(Please note: special areas of expertise are in parenthesis at the bottom of each bio)
Paul A. Walker and Avanti
Ohio
Board Chair
Paul is a native Ohioan and has been a resident of Bexley, a suburb of Columbus, since 1975. He lives there with his wife and retired guide dog Hero, and current guide Avanti. Paul's two daughters have graduated from college; one, an art major, lives in Columbus and the other lives in Denver, Colorado after graduating with her Masters in Psychology. Paul graduated from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and attended almost two years of Law School. From 1968 through 1978 he worked in various capacities on numerous political campaigns from the local to national level.
Paul owned and operated his own business from 1980 until 1991. For the past 16 years, he has been employed by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission currently as a Senior Investigator of EEO, Public Accommodation and Housing (service animal cases). His interests include the promotion of the Guide Dog lifestyle, travel (cruising), technology and computers, cooking, and gardening.
Judy Mathews and Sachet
Vice-Chair
Florida
A Cuban American, Judy grew up in Miami and is now a certified vision rehabilitation therapist working at Lighthouse Central Florida in Orlando. She has a Bachelor of Music in music therapy from the University of Miami, and a Master of Science in visual disabilities from Florida State University. In 2005, Judy received her first Guide Dog, a female black lab named Sachet. Together, travel is easier and more fun. Judy established the Florida Guide Dogs for the Blind alumni chapter, the Sunshine Guide Dog Teams of Florida, and is now the Secretary.Judy enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing cards/board games/computer games, traveling, singing/playing/listening to all kinds of music, shopping, and origami.
Jen McEachen and Nixon
Secretary
BC Canada
Jen McEachen currently resides in Northern BC, with her second guide dog, Nixon, a male yellow lab. She is very active with the Canadian Red Cross, city's accessibility advisory sub-committee, bowling, and various other activities. Jen is president of the Great White North alumni chapter and membership coordinator for the Guide Dog Handler All-Ways chapter. She runs and monitors the GDB Lounge e-mail list on Yahoo!Groups and a few other small, minor e-mail groups as well. Jen graduated with an adult high school dogwood diploma and administrative assistant certification in college in 2008.In her spare time, she enjoys watching DVDs (TV shows), reading, current events, watching hockey or curling, visiting her friends, continuing to practice and attain her ASL (American Sign Language) skills and playing Scrabble.
Becky Andrews, Cricket
Utah
Becky enjoys life in Bountiful, Utah with her husband, Steve and current 2nd guide, Cricket and pug. They have two children, Natalie and husband Adam live in San Diego and both are attending graduate school; Kendall is attending college in Salt Lake City. Becky loves to tandem bike, garden, hike, travel, yoga, time with family and friends and enjoy long walks with Cricket.
With a master's degree in psychology counseling, Becky is a marriage and family therapist. After several years as a therapist with different agencies, Becky started her own business, Resilient Solutions, Inc and has 12 therapists who work in her company. As a certified thanatologist her passion is working with clients who are experiencing trauma, grief and loss.
Samantha Adams, Gilbert
California
Sam Adams is a Canadian transplant now living in Gold River, California. Sam is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan. She has a degree in English literature as well as a law degree. Sam worked as a defense lawyer in southern British Columbia and in the Yukon Territory before switching to criminal prosecutions. In 2008, she moved to northern California to marry her husband and her life has changed dramatically. She assists with her husband's business and manages a household consisting of a blended family of teenage girls and two working guide dogs. Sam enjoys reading, writing, cooking, music, yoga and exercise. She is actively involved in her church and her local puppy raising club. She received her first guide dog from GDB in 1995 and has never looked back. She currently shares her travels with Gilbert, a male lab/golden cross.
Martin Courcelles and Laton
Ontario, Canada
Martin Courcelles presently resides in Toronto, Canada with his overly energetic black lab dog guide by the name of Laton. He currently works for the CNIB as an Accessible Technology Trainer/Consultant. His most recent project is an accessibility blog found at: www.accesscontent.ca/blog. His hobbies include: computers, biking and running. He refers to himself as an athletic nerd.
Jeffrey C. Senge, M.S. and Hobbit
California
Nominating Committee Chair
Jeff is the founder and coordinator of the Information and Computer Access Program at California State University, Fullerton. He was the co-project director of the Braille Transcription Center Project and co-authored "Preparing for College and Beyond, A Guide for Students with Visual Impairments." During his nearly 20 years in the field of adaptive technology and information access, he has authored numerous articles and presented at many professional conferences. His work for the past 15 years has focused on improving information accessibility for persons with disabilities in post-secondary education. Jeff has conducted campus-wide and state-wide research studies in this area. He has provided assessment and consultant services for the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights as well as the California State University and the California Community Colleges
Roxanne Calibraro, B.A., J.D. and Carnation
Illinois
Advocacy Committee Chair
Since graduating from law school, Roxanne has worked at both the Attorney General's Office where she served as a Hearing officer in the Consumer Protection Division, and the Better Business Bureau, where she is the Director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Division. She oversees the mediation and arbitration of consumer complaints without going to court.
Roxanne was trained by the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the Train the Trainer Program offered to those chosen for the Americans with Disabilities Act Training and Implementation Network. She pledged to train people with disabilities, parents of children with disabilities and businesses on the requirements of the ADA and other disability related laws. Roxanne also serves on her local Commission for Citizens with Disabilities, has founded and helped facilitate support groups for people coping with vision loss, and has given presentations at numerous conferences devoted to people with disabilities. Roxanne started the Windy City GDB Alumni Chapter serving the Chicago, Illinois area and serves as the chapter President.
Roxanne also serves on her condo association Board of Directors and is active at her church in the care and outreach ministry. In her spare time, she enjoys music, reading, writing, movies and live theater, as well as working out, walking with her Guide Dog Carnation and cooking and dining out with family or friends.
Valerie Sandler and Quentin
New York
Valerie Sandler, B.S., M.M., is the president of Touching Sound Consulting, a small yet powerful seed of hope planted in the Boston area whose mission is to life coach, counsel, mentor, support and advocate for the ongoing growth and professional development of the blind and visually impaired population through Braille and Braille Music literacy. As a motivational speaker, Valerie captures the evocative nature of empowerment that exists within the experience of progressive vision loss by combining her love of writing and music with the profound educational and healing power of storytelling where the fulfillment of a dream is the raw material for all human beings and the personal journey is the responsibility of all.
Valerie is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she completed her Master's in Music Education Research and focused her thesis on the topic of literacy, language and learning for blind students enrolled in post-secondary education in the U.S. She has authored four children's books as well as two CD's, and is currently writing her memoir and a book of poetry called Visions in Motion. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association for Guide Dogs for the Blind, she is a member of the board of trustees for Project Only a Child, whose mission is to shelter, educate, and provide a family environment to abandoned street children in Guatemala City.
Deborah Kendrick and Tuscan
Ohio
Technology and Communications Committee Chair
Deborah is a Cincinnati freelance writer and a nationally recognized advocate for people with disabilities.
Morgan Watkins and Will
Texas
Morgan Watkins retired in 2008 from the University of Texas at Austin where he enjoyed a thirty-year career in information technology. He worked as a programmer, analyst, manager, and finally as the Director of campus-wide computer support operations. Morgan has also enjoyed being a textbook author, magazine columnist, and public speaker.
Morgan now spends his free time doing volunteer work for Guide Dogs for the Blind. He regularly speaks to groups about Guide Dogs, and he serves as the First Vice Chair on the national Guide Dogs Board of Directors.
