Melissa Anderson, PE
Melissa is a licensed professional engineer and an ADA Program Analyst in the Office of Civil Rights for the US DOT, Federal Highway Administration. She specializes in pedestrian accessibility and safety in the public right of way. She previously worked for US Access Board, a state Department of Transportation and two municipalities during her 25 plus years as an engineer. She also worked as a consultant assisting State and Local agencies, consultants and contractors to develop and implement transition plans and to design and built more accessible infrastructure. Her experience with the Federal government and as a consultant has provided her with the opportunity to educate and assist local agencies and states across the country and help them to better understand and implement accessibility solutions. She also enjoys working with people who have disabilities, bridging the communication gap that often exists with between government agencies and the people they serve.
Ranger Richard De La O
Richard De La O has been working with the National Park Service since 1993. In 2000, Richard had the opportunity to become the Accessibility Program Manage through a Government hiring authority for students and as of today, Richard is still the Accessibility Program Manager at Golden Gate National Recreation Areas, a unit of the National Park Service. Over the years, Richard has learned accessibility by doing research, making great connections, attending trainings, and providing guidance to park staff at the local park and assisting at the National level. As a person who does not have a disability, Richard has a passion to ensure that everyone who visits National Parks has the same experience as everyone else. Richard is responsible for making sure programs offered by the park are accessible to individuals with disabilities. His duties include making sure programs, trails and facilities are designed fully accessible. As apart of the process, he also reviews designs for compliance, requests funding to remove barriers, works with park management on implementing accessibility changes to policies and procedures. And provides additional support by providing trainings to employees and working with park partners. As a person who enjoys all aspect of his duties, Richard also communicates with the Disability community and invites many individuals to provide feedback to many projects within the park. In the years to come, the outdoor is a focus on making sure that outdoor space is accessible to everyone. This includes trails, bird watching, picnicking, camping, beach access and many more opportunities that still need to be improved to ensure everyone can enjoy their National Parks.
Edwin Essary
Mr. Essary has 38 years of cumulative experience in the elevator industry. Since 2013 he has provided vertical transportation consulting expertise to clients throughout California and other markets, first with Syska Hennessy Group and, since 2018, as co-principal at JE Sellen Consulting, LLC. His elevator industry career began in 1977 as a designer with Dover Elevator at its Memphis, TN headquarters. Over the next 13 years, he worked in multiple departments at Dover, including engineering, sales, product development and design, marketing, sourcing, and production. Other elevator industry experience includes work for Mitsubishi Elevator and Schindler Elevator in various positions including field supervision, management and operations and seven years at Otis Elevator in new equipment sales.
Valerie Fletcher
Fletcher has been Executive Director since 1998 of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD), an international design and education non-profit whose mission centers on the role of design in social equity. IHCD is a deep content expert in accessibility and Inclusive Design. Valerie oversees IHCD’s consultation, design, and education services and created the IHCD User/ Expert Lab. Current participatory research focuses on generating data to inform designing for people with functional limitations in culturally and racially diverse communities and low-income communities with an emphasis on brain-based and other non-apparent conditions. Fletcher earned a master’s degree in ethics and public policy from Harvard University. She is on the Board of the International Association for Universal Design (IAUD) and a Trustee of the Boston Architectural College. The Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art in London named her Inclusive Design Champion 2022.
Bill Hecker, Architect
Bill is an architect (registered in Colorado, Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia) who practices nationwide in the field of accessible design and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Consulting. His interest in accessible design began in college when he was on the winning design team for the 1983 Int'l. Special Olympics Village Competition at Louisiana State University, and he continued his involvement as a volunteer sports instructor serving those with Spina Bifida. While an architect at the Birmingham, Alabama firm of Evan Terry Associates, Bill spearheaded the ADA Consulting/Training efforts and was primary author of two books on ADA facility compliance (published by John Wiley & Sons - NY). He has conducted more than 100 public and private seminars on ADA/Accessibility compliance and surveyed more than 100 million square feet for access barriers. While with Evan Terry Associates, Bill consulted with or trained staff from IBM, Duke University, Rockwell International, MARTA (Metro Atlanta Regional Transit Authority), Georgia Tech University, Shoney's Restaurants, United Way and the American Banker's Association - just to name a few. Bill left Evan Terry in 1992 to start his own practice and has since split his energies among three broad areas - consulting on facility compliance requirements of federal laws (ADA, Fair Housing Act, ABA and Section 504 requirements of the Rehabilitation Act); training governmental and private organizations on those laws; and, acting as an expert witness/consultant to the US Department of Justice, private plaintiffs and defense attorneys on ADA and Fair Housing facility compliance cases.
