Alumni Association Board

Maia has been happily partnered with four different guides, each helping her find the way through adventures on foot and in spirit. Maia’s fourth Guide Dog, Gleam, works closely by her side.

Maia has a Master’s in Fine Arts and interdisciplinary arts. She works as an arts educator, and recreational therapist for children with disabilities. She also works as a bodyworker, college accessible arts instructor, and interdisciplinary artist. Throughout her work and daily life, Maia is committed to social justice, civil rights, equity, and access to creativity.

She combines physical, mental, and social dynamics through her workshops, community events, books, public speaking, and private work. Maia brings a creative spirit, quirky sensibility, love of words, and the desire to push the boundaries of “possible” to the Alumni Association.

Born and raised as a Hoosier, Derek resides in Indiana with his wife and two kids. He is currently paired with his second guide dog named Koa, a black Labrador Retriever.

Derek has been in full time ministry for over 20 years, serving in various roles. He currently works as a worship minister and pastoral counselor at a local church. He also has a background in performing arts. He displayed his talents in high school, college, and community theater as well as working for several years as an entertainer at a theme park, singing and dancing in the live shows each day.

Derek combines his gifts of encouragement and entertainment to help others deal with physical sight loss on his Youtube channel known as “Life After Sight Loss”. He is dedicated to helping others know they are not alone and supporting them on their journey.

Derek is a self proclaimed “geek” and enjoys things such as Star Wars, movies, music and more!

Betty Nobel is a retired teacher of students with visual impairments. After spending years as an adult educator at Vancouver Community College, she retired but rejoined the workforce and taught in three local school districts until the end of June 2019. Many of the students who observed her with her guide dogs made the life-changing decision to obtain a dog from GDB. She is the Past President of Braille Literacy Canada and a current member of the Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada national board. 

In the year 2000, she received the YWCA Woman of Distinction award in the category of Education, Training and Development.

Currently, she chairs the Way-Finding and Signage Technical Committee for Accessible Standards Canada.

Throughout her working life, Deb has served the Blind and Visually Impaired. From direct training and services to technology and accessibility needs, Deb has worked tirelessly to help people with visual and hearing impairments improve their lives through access and independence.

Deb’s mission has always been to serve. Throughout her adult life, she has volunteered and been active in state and federal organizations and agencies that serve the Blind and Visually Impaired. Over 37 years, Deb has taken on the roles of Rehabilitation Teacher, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Civil Rights advocate, It and assistive technology administrator.

One of Deb’s motivations to serve on the Alumni Board is to improve the availability of Guide Dogs for our aging population of GDB teams.

Steve Elliot lives and works in Austin, Texas with his first guide dog, Laird. Since being matched with Laird in 2021, Steve’s motto is “have guide dog will travel.” With Laird leading the way, Steve says he has returned to moving more confidently and independently through the community. Steve enjoys exploring his neighborhood, hiking, traveling, visiting museums, and listening to live music.

Steve works as an administrative law judge and mediator with the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings. He serves as the team leader for the agency’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) team. He also handles mediations in many different areas of law. Steve previously worked as executive director of Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas, a nonprofit that provides pro bono legal services for people with low income. Prior to that, he was a senior attorney at Disability Rights Texas and both a staff attorney and supervising attorney at the Minnesota Disability Law Center. Both agencies advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities.

Tony Everts is a true Arkansas Razorback fan. He was born and raised in Arkansas and is married to his amazing wife, Amy. They are very proud of their four children, and have 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Tony co-owns two successful businesses, Classy Cleaning Company and Across the Board Construction and Maintenance. Tony is in the process of writing a book about his life and what it is like living with the genetic eye disease Choroideremia. He plans to title the book "Out Of Sight." Tony aspires to and is in the process of starting a non-profit organization to aid individuals in Arkansas who could benefit from visual aide products. Currently, he is working with city and state representatives to advocate and increase accessibility for individuals with disabilities. This includes improving sidewalks and accessible pedestrian signals. Prior to his loss of vision he was an experienced machinist and a Red Iron worker. Tony’s favorite activities include traveling, fishing, making others laugh, and spending time with his family.

