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ACB Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, November 1, 2025

Date: Saturday, November 1, 2025

Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM CT

Location: Hyatt at the Arch, St. Louis, MO

(Room: Parkview) / Zoom / ACB Media Six

Call to Order: Deb Cook Lewis, President

Roll Call and Introduction of Guests: Katie Frederick, Secretary

  • Officers Present: Deb Cook Lewis (President); David Trott (1st VP); Kenneth Semien Sr. (2nd VP); Katie Frederick (Secretary); Michael Garrett (Treasurer); and Kim Charlson (Immediate Past President).
  • Directors Present: Chris Bell, Donna Brown, Peter Heide, Gabriel Lopez-Kafati, Cecily Nipper, Terry Pacheco, Rachel Schroeder, Koni Sims, and Jeff Thom.  Absent: Cheryl Cumings.
  • Staff/Guests: Scott Thornhill (Executive Director), Nancy Marks-Becker (CFO), Cindy Hollis, Claire Stanley, Kolby Garrison, Rick Morin, Julie Palm (Parliamentarian), Dan Spoone, Zelda Gebhard (BOP), Janet Dickelman (Convention Coordinator).

Review and Approval of Agenda

  • Motion: Chris Bell moved to adopt the agenda; Kenneth Semien seconded. Motion passed.

Review and Approval of Minutes (Sept 15, 2025)

  • Motion: Cecily Nipper moved to approve; Donna Brown seconded. Motion passed.

Convention 2026: St. Louis, MO: Janet Dickelman, ACB Convention Committee Chair

  • Facility Updates were provided about elevator room key features, the meeting rooms are centrally located, the restaurant menus will remain constant and work is ongoing regarding incidental charges and dog relief areas.
  • Tours: Planned outings include Amish Country, riverboat cruises, Cardinals games, the Arch, and various museum/food tours.
  • Bags: Goodie bags are discontinued; attendees may pick up bags at registration or vendor booths.
  • Fall Meetings: Motion: Chris Bell moved to limit in-person board meetings to coincide with ACB events, with all other meetings held virtually. Seconded by Koni Sims. Estimated savings: $8,000. Motion passed.
  • Survey Data: Rick Morin noted high satisfaction across virtual and in-person attendees. President Cook Lewis suggested streamlining the 2026 schedule by moving governance activities to Saturday.

President’s Report: Deb Cook Lewis

  • Committees: Finalizing chairs and defining roles relative to ACB’s mission. Proposed revision of Bylaw 6 (requires membership approval) and a new committee application process.
  • Leadership Conference: Scheduled for March 6–10, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
  • Demographic Report: 7,736 individuals included in the 2025 data.
    • Gender (67% reporting): 58.4% Female, 39.2% Male, 0.5% Non-binary/Other.
    • Race/Ethnicity (47.2% reporting): White 73%, Black 8.1%, Hispanic 5.4%, Asian 3.1%, Multi Racial or Multi Ethnic 1.4%, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.94%, Middle Eastern 0.4%.

Staff Reports

  • Resource Development: ACB saw 331 first-time donors totaling $41,000. Major grants secured include $1.2M over 4 years for accessibility and $1.5M over 10 years for web presence.
  • Advocacy: Focus remains on the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act, Website and Software Accessibility Act, and Medical Devices Nonvisual Act. Over 900 people have used the "Speak4" platform.
  • Membership: The ACB Community celebrated its 25,000th event. New affiliate orientation for presidents is being developed.
  • ACB Media: 2025 convention podcasts are complete (approx. 192 hours of content). Infrastructure is being optimized via AWS.
  • Accessibility & Training: Ongoing partnerships with the NFL and the Dept. of State (passport renewals). New staff positions (Attorney and Accessibility Administrator) are being added via grant funding.
  • CFO: Scholarship applications are live. Nancy noted strong performance from ACB Thrift Stores.

Executive Session

  • The Board discussed a member complaint and personnel matters. No motions were taken. Gabriel Lopez-Kafati and Koni Sims were recused from the complaint discussion.

Executive Director’s Report: Scott Thornhill

  • Strategic Vision: Scott highlighted that ACB is at a critical "crossroads," necessitating a long-term sustainability and growth plan to guide the organization over the next five years.
  • Process Improvements: An internal project is currently documenting and analyzing manual organizational processes, some of which involve up to 17 steps, with the goal of streamlining or automating them.
  • Major Funding & New Staffing: A major donor agreement has been finalized to provide up to $1.2 million over the next 3 to 5 years, starting in January.
    • This grant will fund several new roles, including legal counsel and an administrator for advocacy and accessibility operations.
    • Significant infrastructure work is complete, with nearly all "legacy" systems retired and moved to AWS to optimize security and costs.

Marketing and Social Media Performance

Scott presented a comparative analysis showing significant growth in digital engagement between October 2024 and October 2025.

  • Facebook Engagement: Page visits increased by 127%, rising from 1,360 to 3,093.
    • Total followers reached 11,302, with engagement rates also seeing a notable increase.
    • The most popular content in October 2025 focused on White Cane Safety
  • Instagram Growth: Profile visits nearly doubled, reaching 133 for the month.
    • Total followers on the platform grew by approximately 37% year-over-year.
  • Video Platforms (TikTok & YouTube) Since launching in June, the ACB TikTok account has surpassed 21,000 total video views.
    • YouTube saw high engagement with a video commemorating the CVTA anniversary featuring Kolby Garrison.
  • Web Traffic (acb.org) The website currently hosts over 7,000 pages of content.
    • The three most visited pages in October were "Blind and Vision Resources," "Scholarships," and "White Cane Safety/State Laws".
  • High-Impact Post: One specific post regarding the CVTA reached 55,000 people and was shared over 900 times on Facebook.

Audio Description Project (ADP) Update

  • Scope Expansion: The project is expanding its focus beyond traditional movies and television to include audio description for live sporting events and gaming.
  • Social Reach: The ADP Facebook page reached 13,800 users in October.
  • Viral Content: "Throwback" clips from the 2021 Gala, specifically a clip featuring Jason Momoa, were the most popular posts on the project's Instagram account.
  • Website Search Trends: "Search" remains the top activity on the ADP website, followed by "Home" and "Newest Titles".

2026 Strategic Plan & Finance

  • Strategic Plan: Overview provided on AD, Scholarships, and IT infrastructure.
  • Endowment Drawdown: Motion: Michael Garrett moved to approve a 5% drawdown ($91,400) from the Legacy Endowment; Peter Heide seconded. Motion passed.

Board of Publications (BOP)

BOP: Meetings resume first Tuesdays at 9:00 PM ET. Zelda Gebhard remains Board Liaison.

ACBES: The board meeting recessed to conduct ACBES business.

  • Elections: Jeff Thom, George Holliday, and Terry Pacheco were re-elected by acclamation.
  • Performance: Amarillo thrift store reported monthly sales of $75,000.

Policy Approvals & Elections

  • Prohibitive Conduct Policy: Chris Bell moved to approve; Michael Garrett seconded. Motion passed.
  • Executive Committee Elections: Officers Katie Frederick and Michael Garrett will serve alongside board members Rachel Schroeder and Koni Sims.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 5:09 PM Central Time.

Respectfully submitted,
Katie Frederick, Secretary

Date Submitted: 1/25/2026
Date Approved: 3/07/2026