Troy is an ADA Information Specialist for the Great Plains ADA Center. He has nine years of experience as an ADA Specialist and has worked in the field of disability issues for the past sixteen years. He is involved in a number of groups that promote Universal Design principals and teaches a class on disability and recreation issues at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jana is the director of research and development for Meeting the Challenge, Inc. (MTC), an information services consulting firm that serves individuals and organizations with rights and responsibilities for compliance under federal disability laws. Her main role is to serve as project director and principle investigator of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center, managed by MTC, which provides information, informal guidance and training to those with rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Dr. Burke has been with MTC and the Rocky Mountain ADA Center since 2001. She is a researcher, trainer and consultant who specializes in the ADA employment provisions and workplace strategies for ADA compliance. She has conducted more than 200 ADA-related training sessions for employers, businesses, professional organizations, attorneys, state and local government entities, disability organizations, and people with disabilities. In her current role, Dr. Burke provides strategic planning and visioning for the project and monitors daily project operations. She oversees proposal preparation and writing, training, and provides technical assistance for individuals and organizations with ADA-related questions. In addition, she manages the development of materials and products, and directs research programs and projects.

Carol A. Christopherson was appointed by Governor Crist as a Commissioner on the Governor’s Commission on Disabilities for the past 2 years representing the hearing impaired population of Florida. (2007-2009) She was a council member of the first Government appointed Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing from August 2004 through 2008. She is also a member of the National Association of the Deaf, Hearing Loss Association of America, and Hearing Loss Association of Florida formerly known as SHHH or Self Help for the Hard of Hearing. Carol is also the Founder and President of Florida Service Dogs, Inc. founded in Feburary 1999, which she educates, advocates as well as trains rescued dogs as service dogs for persons with disabilities and works with owner to train them to train their own service dog. Carol has performed over 30 professional power point presentations regarding the legal rights and responsibilities of service animals to various state and local agencies as well as public and private entities and has performed over 100 live service animal demonstrations to various children and adult organizations. Through the DOIT course she is trained to evaluate and select dogs from owner surrender situations, rescues, humane societies, and animal control facilities to train, match, evaluate and place as service animals with qualified persons with disabilities. Carol is Late-Deafened, and uses a dual trained service animal, named Zoey with Shadow in training. Zoey alerts to sounds she can not hear and picks up dropped items she can not hear fall. Carol speaks and read lips and uses oral interpreters who use signed English.

As Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Conway directs the Department’s wide reaching ADA Technical Assistance Program, which carries out a wide variety of activities to promote voluntary compliance with the ADA, providing free information and technical assistance directly to businesses, State and local governments, people with disabilities, and the general public. These activities include the development of a broad variety of technical assistance materials and the operation of the Department’s nationwide ADA Information Line and the popular ADA Website. Ms. Conway has worked in the fields of disability and civil rights for more than 30 years. She has conducted training sessions, workshops, and presentations on the ADA for representatives from the public and private sectors, and people with disabilities throughout the country. She also oversees the Department's innovative ADA Mediation Program, which provides businesses, State and local governments, and people with disabilities an efficient, effective, and voluntary alternative for resolving complaints under the ADA and serves as Congressional Liaison for ADA and other disability-related matters. Prior to coming to the Department in 1994, Ms. Conway worked as a program director for Granite State Independent Living in New Hampshire, as an investigator for the NH Commission for Human Rights, as the director of medical social work in a hospital, and as a music teacher in the public schools.

