Attendees at the 2020 Accessible Publishing Summit
Jessica Albert, ECW Press
Jessica (she/her) is the Digital and Art Director at ECW Press where she works on ebooks, accessibility, audiobooks, book covers, and metadata. Since 2018, Jessica has been at the helm of ECW’s born-accessible production model while also overhauling the company’s ONIX systems to apply hands-on, flexible control to their communication through metadata.
Luc Audrain, EditNatAx
Luc Audrain joined Hachette Livre in 2001 in the position of technical expert and moved to Head of Digitalization in 2009, to promote understanding and implementation of standards, noticeably for the open e-book format EPUB and metadata distribution using ONIX. Within the international organizations of the digital book ecosystem, Luc Audrain leads the development of standards and best practices for the emergence of a born accessible publishing. Now retired (April 2020), Luc Audrain acts as an independent consultant on digital accessibility in the publishing industry.
Roger Beatty, CNIB Beyond Print
Roger Beatty has an extensive background of over 40 years in Information Systems and Technology, with the last 18 in Not-For-Profits, primarily Libraries for the Blind or Libraries for the Print Disabled. As the Director of CNIB’s Accessible Publishing Department, Roger has been tasked to “Pivot and Expand” the department into a Social Enterprise organization and offer accessibility services to the Canadian Publishing Industry. Before working at CNIB, Roger held titles such as Enterprise Architect and Sr. Project Manager for several large insurance companies and telecommunications companies.
Jillian Bell, SaskBooks
Jillian Bell (she/her) is the Executive Director for Saskatchewan’s creative industry association for book publishers, SaskBooks. She is a writer and freelance editor, who has also worked as a code monkey, tech support, ranch hand, farm hand, home care provider, and a few other things along the way. She is active in her local community with coaching, drama, band, and the library. Jillian is also an avid gamer, a general nerd, and a textile artist.
Jillian Bell’s LinkedIn | Jillian Bell’s Twitter
Nicolas Boudreault, COPIBEC
Copibec is a rights management collective representing rights holders on written works. We are currently working on a web platform, DONA, which will allow students, their parents, teachers and other school professionals to acquire accessible workbooks and textbooks. I am the coordinator of this project, along with my everyday role of Higher Education Officer.
Laura Brady, House of Anansi Press
Laura Brady (she/her) is the Director of Cross-Media at Anansi/Groundwood, in addition to being a full-time accessibility busybody. The correct spelling of “ebook” is one of her primary pet peeves, but she also pays attention to the Blue Jays and has a deep interest in rescue dogs.
Laura Brady’s LinkedIn | Laura Brady’s Twitter
Leah Brochu, NNELS
Leah Brochu (she/her) is the Accessible Publishing & Resources Coordinator for the National Network for Equitable Library Service, where she helps to improve the state of equitable reading in Canada. From organizing the Accessible Publishing Summit to coordinating logistics for a variety of projects, to website maintenance, Leah is passionate about using her skills and experience to work towards a more accessible and inclusive future.
Leah Brochu’s LinkedIn | Leah Brochu’s Twitter
Paula Bruce, eBOUND Canada
Allan Carlson, Ministry of Municipal Affairs
BC Government employee for 34 years. Background in statutory privacy administration, labour relations, contract negotiation/management, project management, community literacy and accessibility. I was closely involved in the conception and development of the National Network for Equitable Library Service.
David Caron, ECW Press / Annick Press
David Caron is the co-publisher and president of ECW Press, a Toronto-based book, ebook, and audiobook publisher with a mix of award-winning literary works and niche non-fiction, marketed around the world. He has a zeal for community building, both in books and beyond. Before books, he worked in the worlds of theatre and photography.
Matthew C. C. Chan, House of Anansi Press/Groundwood Books
He/him. Former financial and legal services professional turned creative. Combining a love of books with a love of tech. Current interests include ebooks, audiobooks, workflow, and scripting.
Matthew C. C. Chan’s LinkedIn | Matthew C. C. Chan’s Twitter
Mariane Chiasson, Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL)
Mariane Chiasson (she) graduated with a Bachelor of Communication. I have been working for ANEL for the past two years, first as an intern and now as a coordinator. Recently, I have been involved with projects linked to audio books and other digital books with publishers within the association. I look forward to improve my understanding of accessible books as digital products.
