Sheri Byrne-Haber
VMware / Head of Accessibility
Pronouns: She/Her
Sheri Byrne-Haber is a prominent global subject matter expert in the fields of disability and accessibility in the business and educational settings. She is best known for launching digital accessibility programs at multiple Fortune 200 companies including McDonald’s, Albertsons, and VMware, as well as consulting on government accessibility. Her programs have positively impacted millions of the more than 1 billion global people with disabilities.
Sheri firmly believes that holistic accessibility programs provide people with disabilities the best chance to achieve equality as either customers or employees in an organizational world largely established for the abled. To assess how well an organization is doing with respect to employees and customers with disabilities, Sheri co-authored the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model while a Principle Accessibility Policy Consultant at Level Access, the foremost global consultancy dedicated entirely to accessibility. Her integrated approach links Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) creation, a core component of accessibility programs, to most major departments in an organization including product design, development, testing, marketing, research, human resources, procurement, and diversity/inclusion.
Her extensive accessibility professional career has been supported by an comprehensive, multi-disciplinary educational background, including:
- B.Sc. in Management Information Systems (University of San Francisco)
- J.D. (University of San Francisco)
- M.B.A with an emphasis on Health Care from The George Washington University
Continuing education has included:
- Post-MBA entrepreneurship program run by the NSF at the Haas School of Business (University of California).
- One of the first people to complete the new (v5) US Trusted Tester (Section 508) Certification Training
- In the first group of people certified in Professional Accessibility Core Competencies (IAAP/G3ICT), recently renewed for a second three-year term.
- Certificate in ADA coordination (University of Missouri, Columbia)
Her passion for accessibility initially stemmed from the desire to help her deaf daughter navigate the world, alongside the accessibility issues she personally faced as a lifelong wheelchair user. With degrees in computer science, law, and business, in addition to two accessibility-related professional certifications, Sheri has a complete 360-degree view of issues that impact implementing a high-quality accessibility program.
Sheri is the author of a popular Medium blog called “This Week in Accessibility” where she summarizes legal cases and issues facing people implementing accessibility programs. She is a frequent panelist and speaker at accessibility related conferences, and an active member of several accessibility committees and non-profits, helping drive and communicate the evolution of accessibility standards.
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