Sheldon Lewis
When Sheldon went to summer camp, he realized he could not run safely through the woods at night like his friends and later that year was diagnosed with Choroideremia, a genetically-inherited degenerative eye disease which would ultimately lead to blindness in adulthood, which happened at the age of 31.
He grew up in Montreal, riding bikes, motorbikes and fast cars until he could no longer adequately see. Sheldon graduated from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science and later returned to Montreal to work as President of the family business in manufacturing. He loves to travel the world, but as his vision deteriorated, he began to accept assistance once he left the airports.
Sheldon developed an interest in advocacy and website accessibility and began to research business opportunities until he discovered accessiBe, the creators of software that makes websites accessible to people with disabilities thus and he launched his new career. He is a member of the Board of the Choroideremia Research Foundation, a member of the Westmount Committee on Accessibility, and sits on the philanthropy committee for Habilitas. Sheldon has been married to Cheryl for the last 39 years and is the proud, engaged father of two sons and three grandchildren, and while he cannot see them he delights in their company and plays all kinds of silly games with them.
Michael Olson
Mike is a Vice President and Client Executive with AP Design Professionals. With 20 years of working with design professionals, Mike has a unique opportunity to drive both internal projects initiatives and maintain relationships with many of the company's key client relationships. As a frequent speaker at industry associations on insurance and risk management issues, he also focuses on legislative advocacy on issues affecting the design industry.
Rex Pace
Rex Pace has over 30 years of experience making the built environment inclusive with a focus on access for people with disabilities. He is currently at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity’s Senior Advisor for Accessible Design and works on issues related to the Fair Housing Act, Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Architectural Barriers Act (ABA). Rex came to HUD from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) where he managed their National Accessibility Program to ensure the accessible design of federal facilities.
Prior to GSA, Rex worked at the U.S. Access Board where he was a senior accessibility specialist and oversaw the technical assistance program. While there, he was a co-lead on the rulemaking to set standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment. His federal experience also includes the U.S. Department of Justice's Disability Rights Section. He was extensively involved in enforcement efforts, developing technical assistance documents, and promulgating regulations for the 2010 ADA Standards. Before joining DOJ in 2006, he operated a consultancy specializing in accessible and universal design and earlier served as a lead designer for the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Rex is a graduate from the College of Design at NCSU. He began work in this field in 1987 as an illustrator at Barrier Free Environments, Inc. under his mentor Ron Mace, FAIA, a renowned pioneer in accessible design.
Taylor Pohle, Esq.
Taylor is a litigation attorney in Collins + Collins LLP’s Walnut Creek office whose practice focuses on general civil litigation. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara and a law degree from Santa Clara University. He has tried cases to jury verdict and argued cases before the California Court of Appeal. As it relates to access issues, Taylor was part of a litigation team defending a professional sports organization and public entity against a class action lawsuit alleging a newly constructed sports stadium included access barriers.
Richard Prager, Esq.
Richard D. Prager, Esq., is an accomplished civil litigator. He has extensive experience in both federal and state courts, with a focus on disability discrimination/personal injury crossover cases. Mr. Prager represents disabled persons and their surviving family members who seek to eliminate barriers to access and to fully integrate disabled persons in all facets of society.
Mr. Prager has remediated thousands of physical barriers to disabled access, compelled healthcare systems to offer American Sign Language (“ASL”) to deaf patients, and fostered the personal independence and dignity of disabled persons. He has published opinions in both federal and state courts. Mr. Prager is a member of many professional organizations, including the Louis M. Welsh Inn of Court. He has the distinction of obtaining numerous multimillion-dollar jury verdicts and settlements.
In 2014, Mr. Prager was a finalist for the Street Fighter Award from the Consumer Attorneys of California and was the recipient of the Outstanding Advocate Award from the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. He is a member of numerous professional associations, including Super Lawyers, National Top Lawyers, Top 100 Civil Attorneys, The National Association of Distinguished Counsel’s Top 1%, the Million Dollar Advocate Forum, and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
Mr. Prager invites you to contact him to collaborate on new matters.
Rob Reiter
Rob Reiter is a twenty-five year veteran of the high security and public safety industries, specializing in the prevention of accidental or deliberate vehicle incursions into crowded spaces and retail areas, government facilities, and high value infrastructure. Rob co-founded the Storefront Safety Council in 2011, which is an all-volunteer organization that works to increase public safety wherever Americans work, play, and shop. With data on more that 40,000 vehicle incidents, the Council has become a clearing center for assessing and providing solutions for locations where vehicles interface with pedestrians, particularly on private parking property, such as retail parking lots, storefronts, commercial buildings, and offices. Rob has been an independent consultant to industry, property owners and governments since 2009. He lives in Colorado Springs.