Rachel Comerford, Macmillan Learning
Rachel Comerford (she/her) is the Senior Director of Content Standards and Accessibility at Macmillan Learning where she spearheads cross-functional efforts to ensure customer satisfaction and access for all. Projects include the implementation of a company-wide accessibility training initiative, accessibility authoring and quality assurance guidelines, and a new customer outreach and response plan. She has over a decade of experience in the print and digital publishing world. Prior to coming to Macmillan as an editor, she held a variety of editorial and sales positions at WW Norton and Pearson. She currently chairs the BISG workflow committee.
Rachel Comerford’s LinkedIn | Rachel Comerford’s Twitter
Karla Currie, ESDC
Diana Davidson, Government of Alberta
Diana Davidson is the Director of the Public Library Services Branch for the Government of Alberta and is a founding partner of NNELS. Davidson has been involved in NNELS since its creation and has chaired the NNELS Funders Group Steering Committee. She is passionate about accessible public library services, accessible publishing, and improving public library services for Indigenous communities. Davidson has a PhD in literature and is a published novelist. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Laurie Davidson, CELA
Laurie Davidson (she/her) is the Executive Director of CELA (Centre for Equitable Library Access) and is passionate about building an accessible reading landscape for all. She has more than 20 years of experience working as a librarian and technologist in a variety of settings.
Marisa DeMeglio, DAISY Consortium
Marisa (she/her) is a software developer at the DAISY Consortium. Her area of interest is accessibility on the web and in publishing. Currently she’s working on next-generation synchronized accessible media for publications, EPUB accessibility testing, and publishing standards. Her past work has encompassed many aspects of the accessible publishing ecosystem: authoring, conversion, and playback tools; internationalization efforts; developing countries projects; and alternate user interface experimentation. She has a degree in computer science and lives in Los Angeles.
Louis-Nicolas Dolbec, Northwest Territories Public Library Services
Angela Doll, Legible Media Inc
Angela Doll, Chief Operations and Publishing Officer at Legible Media Inc. has thirty years of experience in publishing, digital media, film production, and project management. She is the author of four books, including The Wilderness Journal (Ancient Faith Publishing), and she writes in many genres, including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Her work has appeared in journals such as Tahoma Literary Review, The Cresset, Thin Air Magazine, Eastern Iowa Review, Rock & Sling, Ink & Letters, Whale Road Review, Ruminate, Elephant Journal, and Art House America. She’s most proud of the time she spent as the managing editor of St. Katherine Review, where she enjoyed supporting the work of new and emerging authors. (she/her)
Angela Doll’s LinkedIn | Angela Doll’s Twitter
Mélanie Dumas, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
Meagan Dyer, UBC Press
Meagan is a Production Editor at UBC Press. She is a member of the Press’s Accessibility Committee and is responsible for overseeing the production and quality assurance of new ebook files. Along with other UBC Press staff, she is working to have all new ebooks produced born-accessible in 2021. Previously, she worked at Ronsdale Press where she, among other duties, was responsible for accessibility upgrades to backlist ebooks.
Kate Edwards, Association of Canadian Publishers
Kate Edwards (she/her) is Executive Director at the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP), the national voice of Canada’s independent English-language book publishers. In her role, Kate leads ACP’s government relations and advocacy program, and oversees the association’s communications, professional development, and marketing initiatives. An active participant in industry initiatives, Kate sits on the boards of eBOUND Canada, Work In Culture, and Canada FBM2021.
Kate Edwards’ LinkedIn | Kate Edwards’ Twitter
Danny Faris, NNELS
I’m the Accessibility Developer at NNELS, designing applications to make accessible publishing easier. I work in several languages, and am familiar with the structure and accessibility needs of today’s EPUB books. I enjoy talking about EPUB structure, semantics and accessibility with everyone involved in the publishing chain. Pronouns are he/his/him.
Sarah Felkar, West Vancouver Memorial Library
Sarah (she/her) is the Head of Technology at the West Vancouver Memorial Library. She has worked with ebooks, digital literacy and the public library community in a wide variety of roles since 2011.
Sarah Felkar’s LinkedIn | Sarah Felkar’s Twitter
Sylvie Fortin, Canada Book Fund
Sylvie (Elle/She/Her) is the Senior Program Officer for the Accessible Digital Book initiative of the Canada Book Fund.
Noah Genner, BookNet Canada
Noah Genner (he/him) has an extensive background in independent bookselling, software and business development. As the leader of BookNet Canada, he orchestrates a skilled team of technical, policy oriented and client focused staff to provide new data management services and supply-chain initiatives to the Canadian publishing, library and book retail sectors. Before working at BookNet Canada, Noah ran his own technology and software development consulting business, servicing a wide range of clients including book publishers and printers. Prior to that, Noah was Director of Software Development for consumer market research leader Compusense. Where he oversaw the development of a variety of software services used by numerous Fortune 500 companies worldwide. Noah serves on the Board of Directors of Livres Canada Books and Editeur.
