Alesia Allen (she/her/hers)

Alesia Allen, Ph.D., is Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Diversity and Inclusion at National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). In this role, she monitors diversity, inclusion, equal opportunity and access regulations and issues in higher education and advises the president and other NTID administrators on matters related to diversity and inclusion. She also ensures accessibility and inclusive collaboration while bridging gaps between NTID and university-wide initiatives at RIT. Dr. Allen has more than 15 years of professional, clinical, and teaching experience and she worked on several initiatives to promote system changes that impact deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals who come from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Allen holds a doctoral and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Gallaudet University and a bachelor’s in psychology from RIT.

Elizabeth Stone (she/her)

Elizabeth “Liz” Stone, is a University Ombuds since 2015 and the current director of Ombuds Programs at Gallaudet University providing confidential, informal, independent, and impartial conflict management resources. Stone is a certified professional diversity coach trained with the Coach Diversity Institute and a conflict management practitioner with 20+ years of experience in higher education, nonprofit, and government-affiliated settings. Stone earned her bachelor’s in social work, master’s in public administration, and holds several certificates in mediation, racial justice facilitation, and restorative justice.

Norman Morán (she/ella)

Norma Morán, Associate Ombuds at Gallaudet University, is responsible for undergraduate and graduate student visits, conflict resolution and competence training, and data visualization/management. Ms. Morán is an appointed member of the Maryland Advisory Council of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and a board member of the Maryland/Washington DC Chapter of Hands and Voices. She has a bachelor’s in Professional Technical Communication and a master’s in International Education and Training. In addition, she earned certificates in diversity, equity, and inclusion; restorative justice; racial justice facilitation; and mediation.

Katherine W. Vance, MS, NIC, SC:L, CPACC (she/her)

Katherine Vance is a certified ASL/English interpreter and accessibility professional with over 15 years of experience in communication and digital accessibility. She’s worked to mobilize enterprise-level strategies to improve accessibility and inclusion for members at all levels of organizations. Katherine spent ten years at the University of Cincinnati working in disability services, overseeing ASL/English interpreting, speech-to-text, closed captioning, and digital format services. In March 2023, Katherine joined Fidelity Investments as the Accessibility Director in the Global Diversity & Inclusion Office, overseeing the firm’s efforts to improve the digital accessibility of associate-facing applications.

Drake Darrah (he/him)

Drake Darrah is an Attorney/Skadden Fellow with the NAD. His project focuses on advocating for access to programs and services for deaf families and deaf children in the child welfare system in the United States. The goal of this work is to create change that reduces inappropriate referrals, inaccessible services, erroneous foster placements that contribute to family dysfunction, unjustified permanent separations on the basis of disability, and discrimination against qualified deaf parents seeking to foster and/or adopt. Prior to joining the NAD, Drake worked at Sidley Austin and the Department of Justice. Drake holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Benjamin Suits-Baer (he/him)

Benjamin is an Accessibility Resource Specialist with NDC. After working in disability services in higher education, he provides technical assistance to colleagues working with deaf students to ensure they can access their college education. He is particularly interested in topics surrounding ADA law, self-advocacy, and equitable experiences. He received his master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration with an emphasis on student affairs professionals and their knowledge of students with disabilities

Carrie Lou Bloom (she/her)

Carrie Lou Bloom, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. She co-directs the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes. Dr. Bloom holds masters' degrees in Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, and Program Evaluation, and a PhD in Educational Psychology. Her research focuses on the psychological factors involved with transition, and strategies for mitigating systemic disparities that impact deaf communities. Her work seeks to counter commonly held narratives about deaf people that are built on a deficit perspective. Dr. Bloom advocates for examining the deficits within systems, then changing the systems — not the people.

Diego Ozuna-Clark (they/he) Moderator

Diego Ozuna-Clark is passionate about community engagement. As strategic support coordinator, Diego is responsible for bringing groups of people together to promote stronger networks within local communities, which leads to quality access, services and resources for deaf people. Diego holds a bachelor’s degree in history from The University of Texas at Austin.

