Speakers
Mark Steadman
A Tangled Web of ARIA
Fidelity
Mark is the Squad leader - Accessibility squad 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 integration environments and creating automated accessibility solutions for development teams and organizations.
Terrill Thompson, Gaby de Jongh, and Alaina Foust
Creating Accessible Documents and Slides: Microsoft, Google, and Canva
Terrill Thompson is manager of the IT Accessibility Team at the University of Washington, a role in which he and his team work to promote IT accessibility by building community, developing resources, delivering lectures and workshops, conducting accessibility evaluations, and providing consultation and support to a wide variety of constituents.
Gaby de Jongh is a member of the IT Accessibility Team at the University of Washington. Her responsibilities include collaborating with the university community to develop accessible digital documents. She provides consultations, delivers training on accessible content creation techniques, and offers technical support. Additionally, she oversees the centrally funded Document Remediation Service, which proactively remediates digital documents.
Alaina Foust is a member of the IT Accessibility Team at the University of Washington. As Lead Digital Accessibility Consultant, she performs accessibility reviews of websites and digital products, providing consultations and technical support. Additionally, she supports a student team tasked with providing accessibility reviews.
Sam Hobson
Actually Shifting Left: Technical Accessibility for Designers
Intopia
Sam is a Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant at Intopia. He has a background in Design, and an interest in the intersection of Design education/praxis and accessibility. He also teaches two Interaction Design subjects at Queensland University of Technology.
Ted Drake and Marco Salsiccia
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Intuit
Ted Drake is the Head of Accessibility and Inclusive Design at Intuit, a financial software company that creates Credit Karma, Mailchimp, TurboTax and QuickBooks. Ted leads a distributed team of Accessibility Champions; working together to power prosperity. Prior to Intuit, Ted co-founded Yahoo’s Accessibility Lab and was a developer evangelist. Ted speaks regularly at technology and design conferences and is a board member of Magical Bridge Foundation, steering committee for Web4All, and Program Chair for CSUN Assistive Technology Conference.
Marco Salsiccia is Intuit's Mobile Accessibility Leader, guiding mobile and web development teams to create accessible experiences for everyone, especially those using access technology. Before he became blind in 2014,, Marco was a UX/UI motion designer and QA engineer. He uses those skills to teach others about accessibility and usability throughout product development. Marco believes accessibility is a continuous journey, not a destination. In his free time, he teaches tactile drawing, art, and design to blind and low-vision creatives worldwide.
Sarah Horton
Never Delegate Understanding: Foundations of Digital Accessibility
Sarah Horton (she/her) has over 20 years of experience helping organizations create “born accessible” technology. She is author of books, articles, and papers on designing technology to improve quality of life, including What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility with David Sloan and A Web for Everyone with Whitney Quesenbery. She is currently Senior Designer, Accessibility with Ad Hoc, a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, and an Invited Expert with the W3C’s Accessibility Guidelines Working Group.
Kavana Ramesh
Practicing Accessibility Research with Confidence
Kavana Ramesh is a UX researcher specializing in accessibility and inclusive design. She has led over 600 research sessions with assistive technology users, uncovering barriers and identifying opportunities to improve accessibility and usability for diverse audiences. Kavana is passionate about helping teams build confidence in conducting accessibility research and meaningfully engaging people with disabilities in the design and development of inclusive products and experiences.
Juanita Flessas
Win with Metrics: How to Track and Show the Value of Your Program
Jaunita Flessas is an internationally recognized expert in digital accessibility, program leadership, and inclusive technology. She is the founder of Empower Accessibility, a consultancy advancing access through strategic compliance and training, and globa11y, a social enterprise focused on building a pipeline of disabled technologists across the Global South. With over a decade of experience spanning law, accessibility, and communications, Jaunita brings a multidisciplinary lens to equity-driven innovation.
Previously, she served as Head of Technical Accessibility at Navy Federal Credit Union, where she led a dedicated team and task force supporting 14 million users. She is an active contributor to international accessibility standards through her work with the W3C Accessibility Guidelines (AGWG), Working Group. Her certifications include CPWA, WAS, ADS, PMP, Trusted Tester, and Accessible Player Experiences (APX).
Now based in Melbourne, Australia, Jaunita continues to lead global accessibility efforts while supporting organizations in meeting evolving compliance needs, designing inclusive learning environments, and embedding accessibility into digital strategy. She is a sought-after speaker, advisor, and trainer with a proven track record of helping public and private sector organizations build accessible, human-centered digital systems.