Bob Gibson, Canadian Electronic Library
Bob Gibson (he) has been active in the business of delivering Canadian content for libraries since he founded Micromedia Limited in 1972. In 2006 he co-founded Canadian Electronic Library (CEL) to provide ebook services to Canadian libraries and publishers. One of the first projects completed supplied all universities in Canada with 8000 titles from 70 Canadian publishers, all of which were converted from print. The “made-in-Canada” desLibris ebook platform, introduced in 2013, now serves over 27,000 books from 100 Canadian publishers to students in academic institutions across Canada. Having recently earned Benetech “Accessible Vendor” certification, CEL is turning to providing accessible digital conversion services to Canadian publishers. Every new title submitted to desLibris by publishers from 2021 forward is converted to Accessible EPUB3 and made available to users both online and through the new Thorium app, which provides strong support for print-disabled users. Contributing publishers are offered the opportunity to upgrade these titles to fully Accessible EPUB3 through the company’s DAISYChain program, which seeks to inform publishers about accessibility by engaging them in the process of file and metadata creation. EPUB3 is now the only format required to supply all outlets in the ebook ecosystem. By adopting the standard and upgrading to “Accessible,” publishers will be able to cut costs and reach wider audiences.
Robert Gordon, CNIB/Beyond Print
Robert is CNIB/Beyond Print’s Senior Manager of Audio Publishing and Business Development. CNIB’s Audio Publishing department has been recording audiobooks for Canadians living with vision loss since the 1950s, first distributed as vinyl, then on reel-to-reel & cassette, through to its embrace of the digital DAISY audio format in 2002. It is the hope of CNIB/Beyond Print that mainstream publishers and educators adopt accessible design features that will improve the experience of readers with and without print-disabilities, just as accessible design has influenced the architecture of buildings and public spaces.
Kaleeg Hainsworth, Legible Media Inc.
Kaleeg studied at the University of British Columbia and now has three decades of technology, publishing, and leadership experience. Kaleeg is CEO of Legible Inc., retired CEO of Bright Wing Media, a world leader in digital publishing and film; Filmmaker and Director of The Face of God: Faith in the Age of Climate Change; Editor of St Katherine Review; Author of An Altar in the Wilderness (RMB, 14); Backcountry Educator; Entrepreneur; Ecologist; Priest and Rector of Holy Theophany parish, BC; Lecturer in multiple arenas. (he/his/him)
Pamela Hart, NNELS
Pamela Hart, she/her has been working in the audio-field for over 20 years. A musician, vocalist, sound engineer and educator she has found a home in the art of audiobooks and accessibility.
Pamela Hart’s LinkedIn | Pamela Hart’s Twitter
Melissa Haquenne, De Marque
Melissa (she/her) has been working for several years in ebook and audiobook distribution and production and is now a market analyst at De Marque, where she also oversaw the company’s transition to an accessible production workflow and helps publishers understand the importance of accessibility. One of her other areas of expertise is metadata. De Marque is a leader in the distribution of digital cultural content, principally ebooks. Based in Quebec City, the company now distributes over 1.4 million ebooks marketed by more than 2,300 publishers in over 1,300 points of sale around the world.
Astrid Hédou, Association Nationale des Éditeurs de Livres
Sarah Hilderley, The DAISY Consortium
Sarah (she/her) worked in publishing in the UK for many years before taking the lead on the WIPO project: Enabling Technologies 9 years ago. She is the author of Accessible Publishing: Best Practice Guidelines for Publishers as well as many other resources on the ABC website. After this Sarah took on the role of community engagements at the IDPF, namely running EPUBZone until the integration with W3C and she now works with friends and colleagues at the DAISY Consortium at Inclusive Publishing. Intensely passionate about accessible publishing, Sarah has advocated for mainstream accessibility within publishing practices at many events over the years.
Sarah Hilderley’s LinkedIn | Sarah Hilderley’s Twitter | Inclusive Publishing Twitter
Nick Hilton, Coach House Books
Nick Hilton manages digital production and the distribution of print and digital formats for Coach House Books and oversees the publisher’s metadata systems and website. Nick has worked in digital production workflows, ebook conversion services, and editorial management roles with Canadian Scholars’ Press and the University of Toronto Press prior to joining Coach House Books. Nick has taught content management for the publishing program at Centennial College and he is a strong advocate for accessibility in ebooks.
