Michelle Bartlett, PhD, is an assistant professor at Old Dominion University. Prior to her role at ODU, she worked at North Carolina State University, where she led the master’s in training and development, co-led the doctoral program in community college leadership, served as coordinator of competency-based education initiatives for the College of Education, and served as a faculty scholar at the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research. Michelle has taught advanced instructional design, research methods, workforce development, and leadership courses. Michelle was the past editor of the Career and Technical Education Research (CTER) Journal. She currently serves as the professional development trustee for the Association for Career and Technical Education Research. When she is not teaching, researching, and serving on grants, Michelle creates and delivers training programs in executive leadership, conflict management, empowering middle management, improving training effectiveness, faculty development, Universal Design for Learning, inclusive design in online environments, and DiSC. Michelle shares her passion for training as the co-founder of the UNITE Design Lab.

Belo Miguel Cipriani, EdD, is a digital inclusion strategist who became passionate about making online spaces accessible after being blinded by a group of men in 2007. His books and articles on disability issues have received numerous awards and international recognition. He has guest lectured at Yale, and, in 2020, he was appointed by Governor Tim Walz to the Minnesota Council on Disability. Through his digital access consulting firm, Oleb Media, he has helped countless organizations build inclusive websites and apps. HuffPost referred to him as an “agent of change,” and SF Weekly named him one of the best disability advocates. Tony Coelho, the primary author and sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, called him an “important voice” in disability writing.

Suzanne Ehrlich, EdD, is an associate professor in the Educational Technology, Training and Development program at the University of North Florida and is a certified ASL-English interpreter. She has presented nationally and internationally on the topics of implementing the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework for improved learner engagement, learning design, and leveraging technology for access. Suzanne has taught courses focused on adult learning, learning design, and gamification, among others. Her publications align with strategies for embedding a UDL mindset in post-secondary and workplace spaces. Her latest research promotes belonging in online learning as a predictor of learner success and training to support this high-impact practice. She is the co-founder and director of the UNITE Design Lab focused on advancing research around UDL to improve training in the workplace through inclusive design. She currently serves as an elected steering committee member for WCET as well as vice president of technology for the Association of Training and Development (ATD) of Northeast Florida.

Meryl Evans, CPACC, is a professional speaker, trainer, author, and accessibility consultant who was born profoundly deaf. She is a highly regarded speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion who focuses on people with disabilities and accessibility. She has spoken at TEDx, SXSW, and many other events. She has authored and appeared in multiple books, the Wall Street Journal, Morning Brew, AdWeek, Ad Age, and the Dallas Morning News. Meryl is a certified professional in accessibility core competencies and LinkedIn Top Voice.

She’s a proud native Texan who grew up in Fort Worth and lives in Plano. Meryl has a long history as a volunteer and board member. She currently serves several nonprofit boards. The Plano Chamber of Commerce has named her one of the 50 leading women because of her advocacy work, community service, and leadership. She’s the inaugural recipient and namesake of the North Texas Disability Chamber’s Meryl Evans Self-Advocacy Award. She’s also a two-time Dallas Morning News holiday cookie contest winner.

Douglas “Doug” Harriman (he/him/his) is a senior instructional and web designer for systemwide human resources within the University of California Office of the President (UCOP).

His lifelong passion for learning began with developing online higher education courses and full curriculums for career colleges and other higher education institutions across the country. He joined UC in 2013 by way of UC Berkeley, where he was first introduced to accessibility and migrated over to his current position with the Office of the President in 2016.

Accessibility quickly became a second career passion for Doug, appealing to his desire to contribute to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging missions, as well as his fondness for service, technical challenges, and learning new things. Grateful for the opportunities he had to learn accessibility from UC colleagues, mentors, and experience, Doug strives to provide those same opportunities to others through training, mentoring, technical support, and self-guided resources.

Doug is a member of the UCOP Accessibility Work Group and one of UCOP’s representatives on the systemwide UC Electronic Accessibility Committee. He’s authored UC’s eCourse Accessibility Checklist (PDF) and Word-to-PDF and PDF Accessibility Guide (PDF), is a regular contributor to UC’s annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day webinars (2021 Accessibility is for Everyone, 2022 Accessibility Demystified, and 2023 Your Path to Accessibility) and frequently presents on accessibility-related topics.

Mary Henry Lightfoot, MS, NIC: Adv., is the senior digital learning manager at the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center on the campus of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. She manages the newly developed Clerc Center Online Community, which provides resources, asynchronous learning, live online programming, and more to stakeholders who work with or have deaf or hard-of-hearing children. Her passion is setting up engaging external communities that focus on the needs of community users.

Lightfoot comes to this role with a rich background in instructional design and project management. Her focus is on national-level projects with more than ten years of experience using learning technologies to develop and implement synchronous and asynchronous learning. Her specialty is in creating and managing projects designed for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.

A seasoned presenter and trainer with end-to-end experience from creation to presentation, she presents on local, regional, and national levels. In addition, she is an adjunct instructor at Gallaudet University teaching future interpreters and a certified sign language interpreter practitioner.

Judy Katz makes stuff that helps people learn. She is a strategist, designer, and developer, as well as a frequent speaker and writer for local and national professional organizations. She has worked in learning and development since 1997 and specializes in helping organizations become more neurodivergent-friendly. Connect with her on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/judy-katz.

Gwen Navarrete Klapperich, MEd, CPTD®, is the learning consultant and owner of Klapperich International Training Associates (KITA) LLC, a talent development consulting firm that specializes in employee training and development, diversity and inclusion initiatives, performance consulting, and health and safety training. She holds more than 20 years of experience in training and development, customer service supervision, and quality assurance initiatives, and has worked in various industries such as retail, call centers, healthcare, government, hospitality, nonprofits, and continuing education. Gwen earned her CPTD® from the Association for Talent Development and holds a master’s degree in education specializing in training and performance improvement from Capella University.

An advocate of inclusive and accessible learning and development, Gwen frequently speaks on topics surrounding the consideration of people with both apparent and nonapparent disabilities in training design and delivery. She has dedicated her career to helping adult learners reach their professional goals through effective job training.

Thomas Reid is the host and producer of Reid My Mind Radio, a podcast featuring compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability. Occasionally, he shares some of his own experiences as a man adjusting to becoming Blind as an adult.

With a background in education and a heart devoted to inclusivity, Haley is a creative force dedicated to making learning accessible to all. She expresses that passion in two roles: as an accessibility specialist at Salesforce and as the co-owner of The Helpful Folks LLC. Haley’s journey began with empathy for individuals blocked from learning. Noticing the many inaccessibilities they faced, her mission became clear: foster more equitable learning ecosystems. To achieve this, she obtained a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies certification through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. Additionally, she has developed methods to operationalize accessibility for learning experience designers.

Beyond her accessibility prowess, Haley shines as an accomplished instructional designer. She has authored science curriculum for K-8 classrooms, developed innovative solutions for diverse clientele, and supported an onboarding program for account executives. She’s a passionate advocate of reshaping the landscape of inclusive learning experiences.