From Buy-In to Built-In: Accessibility Learning as an Engine for Lasting Leadership Support
As someone working toward accessibility, you don’t need to be reminded that leadership buy‑in matters. But how do you ensure it continues past the initial urgency? Here’s what helps organizations move past that hurdle: effective learning that shows how accessibility fits into everyday work and larger business priorities.
When organizations invest in learning that makes sense for their teams, accessibility efforts are far more likely to connect to company‑wide initiatives like digital transformation, risk management, operational efficiency, and customer experience. Accessibility stops feeling like extra work and starts showing up as part of how the business operates.
On May 7 at 11 AM ET, join Christopher M. Lee, PhD, CEO & President of the G3ict and Managing Director of the IAAP, and Corbb O’Connor, Director of Thought Leadership at Level Access, for a practical conversation about sustaining leadership support and building impactful learning programs in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. You’ll leave with concrete ideas for strengthening accessibility education across your organization and positioning your efforts in ways that executives recognize and support long-term.
Registration is closed
Stay tuned for the on-demand webinar. Coming soon!
What you'll learn
In this webinar, you will learn how to:
- Recognize how highly effective learning helps accessibility efforts stick, based on real-world data from 1,600+ professionals.
- Identify the common issues that cause accessibility programs to lose momentum, including training that doesn’t scale, unclear ownership, and misalignment with how teams actually work.
- Decide what needs to change for your organization’s professional-development strategy to connect with how adults learn best as tools, roles, and expectations evolve.
- Build a practical plan for gaining leadership support and strengthening learning across the organization, whether you’re getting started or trying to scale what’s already in place.
Christopher M. Lee, PhD
CEO & President, G3ict, and Managing Director, IAAP
Christopher M. Lee, Ph.D., is an international accessibility expert and the author of three books, including "Faking It: A Look into the Mind of a Creative Learner," published by Boynton Cook Heinemann. He is a sought-after public speaker on disabilities, ICTs, and assistive technologies.
Christopher founded and directed North America's largest higher education accommodation service and research center, impacting thousands of universities. He has been the principal investigator on several research grants, including the First in the World Obama Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.
Currently, Christopher serves as the President & CEO of G3ict - the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies and Managing Director of IAAP. He is also a passionate advocate for cognitive disabilities, having acted as Executive Director of the Georgia Learning Disability Adult Association for eight years and participated on multiple boards in the field.
Corbb O'Connor
Director of Thought Leadership, Level Access
Corbb O’Connor leads accessibility advocacy for Level Access. Over the years, he has educated thousands about creating inclusive environments, alongside others with disabilities, in the United States, Canada, and Jamaica. He’s spent the past six years consulting with the world’s largest business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies to connect them with disabled people and ensure their content is usable by people with disabilities. O’Connor has also started a business-to-business communications firm, U.S. Bank’s accessibility initiative, and a manual testing team.
Beatriz González Mellídez
Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion for Central Europe, Atos
Beatriz González Mellídez is the Head of Accessibility and Digital Inclusion for Central Europe at Atos and part of the Future Makers Research Community (FMRC). She is an inclusive user experience professional with more than 20 years of experience based in Cologne, Germany.
A Certified Professional in Document & Web Accessibility (IAAP’s CPWA, ADS, WAS and CPACC) and User Requirements Engineer (CPUX-FL, CPUX-UR), Beatriz is a LinkedIn Trainer for accessibility and holds an IAAP-DACH Knowledge Badge in Accessible Teaching. In 2008, she completed a postgraduate University Expert Study in Accessibility & Usability of Web Contents at Alcalá de Henares University.
Beatriz has worked as a UX consultant, web designer, and front-end developer across more than 10 countries and in 5 languages. Her passion is problem solving for all, no exceptions. She is a member of the IAAP DACH Council and supported the Certifications translation in German and Spanish. She co-leads the fronta11y.org project of the German UPA (UX Association) accessibility working group.
Katie Puskarich
Sr. Manager, Product Accessibility Enablement, Salesforce
Katie Puskarich is an accessibility leader, speaker, and learning experience expert shaping more inclusive digital products in an AI-driven world. With roots in public communications and instructional design, she works at the intersection of technology, education, and accessibility.
At Salesforce, she partners across teams to embed product accessibility beyond compliance, creating experiences that are equitable and intuitive for all. Her background spans training strategy, curriculum development and facilitation, event planning, customer operations, and product management, always centered on empowering people through thoughtful design and clear communication.
A natural storyteller and systems thinker, Katie blends insight, empathy, and a bubbly, intuitive edge to drive meaningful, lasting impact.