Janine Hoff, NWT Public Library Services
I’m the Community Library Literacy Coordinator for the NWT Public Library Services and part of my role is being the contact person for facilitating training and access to NNELS services for our 21 branches in the NWT. We also receive inquiries from the general public patrons with print disabilities and I assist to get them registered and established with this valuable service.
Lindsey Hunnewell, Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Lindsey has been obsessed with books since she was a young girl growing up in New Brunswick. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College and has worked as a writer, editor, and production assistant for television news and magazines. For four years, she oversaw production and creation of Nimbus Publishing’s ebook and audiobook programs as their Digital Assets Manager. Currently, she is the Wilfrid Laurier University Press Production Coordinator and working towards implementing in-house accessible ebook and audiobook strategies at the Press. In her spare time, you can usually find her at the curling rink or on the dance floor at a swing dance event.
JoAnna Hunt, Amazon
JoAnna Hunt (she/her) is an advocate for people who benefit from inclusive experiences. She loves helping others understand the needs of people with diverse abilities, and inventing ways to improve access for everyone. JoAnna has been working in the design, product development, and accessibility fields for over 15 years. She has created a variety of inclusive digital experiences, changed policies, implemented inclusive development practices, and influenced culture in large organizations. She is a member of industry accessibility groups working to share knowledge and best practices and make accessible development practices more mainstream in several industries. Through her work in accessibility and education, and her background in interaction and information design JoAnna has become an influential change maker focused on delivering on the promise technology offers to those with a variety of physical and cognitive abilities. She is currently bringing her expertise to accessibility initiatives within Amazon Kindle.
JoAnna Hunt’s LinkedIn | JoAnna Hunt’s Twitter
Ken Jones, Circular Software
Founder and Director of Circular Software. Mac App Developer, Workflow Automation Expert, Publishing Software Specialist, Technical Trainer. Lead developer of CircularFLO – Beautiful, Interactive, Accessible Ebooks Without Coding. Speaker on publishing technology at events including London Book Fair, PePcon, Digital Publishing Summit, Digital Book World, FutureBookForum and BookMachine.
Ken Jones’ LinkedIn | Ken Jones’ Twitter
Bill Kasdorf, Kasdorf & Associates, LLC
Bill Kasdorf is Principal of Kasdorf & Associates, LLC, a consultancy focusing on editorial and production workflows, XML/HTML/EPUB modeling, standards and best practices alignment, and accessibility. He is a founding partner of Publishing Technology Partners. Bill is active in the W3C (as the W3C Global Publishing Evangelist and serving on the Publishing Working Group, Publishing Business Group, and the EPUB 3 Community Group) and co-chairs NISO’s Video & Audio Metadata Guidelines Working Group. He is Past President of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP). He is a member the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), FORCE11, the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC), and the DAISY Consortium for accessibility. He is the recipient of the SSP Distinguished Service Award, the BISG Industry Champion Award, and the IDEAlliance/DEER Luminaire Award. Bill has written and spoken widely on publishing technology, workflows and accessibility. He is general editor of The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing and co-editor of the BISG Guide to Accessible Publishing, and serves on the editorial board of Learned Publishing, having guest edited the January 2019 issue devoted to accessibility. In his consulting practice, he has served large international publishers such as Pearson, Cengage, Wolters Kluwer, Kaplan, and Sage; scholarly presses and societies such as NEJM, the National Academies Press, Harvard, MIT, Toronto, Taylor & Francis, Cambridge, IEEE, the American College of Physicians, and the Cochrane Library; aggregators such as VitalSource; and global publishing and library organizations such as the World Bank, the British Library, OCLC, ORCID, and the Publishing Office of the European Union. Pronouns: he/him/his
Bill Kasdorf’s LinkedIn | Bill Kasdorf’s Twitter
Catherine Kelly, Nova Scotia Provincial Library
Catherine (she/her) is the Communities Librarian with the Nova Scotia Provincial Library, in the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage of the NS Government.
She has been involved with accessibility services in this role since 2013, and currently Chairs a committee of library counterparts in the provinces and territories that offer the NNELS service through their public libraries. Catherine recently completed the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification program through the NS Community College.
Michelle Kelly, Legible Media Inc
Michelle Kelly is the Publishing Lead at Legible Media Inc.