Jim Dickson leads AAPD's nonpartisan Disability Vote Project, a broad coalition of 36 national disability-related organizations whose mission is to close the political participation gap for people with disabilities. The project focuses on voter registration and education, get-out-the-vote drives, election reform and polling place access. Mr. Dickson played a central role with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCRH) effort to pass the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Prior to joining AAPD, Mr. Dickson organized the campaign to place a statue of President Roosevelt in his wheelchair at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Mr. Dickson has organized grassroots, multi-issue organizations in Rhode Island, Connecticut and California. With the support of the Sierra Club, he organized the first grassroots congressional mobilization for the environmental movement, which resulted in the passage of the first Clean Air Act. In 1987, Mr. Dickson became the first blind person to sail a boat alone from Rhode Island to Bermuda. His objectives were to have a good time and to stimulate public discussion on the abilities of people with disabilities. Mr. Dickson is a graduate of Brown University and he resides in Washington, DC with his wife and daughter.

Claire Fitzgerald has been an attorney with the Kansas City, Missouri, office of the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), since 2001. She provides legal guidance and conducts investigations in the area of civil rights compliance under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. She has conducted presentations for elementary, secondary, and post-secondary entities and interest groups in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. She received a B.S. degree in Management/Computer Information Systems and Mathematics from Park University and her J.D. from the University of Denver, where she focused on discrimination law and trial practice.

Cathy Fortney serves as ADA Compliance Officer, Lead OT/PT and Assistive Technology Facilitator for the Francis-Howell School District in St. Charles County, Missouri. Her role involves overseeing ADA, IDEA and Section 504 implementation in a school district that has approxatemly 20,000 students, 23 individual schools, and covers 150 square miles. Ms. Fortney received a Master's Degree in Occupational Therapy frm Washington University in 1993. Since 1993 and has worked in various settings with clients across the age span. Ms. Fortney is married and has two wonderful daughters.

Kathy is Director of Training and Technical Assistance at the New England ADA Center, a project of the Institute for Human Centered Design.  She provides trainings and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and related state and federal laws. Kathy also provides technical assistance nationally through Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST, another project of the Institute for Human Centered Design. Prior to working at the Institute she was Assistant Director for Community Services at the Massachusetts Office on Disability.  She has over 20 years experience in the field of access for people with disabilities.

Peggy has been an accessibility specialist with the US Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) since November l992. Her responsibilities include providing technical assistance and training on the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) and the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS). She specializes in access issues related to recreation facilities and is coordinating the development of accessibility guidelines for facilities such as: sports facilities, amusement parks, play areas, golf facilities, swimming pools, boating and fishing facilities, and outdoor developed areas. Her work includes responsibility for the coordination of the Board's recreation rulemaking and has included three federal advisory committees, two of which were regulatory negotiations. She is also responsible for the agency's training program. She has a Bachelor's in Science Degree from the University of Maryland in Recreation with a Therapeutic Recreation option and a Master's Degree from the University of Maryland, University College in General Administration. She is a frequent speaker before organizations in the design, construction, and facility's management industries and has developed numerous training programs and seminars for those responsible for the application of the Accessibility Guidelines.

Wendy is the Director of the Northeast ADA Center. She holds a Masters degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Ms. Strobel-Gower has worked extensively in the application and training of issues around assistive technology in work and school environments. She also has a great deal of experience in the area of employment and transition from school to work for people with disabilities. Other areas of interest include person centered planning philosophy and tools, disability legislation and its impact on services, and the identification and accommodation of the functional limitations of disabilities across the lifespan.

Cheri Hofmann is the Distance Learning Coordinator at the Southeast ADA Center, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute of Syracuse University.  Ms. Hofmann manages the public requests for ADA training, oversees the implementation of the distance learning courses, and serves as a mentor to the Southeast ADA Center technical assistance team.  She answers questions received on the project’s toll-free hotline, develops training and technical assistance materials, and conducts training on the ADA and other federal laws.
Ms. Hofmann has collaborated in updating three online courses on the ADA Amendments Act: ADA Basic Building Blocks (public version), Basic ADA Building Blocks (moderated version), and At Your Service: Welcoming Customers with Disabilities.  In addition, she serves as the Lead Moderator for the Basic ADA Building Blocks course.  She was selected as one of 20 ADA Resource Center staff to attend training on the new 2010 ADA Standards, hosted by the Department of Justice. She also attended and presented at the ADA Resource Center only webinar on the 2010 ADA Standards and ADA Amendments Act.  She recently completed the ADA Coordinator Training (ACT) Certification Program which is quality training that provides the knowledge-base and tools necessary to be effective in the role of an ADA Coordinator.