Scott Sabatini
Scott served in an executive officer position on the DHI Board of Governors and Trustee for the Door Security and Safety Foundation, as well as on many DHI boards and committees and previous officer positions with the Southern California DHI Chapter. In 2011 the “Fellow” distinction (FDHI) was awarded to Scott for contributing significant and outstanding service to the institute and to the industry. Over thirty years of experience with the door openings industry in multidisciplinary architectural consulting, specification writing, manufacturing, independent sales representation, contract distribution and installation. International responsibility for providing training and consulting to architects, designers, engineers, specification writers, code officials and other industry professionals. Published several industry articles and case studies, volunteered as an instructor, served as a mentor to apprentices, and made numerous appearances as a guest speaker. Scott lives in Southern California with his wife Mary Lou.
Josh Schorr
Josh Schorr is the Training Coordinator and an Accessibility Specialist in the Office of Technical and Information Services at the Access Board. Schorr was originally hired as a contractor to create animations to help explain ADA Standards in 2010. He began working directly for the Access Board in 2016, providing graphic work and layout design for the online and printed Guide to the ADA and ABA Accessibility Standards. In 2019, Schorr began his role as an Accessibility Specialist, providing technical assistance, training on ADA and ABA design standards, and future rulemaking in addition to his work on the guides. In 2023, Schorr took on the additional role and responsibilities of Training Coordinator to oversee the agency’s training program where he fields training requests, coordinates educational sessions and webinars, and assigns Board staff for those presentations. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Multimedia Design from the University of Oregon.
Guy Wallace, Esq.
Guy Wallace is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College. He began his career in public interest law and was the recipient of a Skadden Arps Fellowship. He is a recognized specialist in class action and impact litigation on behalf of persons with disabilities and other protected classes. He is a frequent lecturer on disability law issues, and he has authored various publications on the topic. He was named as a Super Lawyer by San Francisco Super Lawyers Magazine from 2009 to the present. Mr. Wallace practices exclusively in the areas of civil rights and consumer rights. His expertise includes disability rights, disability access, employment, and other consumer class action cases. He has been a wheelchair user since the age of 16 as a result of a spinal injury.
Gary Waters, Architect & CASp
Gary Waters is a graduate of architecture from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo in 1985. He began his career as an architect working primarily on commercial, civic and institutional projects. Mr. Waters eventually focused his work on educational facilities and gained significant experience in access compliance through working with the Division of the State Architect (DSA). In 2000, Mr. Waters started his own firm with an emphasis in accessibility related projects including providing outside consulting services for access compliance to all four offices of the DSA. In 2008, Mr. Waters became a Certified Access Specialist in California (CASp-065) and later an ICC Accessibility Inspector / Plans Examiner. Today, his practice focuses exclusively on access consulting offering a menu of services to public entities, large corporations and small businesses, designed to ensure people with disabilities the opportunity to participate in public life to their maximum ability. Also, a significant portion of Mr. Waters practice is to provide access litigation consulting and expert witness services.
Johanna Street, Architect
Johanna Street enjoys her career as a licensed architect specializing in the preservation of historic properties. Her projects have included façade restorations, code compliance and accessibility upgrades, and many small additions and alterations. After fourteen years as a sole-practitioner and independent consultant, she has joined the National Park Service, in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Cultural Resource Management division. She is a primary reviewer for NHPA Section 106 compliance for park historic structures. As a child Johanna’s local elementary school was renowned for having a state-of-the-art facility that provided children with disabilities the amenities needed to support their attendance in general education classrooms. At the time she didn’t realize that not everyone’s education included learning sign language, how to push a wheelchair and walk with someone who is blind. This unique experience embedded the philosophy of incorporating accessibility into everyday life and as an expert in historic preservation she can often resolve what seem like incompatible goals.
John E. Sellen
Mr. Sellen has 42 years of continuous experience in the elevator industry. Since 2000 he has provided vertical transportation consulting to clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and the West Coast. His career started in 1981 as a Construction Contract Coordinator with Dover Elevator Co. in Detroit, Michigan. In 2000 he joined Hesselberg, Keesee & Associates of San Francisco as an elevator consultant. In 2006 Mr. Sellen joined Lerch Bates & Associates as Manager of their Northern California office. In August 2013, Mr. Sellen started his own firm.