George Kerscher, DAISY Consortium
“Access to information is a fundamental human right.” 2003 to the United Nations. George Kerscher (he/him) began his IT innovations in 1987 and coined the term “print disabled.” George is dedicated to developing technologies that make information not only accessible, but also fully functional in the hands of persons who are blind or who have a print disability. He believes properly designed digitally published materials and web pages can make information accessible to all people. George is an advocate for semantically rich content which can be used effectively by everybody. As Chief Innovations Officer of the DAISY Consortium, Senior Advisor, Global Literacy to Benetech, and member of Publishing Groups in the W3C, Kerscher is a recognized international leader in document access. In addition, Kerscher chairs the DAISY/NISO Standards committee, Chairs the Steering Council of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI, and also serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Mounir Khoury, Canadian Heritage – Canada Book Fund
Mounir is Senior policy analyst on the Book Policy and Programs team within Canadian Heritage. Currently focused on accessibility, as well as issues affecting Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities. (he/him/his)
Abigail Kidd, Employment and Social Development Canada
Abigail Kidd is a policy analyst at the Office for Disability Issue, where she has been working on issues around access to alternate format materials for the last 3+ years and where uses her expertise in disability analysis to apply a disability lens in all of her work. She is also Canada’s current Emerging Leader in Disability for the International Initiative for Disability Leadership. She has expertise in critical disability, accessibility, and inclusion, and has lived experience as a woman with a physical disability, the sibling of a sister with Down syndrome, and as a caregiver. Her work and volunteer history has included sitting on the Board of Directors for the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, organizing and facilitating a number of events focused on intersectionality, and facilitating workshops focused on disability in the community. While completing her Master’s thesis in Anthropology, Abigail focused on issues affecting Canadians with intellectual disabilities in Canada.
Elizabeth Kraler, eBOUND Canada
Technology specialist at eBound liaising between libraries, vendor partners and publishers as well as overseeing sales of Canadian content to libraries. Recent graduate of the Ryerson publishing program and joined eBound in 2020. (she/her)
Riane Lapaire, NNELS
Riane Lapaire (she/her) is the Braille and Accessibility Testing Coordinator for the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS). With over a decade of experience working in alternate formats, Riane’s primary passion is working toward the timely, navigable, and affordable access to quality braille.
Riane Lapaire’s LinkedIn | Riane Lapaire’s Twitter
Charles LaPierre, Benetech
Charles LaPierre, Benetech: Technical Lead, DIAGRAM and Born Accessible. Charles has over 25 years’ accessibility development experience and has been a pioneer in accessible product development since 1993. Charles currently co-facilitates the Personalization Task Force for the W3C’s Accessible Platforms Architectures (APA) Working group, and is a member of the Publishing Working Group. Charles contributed to the BISG’s “Guide to Accessible Publishing” published in January of 2019. Charles is the technical architect of the new Global Certified Accessible initiative at Benetech to certify publisher content as conforming to the new EPUB 1.0 Accessibility Specification. Charles has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Charles LaPierre’s LinkedIn | Charles LaPierre’s Twitter
Kieran Leblanc, Book Publishers Association of Alberta
Kieran Leblanc (she/her) is the executive director of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA) in Edmonton, Alberta, located on Treaty 6 territory, a traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway/ Saulteaux/Anishinaabe, and Inuit peoples. The BPAA works to further the pursuits of 30 Alberta book publishers, including advocacy, professional development, collective marketing, industry development and an awards program. The BPAA is currently engaged in a digital accessible conversion project, and has facilitated the production of several accessible eaudiobooks. She is a founding member of the Alberta Partners for Arts and Culture, board member with the Book and Periodical Council and a committee member with the Cultural Connections Institute – The Learning Exchange. Her past board involvement includes Shadow Theatre, the Forum for Young Albertans, Edmonton West Rotary Club, and past chairperson of the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton.
Ruth Linka, Orca Books
Ruth Linka (she/her) has worked for various publishers in Western Canada, including Raincoast Books, NeWest Press and co-founded Brindle & Glass in 2001. Currently she is part-owner of Orca Book Publishers in Victoria. Orca is a children’s book publisher, publishing about 90 titles a year. She has served on the boards for the Literary Press Group of Canada, the Association of Book Publishers of BC, and is currently Vice-President of the Association of Canadian Publishers.
Ka Li, NNELS
Ka Li is an accessibility and usability consultant in the area of digital access. He works with a variety of organizations to make sure that their products and services provide an outstanding experience for everyone that goes beyond compliance. He is a huge advocate for universal accessibility especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art and math. Occasionally, Ka teaches assistive technology to blind and visually impaired folks online and in-person. Outside of work, he enjoys practicing Krav Maga and reading good books.
