in accessible and universal design and earlier served as a lead designer for the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Rex is a graduate from the College of Design at NCSU. He began work in this field in 1987 as an illustrator at Barrier Free Environments, Inc. under his mentor Ron Mace, FAIA, a renowned pioneer in accessible design.