Barry Whaley, M.S., is a Project Director and Principal Investigator at the Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University. His current projects include the Southeast ADA Center, the Council on Access and Mobility Technical Assistance Center Project, the Mid-Atlantic Youth and Self-Advocacy Project, and the Inclusive Public Space Project. For over forty-five years, he has worked toward equitable access for people with disabilities in our country and worldwide.  His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including The Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, Laws, and the Journal of Forensic Science & Addiction Research. His current research examines the impact of race and disability on three ADA-related issues: 1) employment, 2) access to digital technology, and 3) long and short-term poverty. Mr. Whaley is qualified to give expert testimony in federal district court on applicable guidance and industry standards for accommodating people with disabilities in the workplace. 

LaKisha joined the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in 2018 as a Talent Pipeline Project Manager and was promoted to the Talent Pipeline System Director in 2020. In this role, she led Kentucky’s statewide Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) initiative, with a sharp focus on building workforce solutions that advance the careers of Kentuckians. In 2021, she was promoted to the Executive Director of the Workforce Center. As the Executive Director, she oversees the design and implementation of programs and initiatives that align education and training with employer needs and economic opportunities. Prior to joining the Chamber, LaKisha worked at Fidelity Investments for 11 years as an account executive and corporate trainer.  

Cora McNabb is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR).  OVR is housed in the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet.  A combined agency, OVR serves individuals with disabilities in the Commonwealth.  She has 29 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation in the areas of Workforce Initiatives, Management/Administration and grant writing.  Before coming to work for the State VR agency in 2006, she was a Director of Employment Services for a non – profit agency for 14 years. For most of her career she has provided direct support and oversight of programs for individuals with disabilities with a focus on employment for individuals with disabilities.

Bob Drake is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is an active clinician and has studied psychiatric rehabilitation for over 50 years. Along with Deborah Becker, he developed the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment, the IPS Employment Center, and the International IPS Learning Community. He has published more than 700 articles and books on psychiatric rehabilitation. 

John Connelly serves as the Interim CEO of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR). He brings over 30 years of experience in public rehabilitation. After earning his law degree in 1980, he began his career as a staff attorney with the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, later serving as Executive Director from 2001 to 2009. Among his key accomplishments at the Commission was the establishment of the agency’s first dedicated employer services unit. Currently, John leverages his expertise to support the development, negotiation, and management of research and grant projects, as well as assisting with the review of legislation affecting vocational rehabilitation services. 

Matt Chaussee is the CEO and Co-founder of award-winning immersive media and virtual reality video solution, CareerViewXR. Together with his wife and company co-founder, Katie, have assembled a skilled team of educators and media professionals providing career awareness solutions to schools in over 25 states. CareerViewXR’s accessible approach to delivering immersive media allows them to bring authentic and meaningful real-world career experiences into the classroom. Matt and his team build meaningful connections between education and industry while providing educators, students, and career seekers a dynamic, yet practical tool to better understand career pathways.  

Malachy Bishop, Ph.D., CRC, is the Norman L. and Barbara M. Berven Professor of Rehabilitation Psychology in the Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Bishop’s clinical background includes rehabilitation counseling, rehabilitation psychology and neuropsychology in physical medicine and rehabilitation and other health care settings. He conducts research in employment and psychosocial aspects of chronic neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and other chronic neurological conditions, and the application of quality of life research to adaptation to chronic illness and disability.

Kara Ayers is the Associate Director of the UCCEDD and a LEND Core Faculty member at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She is a psychologist and Associate Professor whose research focuses on parenting with a disability, disability culture in the media, and health inequities experienced by people with disabilities. In addition to teaching and conducting research, she reviews public policies to understand their impact on people with disabilities and collaborates with policy makers to strengthen those policies. 

Alisher Burikhanov is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board (KWIB), the state workforce board for the commonwealth. KWIB is a strategic body comprised of 51% business representatives with labor, government, education, and community-based organizations all working together to advance Kentucky’s workforce development. Having served for Team Kentucky for over 6 years, Alisher enjoys the collaboration between stakeholders given his prior experience working in a fast-paced recruitment firm, at a non-profit serving refugees and immigrants, and with a veteran-owned small business in Lancaster, Kentucky. Alisher is a proud graduate of the University of Kentucky with an MBA from Kentucky State University, where he teaches as an adjunct in the School of Business. Originally from a Central Asian country called Uzbekistan, Alisher has lived and worked in Kentucky’s rural and urban centers for the last two decades and currently calls Frankfort his home with his wife and three children.