Training Innovation Project

Tag: 2026 Workforce & Employer Engagement Summit

  • Phillip Rumrill, Ph.D., CRC

    Barry Whaley

    E-Mail:

    rumrillp@msu.edu

    Phillip Rumrill, Ph.D., CRC, is a Red Cedar Distinguished Professor of Counseling and Counselor Education at Michigan State University. His research interests include aging and disability, issues facing students with disabilities in higher education, assistive technology and reasonable accommodations, chronic illness and emerging disabilities, workplace discrimination, and self-advocacy strategies for people with disabilities. Among Dr. Rumrill’s recent and current research projects are several initiatives to promote seamless transitions and postschool outcomes for young adults with significant disabilities, two state-level workforce development initiatives for people with mid-career disabilities, a longitudinal study of workplace discrimination against Americans with disabilities, and a national survey of the employment concerns of Americans with multiple sclerosis.

  • Bev Harp

    Barry Whaley

    E-Mail:

    Beverly.Harp@uky.edu

    Bev Harp is Project Director for Innovative Supports for Autistic Workers (ISAW), a project of the Human Development Institute (HDI) and is self-advocate faculty for LEND at the University of Kentucky. Bev is an autistic self-advocate who has presented at national conferences for APSE, AHEAD, TASH, and many other organizations. Bev is a past co-chair of the Kentucky Advisory Council on Autism and co-founder of Kentucky’s first autistic self-advocacy group. She holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Kentucky.

  • Kathleen West-Evans

    Barry Whaley

    E-Mail:

    kathy@abilitiesunitedconsulting.com

    Kathy West-Evans, MPA, CRC, is a Consultant and Co-Owner 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. The public VR system serves more than one million people with disabilities each year, helping them pursue careers in integrated, competitive employment.

    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).

  • Katia Albanese

    Barry Whaley

    E-Mail:

    kalbanese@kappastrategies.com

    Katia Ablanese is the founder and principal of Kappa Strategies, a consulting practice that helps organizations turn policy priorities into meaningful action through education and partnership building. A strategic communications and government affairs professional, she has 25 years of experience advancing workforce development and disability employment policy at every level of government, as well as across the private and nonprofit sectors.

    Throughout her career, Katia has directed dozens of initiatives focused on policy education and stakeholder engagement, as well as technical assistance and partnership development. Her portfolio includes work for multiple offices within the U.S. Department of Labor and a range of state agencies, including vocational rehabilitation agencies. For more than a decade, she served as project director for the nationally recognized State Exchange on Employment & Disability (SEED). In this role, she led policy education and technical assistance across all 50 states and five territories while building and expanding a network of more than 30 national organizations.

    Katia brings particular expertise in employer engagement, with additional experience in career readiness and emerging technologies. She has built public-private partnerships that address employer workforce needs while expanding competitive integrated employment and career pathways for people with disabilities. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in finance from American University and is a member of the National Association of Government Communicators.

  • Kellie Burke

    Barry Whaley

    E-Mail:

    kburke9@humana.com

    Kellie Burke, DSW, MBA, MSW, aPHR, is an Inclusion Advisory and Practice Lead at Humana with more than 15 years of leadership, strategy, and facilitation experience focused on advancing equitable talent pathways and inclusive workplace cultures. Her work spans people programs, trauma-informed leadership, strategic consulting, and transformational change management.

    Kellie recently earned her Doctorate in Social Work, with dissertation research focused on bridging employment and talent pathways between higher education and employers. She is passionate about strengthening the connection between education, workforce development, and inclusive hiring practices.

    A recognized thought leader, Kellie has presented at national and international conferences, including recent engagement with Disability:IN, authored articles on trauma-informed leadership and military-connected talent pathways, and facilitated CE-accredited trainings. Earlier this year, she was honored with the HEAL Award, the 2025 Leader Excellence Award, and the 2026 Social Work Clinician of the Year Award.

    Kellie is known for bringing clinical insight, business acumen, and a strong commitment to psychological safety and inclusion to every stage and conversation.

  • Matt Chaussee

    Matt Chaussee

    Board Member 

    E-Mail:

    matt@bemorecolorful.com 

    Matt Chaussee is the CEO and Co-founder of CareerViewXR, an award-winning immersive media and virtual reality platform helping students and job seekers explore career possibilities in a more accessible and engaging way. Together with his wife and company co-founder, Katie, Matt has assembled a skilled team of educators and media professionals providing career awareness solutions to schools, workforce agencies, and vocational rehabilitation programs across more than 25 states.