Joyce Walker-Jones is a Senior Attorney in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) Policy Division in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Washington, DC. She is responsible for drafting Commission guidance, conducting training, and providing technical assistance to the federal government, state agencies, public and private sector employers and employees, and disability rights advocates on Title I of the ADA and Title II of GINA. Ms. Walker-Jones was the principal drafter of several ADA guidances and also has been a member of various Presidential and interagency ADA task forces. She also has served as Special Assistant to a former EEOC Commissioner and Chair, advising them on issues related to all of the EEO laws. A graduate of Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, and Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, IL, Ms. Walker-Jones has been an attorney at the EEOC since 1987.

Robin is Director of the Great Lakes ADA Center located in the Department on Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has extensive experience as a consultant/trainer regarding barriers to community participation for people with disabilities including education, transportation, employment, and electronic information. Robin is actively involved in assisting business and government to meet their obligations under federal disability rights laws and is recognized as a key resource regarding accessibility.

William Myhill is the Director of Legal Research & Writing for the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) and Adjunct Professor of Law at Syracuse University. His research interests include law and policy developments affecting education, youth transition, and accessible information technology for persons with disabilities, and the issues of invisible disabilities and aging with or into disability. Formerly, William served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Papua New Guinea and as a special education teacher working with children having diverse special needs

Ed is the Director of the Denver Office of Disability Rights (DODR) and the City's ADA coordinator. Ed has been Director of DODR for 10 years and involved with the ADA for over 15 years. Ed works within Denver city government on Title II ADA compliance and advises the private sector on Title III ADA compliance issues and concerns. Ed is also liaison to the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities (Mayors Commission). This commission works on ADA issues, Disability Rights, Community acknowledgement /awards, and makes recommendations to the Mayor and City Council. Ed is a certified ADA coordinator, member of the Rocky Mt. ADA Leadership Network, certified ADA trainer and has a B. S. degree in Education from Colorado State University.

Julie has dedicated her entire career to serving people with disabilities for over 30 years across Florida. She has been a registered lobbyist for over 12 years in Washington and Tallahassee, serving veterans and people with disabilities. Prior to moving to Volusia County in 2007, Julie was the Executive ADA Administrator for Governor Jeb Bush for eight years. She served as the Executive Director of the Americans with Disabilities Act Working Group and created the Clearinghouse on Disability Information for Florida. She is published by the National Institute of Disability Research and has written several pieces of legislation for people with disabilities that have become laws such as the Florida’s service animal legislation and Florida’s Accessible Voting Law. She is currently the Executive Director of disAbility Solutions for Independent Living (DSIL). DSIL is a Center of Independent Living which serves Volusia and Flagler Counties. Under her direction, She is best known as a staunch advocate for people with disabilities and her proudest recognition was being adopted by the Florida Association of the Deaf as the first hearing person ever to receive their invite into their organization. She currently resides in Ormond Beach and has one daughter who is studying to be an Occupational Therapist at Daytona State College.

Randi serves as the Communications Access Specialist for the Office for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services within the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services and Division for Rehabilitation Services. She works with federal, state and local agencies and service providers, for profit and not for profit, regarding their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Rehabilitation Act. She provides statewide training to empower people who are deaf or hard of hearing with knowledge of their civil rights and provides training for the business community on their responsibilities under the ADA. She also provides statewide training for parents of children with hearing loss and their rights under the IDEA. Ms. Turner holds a Bachelors of Applied Arts and Sciences from Texas State University in San Marcos, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf certification of CI/CT and Texas Interpreter Certification-Advanced.

