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Pronouns: He/him
John (John) Caplinger, he/him/his, CAPM®, CSM, from Golden Valley, MN, brings over 15 years of experience in developing and delivering custom software and digital products. He began his career as a computer animation artist, earning a nomination for “2001 Best Independent Animation of Minnesota” for his demo reel.
After shifting into the video production industry with a startup called CineMotion (later rebranded as AutoMotion), he transitioned to building digital products for websites and native apps. During his 14 years at AutoMotion, John took on a wide variety of roles, from video production and app submissions (over 3,000 apps to Apple and Google Play) to leading app production teams, quality assurance, and customer service.
Currently, as a Quality Assurance Analyst at Livefront, John champions accessibility by helping design accessibility guidelines and advocating for accessibility awareness within the company and beyond.
Pronouns: He/him
As businesses face economic challenges, accessibility teams are often left with shrinking budgets or minimal staff. This session will explore how to build and scale accessibility programs in resource-constrained environments. Learn strategies for pitching accessibility to leadership, leveraging internal champions, and training stakeholders to distribute efforts across the organization. Weâll also provide practical tools for navigating tough conversations and keeping accessibility a priority, even with limited resources.
Pronouns: She/Her
Julia is a creative problem-solver with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry and has worked on a variety of projects for financial, educational, consulting, and ed-tech companies. Her experience includes a non-profit company in the Ed-tech space with product focus on users with visual impairment, and students with dyslexia.
Prior to joining ADP, Julia worked as a Tech Lead at Think Company collaborating with designers and developers across industries to create functional, usable and inclusive websites with a focus on accessibility and conformance to WCAG 2.x AA Julia has the Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) certification from IAAP.
Julian Kittelson-Aldred is a digital accessibility professional with a special focus on native mobile applications. She has worked in non-profit and regulated industries such as banking, healthcare, and transportation. As an Invited Expert at the World Wide Web Consortium, sheâs helping create guidance on how to apply the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to the native mobile context.
Pronouns: He/Him
Kevin Andrews is a Certified Web Accessibility Specialist through IAAP with several years of experience in accessibility program management and creating accessible digital experiences for all users. He has worked closely with diverse stakeholders, combining technical expertise with empathy and clarity to meet people where they are on their accessibility journey. Kevin is passionate about driving meaningful change through tailored solutions that elevate user experiencesâbecause if people canât use the tool, standards mean nothing. A prolific public speaker, Kevin brings his expertise to audiences across industries, advocating for accessibility that works in the real world.
Pronouns: She/Her
Koya Tyson, a proud Atlanta, Georgia native, is a passionate advocate for digital accessibility and inclusion. With over 11 years of experience at Accenture, Koya currently leads the Inclusive and Accessible IT team, driving initiatives to make technology accessible to everyone. Throughout Koya’s career, she has dedicated the past 7.5 years specifically to advancing digital accessibility. Koya is committed to breaking down barriers and ensuring that technology empowers individuals with diverse abilities.
Pronouns: She/her
Kristin Harvey is an accidental UX Leader passionate about authenticity and transformation. With over 20 years of design experience working with non-profits, finance, and technology, she has a knack for following her frustrations and using small pivots to make big changes. Outside of work, Kristin can be found tinkering at home in the garden or spending time in her quilting studio. She is a sighted spouse to blindscholar.com, and together, they have two incredible daughters who are experts in silliness and trading wisecracks.
Laura Kalbag is a British designer living in Ireland, and author of Accessibility For Everyone from A Book Apart. Sheâs co-founder of Small Technology Foundation, a tiny two-person-and-one-husky not-for-profit organisation advocating for and building small technology designed to increase human welfare, not corporate profits.
On an average day, Laura does everything from design and development, learning how to run a sustainable not-for-profit, and trying to make privacy, and rights-respecting technology, accessible to a wide audience. You can find her making design decisions, writing code, nudging icon pixels, or interpreting a privacy policy into something humans can understand. Sometimes she speaks at conferences and writes articles too.
Pronouns: She/Her
Laurel Franciose is a Staff User Experience Designer at Adobe. She focuses on product equity, accessibility and unified experience to create complex systems that consider a diverse set human experiences.
