Saturday, March 7, 2026, 9:00AM ET
Broadcast on ACB Media Six
Call to Order: Deb Cook Lewis, President
Roll Call and Introduction of Board and Staff: Deb Cook Lewis, President
Present: Deb Cook Lewis, David Trott, Kenneth Semien, Michael Garrett, Kim Charlson, Chris Bell, Donna Brown, Cheryl Cumings, Peter Heide, Cecily Nipper, Terry Pacheco, Rachel Schroeder, Koni Sims, and Zelda Gebhart
Absent: Katie Frederick, Gabrial Lopez Kafati, Jeff Thom
Staff: Scott Thornhill, Claire Stanley, Hannah Park, Grace Hart, Cindy Hollis, Michael Babcock, Dan Spoone, Jo Lynn Bailey Page, Caitlin Lee, Kolby Garrison, Rick Morin, Nancy Becker, and Dianna Leonard
Review and Approval of Agenda: Deb Cook Lewis, President
Chris Bell made a motion to approve the agenda. Donna Brown seconded. Motion passed.
Review and Approval of November 1, 2025, December 1 & 8, 2025 and February 2, 2026 Board Meeting Minutes: Katie Frederick, Secretary
November 1, 2025 meeting minutes; Donna Brown made the motion and David Trott seconded. Motion passed
December 1 and 8, 2025 meeting minutes: David Trott made the motion, Michael Garrett seconded. Motion passed
Feb 2, 2026 meeting minutes; Kenneth Semien made the motion, Cecily Nipper seconded, Motion passed
President’s Report: Deb Cook Lewis
ACB has contracted with Mt Vernon consulting on a future readiness project which will look at what is working for our organization, what we need to work on, where are we going. We will be working with members, community, partners, etc.
There was a discussion about a situation involving a refugee that passed away and the statement ACB made as an organization. There was a lot of information presented through various news sources, but we don’t know all the facts at this time.
Individuals from our community expressed frustration about actions taken by ACB and how communication was handled. Claire Stanley sent a letter to homeland security talking about the incident and how they were supposed to accommodate those with disabilities by following the rehab act.
Cheryl Cumings spoke about having a presentation about what responsibilities and rules we have to help us in these situations. Deb said maybe something can be presented at convention. We will continue to work with homeland security and follow-up with the New York affiliate.
Kenneth took over the affiliate and national expectations update, and a temporarily put on hold the project until feedback is received from Mt Vernon. This will be back on the agenda before the end of year.
Program Reports:
ACB Executive Director: Scott Thornhill
This is a time of transition for ACB and many items are in progress. We will not use venders who are not accessible by end of 2027. We have more work on ways to make sure they are accessible. We have three new staff members: Caitlin Lee, Grace Hart, and Dianna Leonard and are in the midst of hiring our legal counsel.
Scott highlighted social media numbers, the launch of the membership campaign, and the introduction of the planned giving site called Free will. He also discussed community and committees, the February GUGM heart month with 1,000 representatives, the upcoming audio description institute and about raising our profile while not being overbearing.
Advocacy Report: Claire Stanley
An update was provided on where the DC Leadership imperatives stand and why they are the same imperatives as last year. If these bills don’t pass in the 119th congress, we will have to assess whether we want to keep going or have new bills in the next session. The medical device nonvisual imperative is the same but the main sponsors are retiring after this session. Claire also spoke about what is happening with autonomous vehicles.
Membership Services Report: Cindy Hollis
The primary ways ACB is getting new members is through community and ACBs website. During Hump Day Happy Hour information is shared among presidents and also by having committees present. Cindy is working with Deb to update liaison list. We still need to learn what our affiliates need and are hoping the score card will help ACB with this.
The STEP 2026 program information is live on the convention website. The program needs 2 leads, one for students and one for parents and they will be selected in early April.
Updates were provided on the community-athon.