Ka Li’s LinkedIn | Ka Li’s Twitter
Farrah Little, NNELS
Farrah is responsible for the digital production and technical services side of the National Network for Equitable Library Service. She knows a thing or two about the inner workings of ebooks, audiobooks, and audio-ebooks, the latest accessibility standards, and how to manipulate all sorts of metadata. She enjoys improving workflows and processes and especially likes answering all your questions about EPUB.
Laurent LeMeur, EDRLab
Daniella Levy-Pinto, NNELS
Daniella Levy-Pinto’s LinkedIn | Daniella Levy-Pinto’s Twitter
Christine Lum, ECW Press
Christine (she/her) is the audiobooks and accessibility coordinator at ECW Press. A lot of her work focuses on accessibility for audiobooks and ebooks. She is always excited about how to ensure that books are accessible to readers and listeners, now and in the future, and the book industry at large. Christine is a recent graduate of the Ryerson publishing program.
Mari Martin, Public Library Branch, Ministry of Municipal Affairs
Mari (she/her) is the Director of the BC’s Public Libraries Branch.
Sarah Mayes, Department of Canadian Heritage
The Support for Organizations component of the Canada Book Fund provides federal funding for collective projects that benefit the Canadian book industry through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Starting in 2019, the Canada Book Fund also began delivering an investment by the Government of Canada of $22.8 million over five years for the Accessible Digital Books Initiative, which supports the sustainable production and distribution of accessible digital ebooks and audiobooks by Canadian independent publishers.
Joan McGouran, CNIB/Beyond Print
Joan McGouran is the Manager of Electronic Publishing for CNIB Beyond Print where she works to continue the mission of bringing equitable and accessible materials to readers with print disabilities. With a background in markup language, she is especially interested in the nuts and bolts of the creation process.
Thad McIlroy, The Future of Publishing
Thad McIlroy is an electronic publishing analyst and author based in San Francisco and Vancouver, BC. His site, The Future of Publishing, provides in-depth coverage of the book publishing industry. He is a partner in Publishing Technology Partners, and an adjunct professor in the Masters of Publishing Program at Pace University in New York. He is the author of An Authoritative Look at Book Publishing Startups In the United States (2017), and co-author of The Metadata Handbook (with Renee Register) and COVID-19 and Book Publishing: Impacts and Insights for 2021 (with Cliff Guren and Steve Sieck).
Thad McIlroy’s LinkedIn | Thad McIlroy’s Twitter
Nellie McKesson, Hederis Inc
Nellie (she/her) has over a dozen years of experience in publishing. She spent the early years of her career doing hands-on book production and layout, and then moved into more technical and managerial roles. As the market for ebooks began to rise, she taught herself web development and was an early evangelist for using web technologies in the book production process. (You may have seen her speak at a conference about building automated book production tools.) She now runs a company called Hederis, that gives smaller publishers access to high-tech book production tools and workflows used by large corporations.
Nellie McKesson’s LinkedIn | Nellie McKesson’s Twitter
Monique Mongeon, BookNet Canada
Monique has always been fascinated with the intersection of books and technology – from her start making fansites for her favourite books, to her current role as Project Manager at BookNet Canada. Monique also teaches ebook production at Ryerson University’s Chang School. Prior to joining BookNet, Monique worked in ebook production for Penguin Random House Canada.
Monique Mongeon’s LinkedIn | Monique Mongeon’s Twitter
Aferdita Muriqi, DITA
Cristina Mussinelli, Fondazione Lia
My journey in the world of accessibility and technological innovation started the early 2000s. I am Secretary General of the LIA Foundation (www.fondazionelia.org) created in 2014 by AIE (Italian Publishers Association) in collaboration with UICI (Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired). It promotes the development of an accessible digital publishing ecosystems, promote the principle of Born Accessible and support publishers and all the other actors in the publishing value chain willing to embrace accessibility through consultancy and training activities. I seat as member of the Board of EDRLab (European Digital Reading Lab), I am co-chair of the W3C Digital Publishing Business Group and invited expert of the section ISO OT UNI / CT 014 / SC 04 “Automation and documentation”.
Cristina Mussinelli’s LinkedIn
Leigh Nash, Invisible Publishing
Leigh Nash (she/her) is the head book maker at Invisible Publishing, a small, scrappy publisher of seriously good fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. She’s been making both print and ebooks for over a decade, and her past experience includes jack-of-all-trades-ing it at Coach House Books and co-founding the editorial firm Re:word Communications. She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph, and is the author of the poetry collection Goodbye Ukulele.