Pronouns: She/Her
Lesley Hanlin, CPACC, currently the Head of Accessibility and Inclusion at TIAA, is an inclusive leader that believes everyone deserves a secure retirement and equal access to TIAAâs digital content regardless of ability or background. Recently, Lesley was recognized as a leader in her field, receiving the prestigious 2024 Icon Award for Top 50 DEI Professional. She is committed to fostering digital experiences that embrace Universal Design Principles to maximize access for everyone.
Pronouns: She/her
Madison Russell is an Accessibility Specialist at Elsevier with a strong focus on web accessibility testing, user research, and accessibility personas. She attended Rochester Institute of Technology and received a degree in Human-Centered Computing. She also works with United Spinal to advocate for the rights of people with mobility disabilities and regularly attends meetings with United States legislators.
Pronouns: She/Her
Malin Hammarberg is a senior UX Designer and Accessibility Specialist at the Funka Foundation with over a decade of experience. Malin collaborates with both public and private sector clients to create inclusive products and services. A Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA) by the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP), she is dedicated to ensuring equal digital access for all. Malin specializes in Accessibility, Inclusive Design, and Usability. An experienced speaker, she has led numerous events and courses, sharing her expertise and passion for creating truly inclusive digital experiences.
Pronouns: He/him
Mark Nichols is the Senior Director for Universal Design and Accessible Technologies at Virginia Tech.  He works within the Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) unit of the Division of IT.  Prior to coming to VT in 2017, Mark spent 15 years working for Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia as the Supervisor for Assistive Technology and Division Level Administrator for Accessible Materials.  Mark is an active member of the National AEM Advisory Committee, Chair of the Virginia Higher Education Accessibility Partners (VHEAP), and Secetary/Treasurer of the UDL Higher Education Network with the UDL-IRN.  Mark has a personal interest in the maker movement and connections to the field of Assistive Technology.
On a personal level, Mark is a Scoutmaster with a Blacksburg scout troop and enjoys a variety of outdoor sports and recreational adventures with his family. The scout motto “Be Prepared” is a vital component of both professional and personal endeavors. Other interests include photography, music, racing cars, gardening, traveling to islands, and managing day-to-day responsibilites on the family hobby-farm.
Pronouns: He/Him
Mark is the Director of Accessibility Engineering at Fidelity Investments with a passion for accessibility automation, developer advocacy for accessibility, and an overall mission to make all content on the web/mobile accessible for all. Mark’s main focus has been working with development teams to prioritize accessibility in continuous development and continuous development environments, researching accessibility in JavaScript Frameworks (React, Angular, Vue), and creating automated accessibility solutions for development teams and organizations.
Pronouns: She/her
Maya Sellon is an Inclusive Design and Accessibility leader with over 20 years of experience working across North America, Asia, and Europe. She has developed and implemented accessibility practices across various global organizations. She is passionate about embedding accessibility at the heart of design and technology. Her career has spanned multiple disciplines, including civil engineering, user experience, and digital accessibility, giving her a diverse and well-rounded perspective.
Mayaâs journey has been shaped by her life experiences and commitment to creating inclusive, human-centered digital experiences. Maya describes herself as a nerdy tech lover with hobbies including skydiving (sheâs on her way to getting certified for solo jumps) and drumming. Her life experiences made her feel like she was born to work in a field that cares about including everyone, and she believes that accessibility isnât about rules or technologyâitâs about people.
Melanie Sumner began building things for the web in 1997, and after all these years, itâs still her favorite thing to do. As the Product Accessibility Lead at HashiCorp, she develops accessibility strategies and offers guidance to the design system and product teams, working collaboratively to deliver inclusive, standards-compliant products.
In addition to her role at HashiCorp, Melanie is an invited expert for the W3Câs ARIA working group and co-editor of the Accessible Name and Description Computation specification, playing an active part in advancing web accessibility standards.
When she needs a break, Melanie enjoys brainstorming new collective nouns for the web (collective-nouns.dev) or unwinding with a game of Stardew Valley.
Pronouns: She/Her
Michele is a lifelong advocate and ally who has dedicated her life’s work to making technology more usable for everyone and inclusive of people with disabilities. Michele is also A W3C-WAI Invited Expert, international speaker, published academic author, and patented inventor.
Mike Gifford is CivicActionsâ Open Standards & Practices Lead and a thought leader on open government, as well as digital accessibility and sustainability. He has worked with governments in North America and Europe, and spoken internationally. He is also a W3C Invited Expert and recognized authoring tool accessibility expert.
