Speaker Bios

Kathy Wahlbin, Web accessibility consultant, founder of Interactive Accessibility (email: kathy@wahlbin.com)

Kathy Wahlbin is an accessibility expert in Section 508 and W3C WCAG 2.0 compliance and president and founder of her own consulting company, Interactive Accessibility. She is an experienced digital media designer with extensive knowledge of accessibility and usability issues and solutions. She is passionate about creating a world where online communications and technology are simple and universally accessible to all people regardless of ability.  Kathy leads the Boston Accessibility group and is an invited expert on the W3C WCAG 2.0 Working Group and WCAG 2.0 Evaluation Methodology Task Force.

Korey Singleton, ATI Manager, George Mason University (email: ksinglet@gmu.edu)

Korey Singleton manages the George Mason University Assistive Technology Initiative (ATI).  The ATI works collaboratively with other units within the Mason community to develop and coordinate the implementation of a university-wide plan to ensure equivalent access for individuals with disabilities to information technology and communications.  He has worked as an assistive technology specialist for over 15 years providing needs assessments, training, and support for individuals with sensory, physical and cognitive impairments, including persons with multiple disabilities.

Catherine (Cath) Stager-Kilcommons, Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator, CU-Boulder (email: Catherine.Stager-kilcommons@colorado.edu)

Catherine Stager-Kilcommons has been University of Colorado at Boulder’s Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator since 2008, overseeing the Assistive Technology Lab, adaptive access to computers, the delivery of alternate format textbooks to students with disabilities, and helping strategize methods of access to the information students need to succeed.

Before coming to CU, Cath worked with Assistive Technology in higher education for twelve years at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She is one of the founding members of ATHEN Access Technology Higher Education Network.

Julie K. Balassa, Assistant Director, Disability Services, Valencia College   (email: jbalassa@valenciacollege.edu)

Julie Balssa became college-wide coordinator of Valencia’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Assistive Technology Services, and Alternate Format Services in 2005 and has continued oversight of these areas since her reclassification in 2007 as college-wide Assistant Director of the college’s Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD). She is the college’s point of contact with publishers regarding accessibility, serves as a technical and educational resource for the OSD and for disability service providers throughout the country, and is a frequent presenter on alternate format production, assistive technologies, and on issues impacting access for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or legally blind. She continues to hold national RID CI and CT certification and sits on the Advisory Committee of the Access Text Network.

Tole Khesin, VP Marketing, 3Play Media (email: tole@3playmedia.com)

Tole Khesin is one of the owners of 3Play Media, which provides premium closed captioning and transcription services to make video accessible, searchable, and more engaging. The 3Play Media platform is designed to easily integrate with other campus technologies. 3Play Media also provides interactive transcripts and video search tools that maximize the value of online video. 3Play Media was founded in 2007 by four MIT classmates in search of a better solution for video accessibility.

Howard Kramer, AHG Conference Coordinator (AHEAD), Lecturer – CU-Boulder (email: hkramer@ahead.org)

Howard Kramer has worked in the field of Assistive Technology, disability and information systems for more than 20 years, focusing on computer, workstation, environmental and media access. Since 1997, he has been with Disability Services at the University of Colorado-Boulder (UCB).  He is a cofounder of the annual Accessing Higher Ground Conference: Accessible Media, Web & Technology. Mr. Kramer is also the developer and instructor for a 3-credit class on Universal Design titled: Universal Design for Media: Where Accessibility & Usability Meet at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has a Masters from CU-Boulder and is working on his Ph.D. at the University of Denver.