Cynthia (Cyndi) Fosco of. Chicago, Ill., is passionate about advocating for the blind/vision impaired community. She volunteers with Second Sense, which provides client-centered vision rehabilitation services, and serves on the ADA Advisory Committee for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), where she contributes to improving accessibility for all. She has been a mentor and a participant in many interesting projects that create better opportunities for those with disabilities. She also enjoys organizing fundraisers and activities for her friends in her local Windy City chapter of GDB's Alumni Association.

Cyndi has been married for nearly 30 years to her husband, Cory, and they have two adult children. She was matched with her first guide dog, Aaliyah, in September 2021. Cyndi said that Aaliyah has given her the amazing gift of greater independence after her vision loss so that she could continue to do what she loves to do most - serve others. With Aaliyah by her side, Cyndi has said that she now feels confident enough to walk around and ride different modes of transportation in the city, and that the train is definitely Aaliyah's favorite! Cyndi enjoys exploring the United States and traveling all around the world with Aaliyah, representing GDB and educating curious onlookers. This team is very excited to support and engage with the GDB Alumni community!

Kirsten French, M.S., is Programs Manager for Northwest Association for Blind Athletes. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Grove City College in special education and elementary education. She earned her master’s degree from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in adapted physical activity.  She joined Northwest Association for Blind Athletes (NWABA) in September 2016 and has been working in the field of physical activity and education for people with visual impairments for over eight years.  She graduated from GDB with her first guide dog Knightley, a female yellow lab, in May 2022.  In her free time, she and Knightley like to hike, snowshoe, paddleboard, and are always up for an outdoor adventure!

Ted Hinson was born and raised in Tulsa, Okla., where he still resides with his wife of more than 40 years, Pat. Ted and Pat have five children. Ted attended the University of Oklahoma, and has worked in the energy industry as both an energy trader and a petroleum landman since his graduation in 1982. He is currently employed as an energy trader with Golden Gas Service Company.

After a sudden loss of his eyesight in 1986 from a rare virus in the optic nerves, Ted went through rehabilitation to learn independent living skills and adaptive computer technology, and got his first guide dog in order to help move his life and business career forward. Ted authored a book detailing his life since losing his sight titled, “Beyond the Blindness.”

Ted is currently working with his fifth guide dog, black Lab Kansas. 

Claire Stanley is the Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs for the American Council of the Blind (ACB). She graduated from the University of California Irvine Law School in 2015 and has worked in several disability advocacy roles since then. Previous to working at ACB, she was a Public Policy Specialist for the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) where she regularly lobbied on Capitol Hill for the rights of persons with disabilities. She serves at the vice chair of the Consortium of Constituents with Disabilities (CCD), a membership organization of over one-hundred different disability advocacy organizations who advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to Congress and the federal government. Claire is blind and has a yellow lab guide dog named Tulane. Tulane is Claire’s third guide dog.

Melba’s professional work is rooted in the intersection of culture, disability, communication, and ethics. She holds her doctorate in communication ethics and is a Professor of Communications in the Frederick Meijer Honors College at Grand Valley State University, Michigan.

A bold and vocal communicator, Melba has created programs surrounding communication and culture, authored books, published articles in peer-reviewed journals, and presented papers at conferences in her field. She steps outside the boundaries to bring philosophy, dialogic inquiry, culture, and ethics across all departments at her university.

Melba is a fierce advocate for the LatinX community, Disability, and other marginalized communities and cultures. She identifies herself as “A person who opens doors” for others who work hard to achieve their goals. The enthusiasm she brings to her field and to conversations is uplifting and exciting. You can just about see her, over the phone, jumping up and down.

Driven by a philosophy developed by José Vasconcelos called “Happy Pessimism,” Melba accepts her blindness. She doesn’t "look" at the world through rose-colored glasses, but works hard to promote inclusion and equity in the academy and beyond despite being aware of the challenges ahead. For example, an important part of her advocacy work requires facing one's individual fears, including her own. Case in point, Melba was afraid of dogs her entire life. Now, she is working with her first guide dog, Chad, a yellow lab - an experience that has changed her life.