Leigh Nash’s LinkedIn | Leigh Nash’s Twitter
Sébastien Nadeau, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
After several years in the world of municipal libraries, Sébastien joined BAnQ in 2020. Responsible for all services related to loans and subscriptions at the Grande Bibliothèque, he is a newcomer in the world of adapted books and special services for people with perceptual disabilities.
Deborah Nelson, eBOUND
Suzanne Norman, Simon Fraser University
Suzanne Norman (snorman@sfu.ca) is a lecturer in the Publishing Program, teaching courses in book publishing, digital publishing and cultural entrepreneurship. She is the of Special Initiatives in the Canadian Institute of Studies in Publishing and the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology champion in the Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship. She sits on the board of the Indigenous Editors Association and is active in community engagement projects. A graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland (BA) she also holds a Post-Baccalaureate diploma in Communications and a Master of Publishing degree (both from SFU). Over the years she has worked as an investigative journalist, a newspaper editor, and an editor of young adult fiction.
Suzanne Norman’s LinkedIn | Suzanne Norman’s Twitter
Brendan Ouellette, Annick Press
Responsible for digital production management including audiobooks and ebooks, and Onix data and databases used at Annick. Member of the ACP and eBOUND boards. Interested in finding ways to apply accessibility considerations to children’s publishing.
Brendan Ouellette’s LinkedIn | Brendan Ouellette’s Twitter
Victoria Owen, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Victoria Owen’s role as Information Policy Scholar-Practitioner in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto allows her to put into practice the scholarship and principles of information policy. Her particular focus encompasses copyright, access, preservation, and the public interest. Her background is in library administration at the University of Toronto, and in special and public libraries, including the CNIB Library for the Blind. Victoria holds a Master’s in Library Science and a Master’s in Law, specializing in intellectual property. She is the chair of the Canadian Federation of Library Association’s Copyright Committee, on the board of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Accessible Book Consortium, a member of International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ (IFLA) Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression Committee, and a member of OLA’s Copyright Users Group. She is currently a Visiting Program Officer with the Association of Research Libraries and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and chairs the ARL-CARL Joint Task Force on the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation.
Gregorio Pellegrino, Fondazione LIA
Gregorio Pellegrino (he/him). Italian computer engineer, Gregorio Pellegrino has a strong knowledge in the digital publishing field, new media with particular attention to accessibility for visually impaired people. He is a consultant in these areas for publishing companies (especially regarding formats, international standards and authoring platforms). He is the technical manager of Fondazione LIA where he coordinates consulting and training activities for national and international organizations who want to change their production processes in order to embrace accessibility. He is involved in international working-group devoted to accessibility of publications and standard formats.
Gregorio Pellegrino’s LinkedIn | Gregorio Pellegrino’s Twitter
Corrie Playford, CAPER-BC
Corrie (she/her) is an Accessibility Librarian at the Centre for Accessible Post-secondary Education Resources BC (CAPER-BC), a publicly funded organization that provides students, faculty, and staff with print impairments at post-secondary institutions throughout BC with the accessible educational materials they need to succeed. In addition to offering day-to-day assistance for students and Accessibility Services partners at mandated institutions, Corrie’s main focus at CAPER-BC is outreach and advocacy work to provide resources and support for accessibility in the post-secondary education community in BC.
Jenny Plecash, NNELS
Jenny (she/her) is the Communication and Social Media coordinator at NNELS. Her background is in public libraries and business administration.
Colette Poitras, Public Library Services Branch
Colette Poitras (she/her) is the Manager of Indigenous Public Library Outreach for Public Library Services Branch, Government of Alberta and currently serves as the NNELS liaison for Alberta. Colette has worked in a variety of positions within the library field over the last 20 years.
Wendy Reid, Rakuten Kobo Inc.
Wendy Reid (she/her) is the Accessibility and Publishing Standards Lead at Rakuten Kobo, where she leads their company-wide accessibility efforts and adoption of new technical standards. She is also the Chair of the EPUB Working Group, Chair of the Audiobooks Working Group, and Editor of the Audiobooks specification at W3C.
Wendy Reid’s LinkedIn | Wendy Reid’s Twitter
Meagan Richards, Government of Manitoba, Public Library Services Branch
Meagan works for the Manitoba Public Library Services Branch as the Municipal Library Consultant. Prior to her current role, Meagan earned her MLIS from Western University and worked in public libraries in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Chantelle Rideout, Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association
Chantelle Rideout (she/her) is the Manager of Programming and Member Services for the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association (APMA), an industry support organization representing book publishers located in Atlantic Canada. She lives in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Nova Scotia, the ancestral and unceded land of the Mi’kmaq.