Marian Vessels is Director of the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center, one of the 10 regional ADA Centers that comprises the ADA National Network. The Center is a program of TransCen Inc and is located in Rockville, Maryland. Serving in this role since 1996, she is the Center’s liaison with business, employers, hospitality venues and disability coalitions in the six-state Mid-Atlantic Region (MD, VA, PA, DE, WV, and DC). Among her primary areas of expertise are training and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in employment, hospitality and government sectors. Ms. Vessels was the Executive Director of the Maryland Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities for nine years and the Director of the Maryland Governor's Office for Individuals with Disabilities. She was a Senior Health Educator for the Baltimore City Health Department for nine years. She has served as an Executive Board Member for the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Parents' Place of Maryland. Ms. Vessels also has had a gubernatorial appointment to the Maryland State Rehabilitation Council of which she was chair. She received an Honorary Doctorate from Towson University, and has received numerous awards for her commitment to disability issues and health education.

While a senior in high school in 1968, Chip Wilson became a paraplegic. He went on to complete high school and graduate with his class. He graduated from Jacksonville University with a Bachelors Degree in Sociology and later earned a Masters degree in Computer Resource and Information Management from Webster University. After college, Chip worked as a Parole and Probation Officer for the State of Florida, Dean of Boys at a private senior high school and then spent 23 years in the corporate world. Chip served for 6 years as Board President of the Independent Living Resource Center of NE Florida (formerly the Center for Independent Living of Jacksonville), has held various positions on the Florida Independent Living Council (he was elected President for the 2005 – 2006 and 2006 – 2007 terms), served on the accreditation task force for the Lane Wiley Senior Citizens Center in Jacksonville, served on the Accessible Electronic Information Taskforce for the State of Florida, was a member of the Board of Directors of the West Council Chamber of Commerce in Jacksonville, was the Small Business Leader of the Year for the West Council Chamber of Commerce for 2007, has been a member of the Business Leaders Network in Jacksonville and the Special Needs Shelter Taskforce of Duval County. In 2007, Chip was appointed by Florida Governor Charlie Crist to the Governor’s Commission on Disabilities. After retiring from Prudential, Chip founded the ADA Consultants of NE Florida. The firm specializes in accessibility issues (physical and programmatical), has provided expert witness services in several lawsuits, training in the ADA and state accessibility requirements and training in disability etiquette. The firm also provides business continuity training and planning – particularly targeting non-profit organizations and small businesses. In November, 2007, Chip was chosen to be the Statewide Disability Coordinator for Emergency Management. This requires extensive travel throughout the state with emphasis on ensuring that people with disabilities are included in all aspects of emergency preparedness. Chip is the recipient of the Senator Stephen R. Wise Lifetime Achievement Award for his advocacy efforts. Chip has held a Certified Business Continuity Professional designation from the Disaster Recovery Institute International and currently holds the Accessibility Inspector/Plans Examiner certification from the International Codes Council. Chip and his wife Jo have been married since July 4, 1971, and have two children and two grandchildren.

Dave is a graduate of George Washington University (1987) and has worked at the Access Board since 1988 as an Accessibility Specialist responsible for technical assistance to Federal, state, and local governments and private sector entities regarding the requirements of the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. In 1994, he was appointed Coordinator of Research, a position created to manage the research efforts that underpin the development of accessibility guidelines. Dave has also been active in rulemaking for both title II and title III guidelines for buildings and facilities and for transit vehicles. Most recently, he has developed guidelines for the accessibility of correctional and judicial facilities constructed by state and local governments and for elements used by children. Dave's magnum opus is the ADAAG Technical Assistance Manual, a comprehensive advisory on applying accessibility guidelines to design and construction projects. In May of 1998, Dave was appointed Coordinator of Public Affairs, taking responsibility for the Board's public outreach activities, including its bi-monthly newsletter, Access Currents.