    Through CareerViewXR, Matt and his team use emerging technologies to help remove traditional barriers to career exploration and expand access to authentic, real-world career experiences for people of all ages and abilities. Their work supports educators, job seekers, vocational rehabilitation professionals, job coaches, and workforce partners as they help individuals better understand career pathways, workplaces, and opportunities that may otherwise be difficult to experience firsthand.

    Matt is passionate about building stronger connections between education, workforce development, and industry while exploring how immersive technology can create more inclusive pathways to meaningful employment. He is a 2023 Yass Prize Semifinalist, serves on the board of directors for the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce, has contributed to Forbes, and serves on the National Advisory Panel for the TIP Project.

  • Kathy Sheppard-Jones, Ph.D., CRC

    Portrait of Principal Investigator and Project Director, Kathy Sheppard-Jones, Ph.D., CRC.

    Role:

    Principal Investigator and Project Director  

    E-Mail:

    kjone@uky.edu 

    Kathy Sheppard-Jones earned her doctorate in Educational Psychology and a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Kentucky. She is a certified rehabilitation counselor. She led the development of Kentucky’s Return to Work model demonstration project, RETAIN Kentucky, which helped define many elements of TIP. Her interests include knowledge translation, leadership, universal design, technology, community education, and pre-service training. She is the Principal Investigator for this project and provides oversight across all TIP objectives.

  • Johnny Collett

    Portrait of Co-Principal Investigator Johnny Collett.

    Role:

    Co-Principal Investigator 

    E-Mail:

    Johnny.Collett@uky.edu 

    Johnny W. Collett is deputy executive director for external affairs at the University of Kentucky’s Human Development Institute (HDI). Before joining HDI, Collett served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Prior to that, he was program director for special education outcomes at the Council of Chief State School Officers. He has also served in senior leadership roles at the Kentucky Department of Education and as a high school special education teacher.  

    From the classroom to state leadership to the nation’s highest-ranking role for special education and rehabilitative services, Collett has focused on raising expectations and improving outcomes for people with disabilities. Throughout his career, he has worked collaboratively with students, families, educators, employers, disability advocates, state and federal policymakers, and other stakeholders to advance meaningful systems change.  

    His experience leading the implementation of state and federal laws, policies, and cross-sector initiatives provides a unique perspective on improving educational, employment, community, and other life outcomes for people with disabilities.

  • Beth Potter

    Portrait of Co-Principal Investigator Beth Potter.

    Role:

    Co-Principal Investigator 

    E-Mail:

    beth.potter@uky.edu  

    Beth Potter serves as Deputy Executive Director for Administration at the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute (HDI), where she is a member of the Executive Leadership Team and provides strategic leadership for an institute of more than 250 staff and approximately 50 projects. Her work focuses on organizational strategy, workforce development, operational effectiveness, and building partnerships that strengthen systems and improve outcomes for people with disabilities.

    Potter is a Co-Investigator with the Training Innovation Project (TIP), a U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration-funded initiative designed to strengthen the capacity of vocational rehabilitation professionals and their partners to advance competitive integrated employment. Through TIP, she helps develop professional learning opportunities focused on employer engagement, workforce partnerships, leadership, and translating evidence and emerging practices into practical strategies for the field.

    She has extensive experience working across disability, workforce, education, government, and community systems and has represented HDI in statewide workforce and employment initiatives. Her work emphasizes connecting people, organizations, and resources to address workforce challenges, strengthen employer partnerships, and create more inclusive employment opportunities.

    Beth previously served as Acting Executive Director of HDI and brings an executive-level perspective to the intersection of organizational leadership, workforce development, and systems change.

  • Christina Espinosa

    Portrait of Content Specialist Christina Espinosa.

    Role:

    Content Specialist 

    E-Mail:

    ctespinosa@uky.edu 

    Christina Espinosa is the Division Director of Community Education at the Human Development Institute at the University of Kentucky. She has developed collaborations across campus, Kentucky, and the nation. I have been a Principal Investigator of contracts with the state Office for Vocational Rehabilitation, Office for the Blind, Protection & Advocacy, the Commonwealth Council on Developmental Disabilities, NIH, and the Rehabilitation Services Administration. I have served with the University of Kentucky (UK) Unconscious Bias Committee, the UK University Equal Opportunity Committee, UK Living Home Workgroup, Access Lexington Mayor’s Commission, AUCD National Project Advisory Committee, the KY Center for Independent Living, the Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and the Kentucky Housing Corporation. I conduct trainings and webinars for state and national governmental agencies, campus partners, and for the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Centers.