Allison Flanagan has spent more than 30 years in Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), working alongside agencies, staff, and partners to improve employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. She currently serves as a Program Contractor with the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR).

Her career includes serving as Director of the Florida Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Executive Director of the Kentucky Office for the Blind, Deputy Director of Florida’s Division of Blind Services, and Assistant Director of Program Services at the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. She has also served as Program Coordinator for the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Management (VRTAC-QM), coordinated the National Rehabilitation Leadership Institute (NRLI) through the San Diego State University Research Foundation, taught in the University of Kentucky’s Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling program, and worked with Vaybrant Consulting as a Senior Advisor supporting state VR agencies with federal financial management.

Allison holds a Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and Certified Public Manager. She has served as president of CSAVR and of the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC).

Outside of work, she is happiest near the water, spending summers at the lake with family and friends, walking her dog, and catching live music whenever she can.

Kathy West-Evans, MPA, CRC, is a Co-Founder of Abilities United Consulting. She previously worked for 21 years as the Director of Business Relations for the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR), the membership organization for the 78 directors of public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) programs. Kathy developed and led the National Employment Team (NET), a network of business consultants representing public VR agencies in every state, the territories, and Washington, D.C. Through NET, she advanced a dual-customer strategy that helps businesses meet workforce needs with VR talent and support services. She has helped business customers hire, promote, and retain employees with disabilities through training, consulting, technical assistance, and coordinated VR business teams at the national, state, and local levels.

Kathy is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) fluent in American Sign Language. She began her career in 1978 as a vocational consultant and Projects with Industry (PWI) program manager at the Hearing, Speech and Deafness Center. She later joined the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) as a VR counselor and went on to serve as assistant regional administrator, regional business relations specialist, and statewide manager for business relations and marketing. She then served in the Region X office of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) within the U.S. Department of Education, where she worked as a state representative and regional specialist in employment and business development, ADA, training, and personnel development.

Kathy has served on the National Employment Conferences planning committee and co-authored publications on employment through a dual-customer strategy with businesses and individual customers. She frequently speaks on business engagement and workforce strategies that support the hiring and inclusion of people with disabilities. She is a former Commission on Rehabilitation Counseling commissioner and a former Chair and member of the national Veterans Committee on Rehabilitation (VACOR).