February 10, 2018

Accessibility, Inclusion & Universal Design

Toronto

MBA Conference and Case Competition

The Conference

The first-ever conference on accessibility and universal design for MBA students

Access to Success invites you to discover how accessibility and universal design can change the life of not just people with disabilities, but also every one of us. Join us for a day-long conference where we explore the benefits of accessibility and universal design through the lens of students, employees, managers, entrepreneurs, and customers. The conference venue is fully accessible, and real-time captioning will be provided.

The Case Competition

Create a product or a service that solves an accessibility barrier and is also universally usable

Very often, innovations that simply make life easier for most of us turn out to be game-changers for many others. These innovations typically have a common unifying theme of universal design. This case competition challenges you to design solutions for existing accessibility barriers, which also benefit the community as a whole.

The conference is open to all students and professionals. MBA students participating in the case competition receive access to the conference as well.

What to Expect

Keynotes

Two empowering speakers on the personal and economic case for accessibility

Presentations

Top 3 teams from the first ever MBA case competition on universal design

Panel

Four-member panel of entrepreneurs and experts in universal design

Workshop

Interactive exercise on universal design hosted by leaders in design and accessibility

Mixer

Submit your resume; meet recruiters and accessibility champions from North America

Students who register for the conference or case competition will be invited to submit their resume via email

Keynote Speakers

Michael Nesmith

Michael Allen Nesmith, a Chicago native, is a Lead Designer at Amazon HQ in Seattle, a TEDx speaker, and a Universal Design practitione. He was born into a deaf-culture family using ASL as the primary language. He attended Gallaudet University (an all-deaf college) in Washington DC and earned an MFA in Visual Communication Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He began his advertising career in W+K12; an experimental advertising school within Wieden+Kennedy. Throughout his career, Michael’s visual/conceptual way of thinking and problem solving have served him both as an asset and a challenge. Learn more about him at michaelallennesmith.com and watch his TEDx Talk here.

Unstoppable Tracy

Unstoppable Tracy Schmitt is an internationally renowned speaker, athlete, and a former management consultant who was born a 4-way amputee. She has delivered her Lim[b]itless Secret in speaking engagements around the world, climbed Himalayan mountains, captained 110-foot-tall ship, and won a paraskiing bronze. She is the winner of the 2017 Robert W. Jackson Award, 2017 Ontario Premier Awards Nominee and 2018 Women of Essence Global Award Nominee. She also holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Business. She will shortly add “published author” to her long list of achievements with her upcoming book, ‘Unstoppable YOU; Exceed Uncertainty, Embrace Possibilities, Earn Independence’. Learn more about her at unstoppabletracy.com.

Panelists

Ricardo Wagner

Microsoft

Learn More About Ricardo

Ricardo is the Marketing and Operations Lead for Microsoft 365. Ricardo believes technology raise the education, employment and living standards for billions of people around the world, especially people with disabilities. He has professional experience in both Brazil and Canada and has been working in various roles at Microsoft since 2006. Since 2016, he has been a 4Afrika Ambassador and has also been co-leading the Diversity and Inclusion Initiative for People with Disabilities at Microsoft.

Tom Babinszki

IBM

Learn More About Tom

Tom is an Accessibility Advisor at IBM. His mission is to make the world a more accessible place for all, including people with disabilities. He has been working as an advisor and consultant in the accessibility space since 2001 by making information technology and legislation more accessible to people with disabilities. His experience includes Bartimaes Group, Project Performance Corp., Even Ground, Hadley School for the Blind and most recently IBM.

George Zamfir

Slack

Learn More About George

George is the Accessibility Product Manager at Slack where he is building a more accessible & inclusive Slack product. He has been working in the accessibility space since 2006. Since then, he has helped build accessible products throughout various industries and companies like Scotiabank, Facebook, Telus Digital and most recently Slack. George also co-founded the #a11yTO community meetup group and until recently helped organize the annual accessibility camp in Toronto.

Melissa Kargiannakis

Skritswap (Heuristext)

Learn More About Melissa

Melissa, Founder & CEO of skritswap turned her childhood mantra of “it’s not fair”, into her adult life’s mission. Skritswap offers any information at any reading level. Melissa was one of only four founders worldwide admitted to the Women’s Startup Lab in Silicon Valley last year. In 2015 she was one of three Canadians and only 53 recipients worldwide to receive the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Award. Melissa holds a Master’s in Health Information Science from Western University.