Mike has served for two years on the board of the Digital Services Coalition. In his last year he served as president of the board where he helped better define what it was to be a digital agency. In this role, he met with leaders in government and the private sector who are working for modern digital government.Â
Previously, he was the Founder and President of OpenConcept Consulting Inc., a web development agency specializing in building open source solutions for the open web. OpenConcept was an impact driven company and Certified B Corporation. Like CivicActions, OpenConcept worked extensively with the Drupal Content Management System .Â
Mike has spearheaded accessibility improvements in Drupal since 2008, and has served as a Drupal Core Accessibility Maintainer in 2012.
As a long-term environmentalist, Mike has found ways to integrate his passions for the web and the planet. He is an active participant in both the W3Câs Web Sustainability Community Group and in the ACT-IAC Climate Change Community of Interest.
Pronouns: She/Her
Natashia is a Design leader with broad experience at the intersection of design, data, technology, and marketing. Her career has led her through different disciplines in Design: Design research, designing typefaces, creating 360 ad campaigns for prestigious global brands, co-running her own boutique design agency, and leading cross-functional design and research teams in the #1 global consulting firm.
Currently at EA, sheâs humanizing technology and the workplace, and a champion for underrepresented groups in product development at EA and the community.
Pronouns: He/him
Neil Milliken is Global Head of Accessibility at Atos. His role is to help make the world a better place by delivering better technology for customers and staff, embedding inclusive practice into the processes of organisations with thousands of employees and turnovers of billions.
Neil delivers strategy and services working with a wide range of clients helping them to develop policies, processes, and technology solutions to meet the needs of their staff and customers. He is the Atos representative on the Business Disability Forum Technology Task Force Neil is also an invited expert for the W3C Cognitive Accessibility Taskforce & member of the Atos Scientific Community & Atos Distinguished Expert .
He is co-founder of AXSChat Europeâs largest twitter chat with a focus on Accessibility & Inclusion. Neil is a member of the Board of Directors for World Institute on Disability, a Non Exec at Genius Within & Chair of the Diversity Board for Institute of Coding. Neil was named in the top ten of the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 list in 2018 and was named D&I practitioner of the year in the 2019 Disability Smart Awards
Pronouns: She/her
Nhi Nguyen is an accessibility advocate driven by inclusive design and digital accessibility. She is a digital accessibility specialist who is skilled at Accessibility auditing and testing (Web, PDFs, mobile apps, etc.), UX design training, and strategic planning. Nhi has experiences working with and providing consultancy for Fortune top 500 companies and multinational tech giants. Acknowledged for being a hardworking team player who can manage diverse teams effectively.
Nhi Nguyen is a certified professional in Web Accessibility who has passed both the IAAP CPACC exam and the IAAP WAS exam within a year. Nhi usually volunteers with local non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity or Be My Eyes. Nhi enjoys giving talks and presentations to students about Accessibility to empower them on their journey to make every digital platform accessible for everyone.
Pronouns: She/her
Nicola Richardson is a Senior Accessibility Specialist at Elsevier. She honed her accessibility skills over many years working as a front-end software developer and has previously founded and led organization-wide accessibility programs. She is a coach and mentor and favors data-led but human-centered approaches to tackling accessibility challenges.
Pronouns: She/Her
November Champion is the Director of Accessibility Operations at USAA, where she leads the Enterprise Accessibility Office (EAO). The EAO is responsible for ensuring the companyâs adherence to its Enterprise Accessibility Policy and Standard, providing governance, consulting, and oversight. In this role, November collaborates with leaders across the organization to shape strategies that offer equal access to individuals with disabilities, while also advancing USAAâs accessibility program to meet industry best practices.
With over 15 years of experience in accessibility, including a decade in financial services with Edward Jones and Wells Fargo, November is a seasoned leader in this field.
She lives in St. Louis with her husband Mike (from whom she got her awesome last name) and their two Havanese puppies, one of which is an unofficial Service Dog in Training. In her free time, she enjoys European-style board games, true crime podcasts, sci-fi, and planning water-focused vacations.
Oliver Schöndorfer is a renowned typography expert and freelance UI & app designer from Austria. He is obsessed with everything type, feels physical pain when spotting bad kerning, and even had to switched banks, because he could not stand an updated logotype.