Community volunteers’ hours have increased, and Michael used the builder tool to better track volunteer hours.
Resource Development Report: Dan Spoone & Jo Lynn Bailey-Page
Dan said it’s great to work with a full team and appreciates their teamwork and collaboration.
ACB Members have stepped forward to donate. There was a $509,000 donation for the accessibility consulting and compliances services program. This donation will also allow us to participate in events and market ACB.
Another donor who cares about ACBs future will be making a significant donation over the next 5 to 10 years, starting with $150,000 this year. This will help provide funding for the future readiness project being conducted by Mt. Vernon Consulting.
By bringing on Caitlin, resource development has been able to focus on individual giving. Caitlin has worked on an outreach strategy by sending out an end of year email campaign, letters to major donors, and a social media campaign.
Weekly Corporate sponsor meetings are held to discuss existing and potential relationships. By having recurring meetings with corporations, we are strengthening our partnership with them. We currently have 10 corporate sponsors that we meet on a recurring basis.
Jo Lynn leads corporate relationships and partnerships. She intersects with all departments in expanding program grant opportunities throughout ACB. ACB will be submitting a $50,000 grant to Meta for Meta glasses.
Accessibility Consulting Services: Kolby Garrison
Grace Hart has been a great addition to the team. Currently we are working on over 25 accessibility projects. An example is Zoox who had braille upside down in their cars, and based on our feedback, all the braille issues had been fixed when we went back. We will be traveling to conferences to market our services and are creating a webinar accessibility series targeted to corporations. Internally we are working with our vendors to make their products accessible.
We are working with multiple entities and have seen some accessibility improvements. We continue to work with the NFL to enhance the in person event accessibility experience.
ACB Media: Rick Morin
Live 365 is now totally accessible. Listenership went down on streams, but podcasts went up last year. The number of Podcasts listens went up 60,000 for the year, there was activity by AI companies to download every podcast eight times leading to the large increase. We want to help affiliates become self-sufficient with AV by providing them with training and then they can help ACB with national activities.
ACB link has information that is stale and needs to be updated and we have a project team working together to get this updated.
CFO Report: Nancy Marks-Becker
AMMS is now integrated with the members site, and we are still working on fixing some bugs.
The investment committee has recommended a change in the strategic target for the reserve account, so our investment advisor can manage the best possible returns for ACB.
There are 107 scholarship applicants who are eligible for the ACB scholarships this year.
Bergan KDV will be conducting the 2025 audit March 18th through the 20th.
Financial Reports: Michael Garrett
ACB Financial Report
Micheal reviewed ACBs revenue streams grouping them by restricted and unrestricted funds as well as by program revenue. Overall expenses were also reviewed and wages and benefits is the largest expenditure.
ACB Enterprise and Services Financial Report: Michael Garrett, ACBES Board Chair
In 2025 ACBES contributed over $512,000 to ACB. Store sales in February 2026 started off slowly but by the middle of month sales took off. Each store usually has sales of over $60,000 each month and in February store one exceeded $70,000.
Board of Publications (BOP) Report: Zelda Gebhard, BOP Representative
BOP continues to meet on 1st Tuesday of the month and there is time for guests to comment or give suggestions.
The Conversation list guidelines were rolled out at the beginning of the year and those on the list will receive the guidelines the first of each month.
There is a communicators (editors) list and these individuals get together on a quarterly basis. They are seeking new individuals from affiliates to come to the communicators gathering.
BOP has a history of informing the membership who is running for elections which is posted on the candidate pages. Many people don’t know the process so a meeting was held in October to receive feedback to help improve the process. The BOP will be sharing the timeline and what candidates can do to prepare themself for a success campaign.
The BOP will host a session at the convention on how to engage your affiliate members to increase those contributing to and reading your publications.
Adjourn
Respectfully submitted,
Koni Sims, Secretary pro tem
Date Submitted: 3/16/2026
Date Approved: 5/18/2026