Kay Rollans, Book Publishers’ Association of Alberta
Kay Rollans (she/her) is Project Manager for the Book Publishers’ Association of Alberta’s Accessible Digital Publishing Initiative. She also works as a freelance editor, specializing in educational and academic books in the humanities and social sciences. To get in touch, visit her website: https://rollanseditorial.wordpress.com/
Melissa Yu Schott, Yukon Public Libraries
Avneesh Singh, DAISY Consortium
Mr. Singh heads strategy and operations in DAISY Consortium and is a member of Advisory Board of World Wide Web Consortium. He has more than 15 years of experience in development of technologies for accessible publishing & reading, and is a key driver of the development of the world wide inclusive publishing eco system. He is an alumni of Harvard ExecEd and Indian Institute of Management, has earned Executive MBA and Bachelors degree in computer engineering. He is a strategic leader as well as a reputed accessibility expert. He co-led the accessibility group in the EPUB 3.1 working group that developed the first dedicated accessibility specification for EPUB publications. He chairs the accessibility task force of the EPUB 3 Working Group as well as that of the Publishing Community Group in W3C, co-chairs the Accessibility Baseline Project for developing the worldwide infrastructure for ensuring accessibility from the publishers, through to the users, along with leading other international initiatives for inclusive publishing. At the national level, he is a member of LITD 15 committee of Bureau of Indian Standards, which is a founder member of ISO. In addition to leading industry wide projects, he heads DAISY Consortium technical developments and leads the development of the technology for advance accessibility features and optimizing the content for the print disabled readers.
Jillian Marie Sloane, Simon Fraser University Print and Digital Minor Program
I am a fully blind fifth year university student studying Communications and Publishing, with the hopes to work in the publishing industry with a focus on accessible Publishing
Rachel Taylor, Indigenous Editors Association
My pronouns are she and her. I’m an editor based in Vancouver, BC. I volunteer actively with the Indigenous Editors Association. I am interested in making our website and communications accessible for people with print disabilities.
Marjorie Theodore, Vues et Voix
Lindsay Tyler, CELA
Lindsay Tyler is Senior Manager for the Centre for Equitable Library Access. She is a professional librarian with more than ten years’ experience in accessibility and client service in French and English. She believes in the power of reading in our lives, the importance of access to reading for all, and is delighted to support public libraries to make it happen.
Heidi Waechtler, Association of Book Publishers of BC
Heidi Waechtler (she/her) is the executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of BC (ABPBC), which represents the interests of 30 BC-owned publishing companies, and coordinates marketing, training, and business development initiatives on their behalf. She has worked on digital publishing projects both in her current role and in her previous role as managing editor at Coach House Books in Toronto. She has taught in the Master of Publishing Program at SFU. She lives in Port Moody, BC, on the traditional and unceded territories of the Kwikwetlem, Musqueam, Squamish, Stó:lō and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.
Heidi Waechtler’s LinkedIn | Heidi Waechtler’s Twitter
Lars Wallin, Colibrio Software
Lars is the Product Manager and co-founder of Colibrio Software AB, the creators of Colibrio Reader Framework, the most advanced reading system framework on the market. As an ADD adult with a dyslexic child I am fully invested in modernizing digital reading experiences, especially within school and library services.
Lars Wallin’s LinkedIn | Lars Wallin’s Twitter
Adam Wilton, Accessible Resource Centre – British Columbia
Program Manager of the Accessible Resource Centre – BC (ARC-BC) and the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI) – both provincial outreach programs in British Columbia. My background is as a teacher of visually impaired students and orientation and mobility specialist. Professional and research interests include digital accessibility in K-12 learning spaces and tactile graphics and STEAM representations. Pronouns: he/him
Corey Wintemute, NNELS
Corey (he/him) is a recent graduate of the Langara Library and Information Technology program. He is currently splitting his time as a content assistant for NNELS and on the circulation desk at the Vancouver Public Library. He has been enjoying learning all about accessible design and the important role that it plays in the library world.
Kari Zinkhan-Davies, Government of Saskatchewan – Provincial Library & Literacy Office
I am a Public Library Coordinator for the Provincial Library & Literacy Office with the Government of Saskatchewan. Prior to this position, I served as Outreach Librarian for Regina Public Library. As Outreach Librarian for the Outreach Services Unit, my role was to provide services for people with perceptual disabilities and people who were homebound.