His vision is to make digital projects more successful and beautiful through type. To share his knowledge, Oliver hosts the popular YouTube channel Pimp my Type, runs the weekly Font Friday Newsletter, writes articles, speaks at conferences and podcast. His energetic, unique style sets Oliver apart, while motivating thousands of designers and developers to leverage the power of typography.
When Oliver is not thinking about letters, he practices Yoga daily, enjoys hiking with his wife Birgit, takes care of their three girls, and manually grinds coffee to keep it all going.
Pronouns: He/him
Meet Olivier Fortin, a Senior Digital Accessibility (A11y) Engineer and Designer with over 15 years of experience in front-end web development. Olivier has been working at CBC/Radio-Canada for the past 7 years, first as a Senior Frontend Developer in Montreal and now as a Senior Digital Accessibility Engineer for English Services. Olivier strongly advocates accessibility and equity, ensuring that digital media experiences are available to everyone regardless of ability. He has been involved in several notable projects, like Tokyo, Beijing and Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. Olivier’s expertise and dedication to accessibility and equity make him a valuable asset to any team. He is also contributing to the development of the national accessibility plan for CBC/Radio-Canada.
Preferred Pronouns: He/Him
Patrick Sturdivant is a Vice President and Principal Strategy Consultant at Deque. Patrick has worked in information technology for over 30 years. An experienced software engineer who is blind, Patrick deeply understands the technical challenges our customers and the disabled community face when it comes to accessibility.
Coupled with his testing, team building, training, and DE&I strengths, Patrick is a consulting force to be reckoned with. For the last eleven years, Patrick has been dedicated to promoting digital inclusion for all through awareness and the benefits digital equality brings to all users by sharing his own personal story of leading a digital lifestyle using multiple screen readers on both desktop and tablet platforms.
Patrickâs accomplishments include accessibility lab and disability employee resource group establishment experience, US Patent holder for several bank products designed for the blind, and his ability to influence at all levels of an organizationâs business and technical teams.
Watch Patrickâs axe-con 2024 talks here: âIgnite change; 5 sure-fire strategies to locate a C-Suite digital accessibility champion to help remove roadblocks as you transform your organization to one of digital inclusion” and “A11y in Cybersecurity Panel”
Pronouns: She/her
Piper A. Hutson, EdD, is at the intersection of neurodiversity, art, and health, focusing on how cultural spaces can promote well-being and accessibility. As the Arts and Health Specialist for the Missouri Arts Council, she is dedicated to advancing community arts, with a focus on underserved populations. Her scholarly contributions include co-authoring several influential publications in peer-reviewed journals, while addressing critical intersections between NeuroHealth, digital inclusivity, and learning styles. Her accomplishments include curating over 30 art exhibitions across the country and co-author to two books under Palgrave-McMillian Inclusive Smart Museums: Engaging Neurodiverse Audiences and Enhancing Cultural Heritage and Sensemaking and Neuroaesthetics: Neuroarts and the Spectrum of Neurodiverse Experiences.
Pronouns: They/Them
Rachael is a Product Owner at Deque. They joined the mobile team as a web developer in 2018, where they had the unique experience of learning both web and native mobile accessibility at the same time. In 2022, they took on the role of Product Owner for Axe DevTools Mobile and observed how large organizations implement accessibility at scale. They discovered their passion for accessibility while working on a project team at the University of Michigan that developed an Android application to provide indoor navigation for people with visual disabilities. They are a proud cat parent to three fur babies and enjoy spending free time on their hobbies: marching arts, diamond painting, and Zumba.
Watch Rachael’s axe-con 2024 talks here: “What WCAG 2.2 Means for Native Mobile Accessibility” and “Accessible Component Libraries: The Foundation of Accessibility at Scale”
Pronouns: She/Her
Rachel Andrew works for Google as a technical writer, working on web.dev and the Chrome Developers site. She is a front and back-end web developer, author and speaker, author or co-author of 22 books including The New CSS Layout, and a regular contributor to a number of publications both on and offline. Rachel is a Member of the CSS Working Group and can be found posting photos of her cats on Twitter as @rachelandrew.