Howard Rosenblum (he/him)

Howard A. Rosenblum is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). He also serves as the Legal Director, and works closely with the NAD lawyers on policy advocacy and litigation work. He has been instrumental in significant legal victories such as: NAD v. Netflix, NAD v. Harvard, NAD v. MIT, NAD v. Trump, and Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools. Mr. Rosenblum has been a lawyer for over thirty years, including: twelve years at the NAD; nine years as a Senior Attorney at Equip for Equality, a nonprofit organization in Illinois; and ten years with a private law firm. He currently serves as the legal advisor to the World Federation of the Deaf. In 2010 and again in 2014, he was appointed by President Obama to serve on the U.S. Access Board. Mr. Rosenblum received his law degree from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (1992), and his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona (1988).

Latoya Dixon (she/her)

Latoya Dixon is an Accessibility Resource Specialist with NDC. She has worked with disability services in higher education and is a seasoned accessibility advocate for transition-age youth and college students with disabilities. Latoya received her M.A. in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling and is pursuing her doctorate in Deaf Studies/Deaf Education with a focus on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the underlying disparities within the deaf community.

Kate Lewandowski (she/her)

Kate Lewandowski (she/her), M.S., has over 12 years of experience advising and coordinating access for deaf students in the postsecondary environment. Kate’s passion on topics of disability justice, access, and inclusion is a deeply personal endeavor which stems from her experiences navigating systems from when she was a deaf student. Kate earned her master’s in Disability Services in Higher Education.

Chris Moreland (he/him)

Christopher Moreland, MD MPH, is a professor of internal medicine and interim chief of the division of hospital medicine at Dell Medical School. As a nationally recognized clinician educator, his innovation and leadership roles have spanned the continuum from pre-professional and medical student to resident and faculty development, including his decade-long role as associate residency director. His nationally collaborative advocacy and research efforts have resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications and presentations elucidating the experiences of our healthcare workforce of professionals with disabilities, as well as policies and practices to best support their inclusion and retention.

Nicole Genser (she/her)

Nicole Genser is an audiology doctoral student at Montclair State University. She has engaged in multiple educational and advocacy-based initiatives related to promoting equal access for deaf individuals. Being deaf and a hearing-aid user herself, she is motivated towards fusing her academic, work, and personal experiences to help close substantial gaps in these areas. Her clinical and research interests relate to exploring developments in the field of audiology, and higher education, particular to working with teens and young adults with hearing loss.

Malibu Barron (she/her)

Malibu Barron is a Deaf Multiracial Ciswoman who is currently a second-year doctoral student under School Improvement at Texas State University. She is known to focus on integrating multiple issues (i.e., education, mental health, DEI-A, community works) to address current needs of our society. Malibu has worked with several Deaf schools, non-profit agencies, and provided her expertise working with universities and organizations hosting different spaces for courageous conversations. She is a Strategic Support Specialist with the National Deaf Center and a proud mom to three Deaf children.

Lore Kinast (she/her)

Lore Kinast is the Director of Strategic Support at NDC and enjoys working with stakeholders on all levels in designing accessible opportunities, implementing systemic benchmarks, and spearheading program development projects. She has 15+ years of experience coordinating interpreting, captioning, and accommodations for deaf students at public universities and community colleges. Lore is the Chair for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Knowledge and Practice Community with the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD). She received her EdD in Higher Education Administration.

Anna Bitencourt (she/her)

Anna Bitencourt is a senior attorney at the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) serving as a litigator and as director of legal intake. As a litigator, she focuses primarily on civil rights litigation and administrative advocacy on behalf of deaf and hard of hearing individuals to enforce federal antidiscrimination laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act. As director of legal intake, she oversees responses to inquiries from consumers seeking legal or advocacy assistance from the NAD. Anna holds a J.D. from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Rezenet Moges-Riedel (she/hers)

Dr. Rezenet Moges-Riedel is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in ASL Linguistics and Deaf Cultures (ASLD) program at California State University, Long Beach. Her current works are heavily shaped by critical race theory, which influenced her concepts "White Oralism" and "Black Deaf Gain". Her recent work is based on intersectional experiences and retention of Deaf Faculty of Color, working at postsecondary institutions. Her research interests also encompass linguistic anthropological issues, such as sign language contact, demissionization, and female masculinity signing styles. Moges(-Riedel) has several articles and book-chapters published by University of California Press, Oxford University Press and Gallaudet University Press.