Pronouns: She/Her
Rebecca Topps is a Senior Researcher at Atlassian with over a decade of experience specializing in accessibility research. Her passion is crafting digital experiences that are inclusive and user-friendly for everyone. Rebecca’s background spans various sectors, including software, retail, finance, and government. She has led numerous accessibility research projects and collaborated with product teams to integrate accessibility into research practices. Rebecca is dedicated to promoting an inclusive product design methodology, emphasizing the benefits of integrating accessibility across all stages of research and development.
Pronouns: She/Her
With over 20 years working in the field, Ronise brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise, having witnessed the power of Digital Accessibility in fostering equitable opportunities, improving the quality of Digital Products and building brand loyalty by enhancing the digital experience for everyone. Now at BT group, she made full use of her strategical nature and sharp focus to build an Accessibility Team from scratch and catalyse organisational change.
Pronouns: She/Her
Sarahelizabeth Baguhn, PhD has taught Assistive Technology skills for a public-school district and to adults in the community as a private contractor. She holds ACVREPâs CATIS & COMS as well as a Wisconsin TVI license. Now a Research Specialist for the American Foundation for the Blind she studies the interactions between blindness and other areas of American life, including barriers to digital inclusion and the interactions between artificial intelligence and disability.
Pronouns: She/Her
Sarah is a digital accessibility analyst at CBC/Radio-Canada. She is a passionate advocate for accessibility and inclusion, with a keen eye for discovering the little things that can make a big impact in creating more inclusive experiences for all. In her day-to-day work, Sarah has played a vital role in raising awareness about accessibility and the importance of âshifting leftâ. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys creating vlogs and making cocktails for her friends.
Pronouns: She/Her
Sara Kjellstrand is a Research Strategist at the Funka Foundation with a long experience of managing research projects and studies on accessibility, digital inclusion and equality. Sara has in the past five years led a series of research initiatives on cognitive accessibility on the web, with funding from the EU and national grants in Sweden and Norway. She is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and is frequently giving lectures and training on cognitive accessibility and digital inclusion.
Pronouns: She/Her
Sayali, an Experience Designer at Deutsche Telekom, a lecturer at ReDi School of Integration, and a mentor at ADPList, is also a change strategist. She specializes in research, design operations, and accessibility with a passion for problem-solving. In the past, she has taught at Politecnico di Milano and worked with organizations like Unilever, Phillip Morris, Frog, Deesha Education Foundation, and Kirloskar.
A published illustrator and comics creator, her expertise in service design and strategic leadership has helped her drive positive change.
Pronouns: She/her
As a Senior Accessibility Consultant at HCLTech, Seneca is dedicated to helping product teams move beyond mere compliance to develop genuinely usable solutions informed by feedback from the disability community. With over 12 years of experience in assistive technology, Seneca’s insights are shaped by her personal experiences as a person with a disability, a caregiver, and an occupational therapist. Her passion lies in ensuring that accessibility solutions are both functional and practical for diverse user needs.
Pronouns: He/him
I’m Simon Ellis, an Accessibility Project Manager dedicated to promoting an accessible by design approach within internal project teams and for clients. I work to embed an accessibility-first mindset throughout the software development lifecycle.
As an experienced accessibility subject matter expert, I specialize in identifying and removing accessibility barriers in accordance with W3C WCAG 2.1 standards, ADA, Section 508 and other accessibility regulations. I guide product owners, designers, developers, and testers to implement usability-focused, technically robust best practices. Throughout the agile lifecycle, I manage and review accessibility-related user stories and defects, working with stakeholders to improve both compliance and the overall user experience for everyone.
IAAP Member and CPACC Certified
Pronouns: She/Her
Pronouns: She/Her
Surbhi is a passionate accessibility advocate who became visually impaired at the age of 18. With over a decade of experience in the field, she has worked across various technologies, honing her expertise in accessibility. Currently serving as a subject matter expert at Accenture, Surbhi is dedicated to promoting inclusive design and improving digital experiences for all. At a personal front, Surbhi is committed to breaking barriers and championing the rights of individuals with disabilities, making the world a more accessible place for all.
Mali is the founder of HSBC’s Digital Accessibility programme. He currently occupies the position of Group Head of Digital Experience and Accessibility for HSBC and oversees HSBC’s digital offering globally. He is passionately committed to diversity inclusion and creating an accessible environment for colleagues and customers with disabilities. He was previously the Chief Digital Governance, Risk and Control Officer for Corporate and Institutional Digital. In 2023, Mali was recognised in the King’s New Years Honours and awarded a MBE.