Dan Spoone, ACB President
3924 Lake Mirage Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32817
Home Phone: (407) 678-0075
Mobile Phone: (407) 227-4489
Email address: [email protected]
1. Introduce yourself and list the office for which you are planning to run. Explain why you wish to serve as an officer of ACB.
Hello ACB family and friends. My name is Dan Spoone and I am running for ACB President. I live in Orlando, Florida with my lovely wife Leslie. We have been active members of our local ACB chapter, The Greater Orlando Council of the Blind, for the past 25 years, holding positions of responsibility from Treasurer to President. Family and community are very important to us and we enjoy being active members of our neighborhood. Each day we independently walk to our local shopping plaza, where we grocery shop, bank, dine at restaurants, and meet friends. After all, a happy, healthy blind person actively participating in their community is the best form of advocacy.
I would like to take this opportunity to say, "Thank You" to my fellow ACB members for the chance to serve on the ACB Board over the last seven years. It has been a wonderful experience. I have had the opportunity to speak with Congressional Representatives on ACB advocacy issues, respond to FCC Notice of Public Rule Making (NPRM) on Audio Description, meet with executives from Netflix and Charter Communications, and participate in a new strategic plan to develop a roadmap for our future.
We have worked hard to balance the ACB Budget, establish the ACB Angels Memorial Tribute Program, create the ACB Volunteer Hours Reporting Process and revitalize an Advisory Board. The Audio Description Program continues to grow with increased participation in movie theaters, television and cable networks, and streaming services. We have formed the Annual Giving Society and worked with our ACB Leadership to create the Legacy Endowment Fund to help finance our organization in perpetuity. I hope I have played some small role in promoting these programs and look forward to continuing to improve ACB as your President. I would appreciate your vote.
2. Summarize any experience, knowledge, skills and/or abilities you have, which you have which qualify you to serve in the office for which you are seeking election.
Each person acquires a unique set of skills and experiences throughout their life. My childhood experiences were greatly impacted by my diagnosis at age eight with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative retinal disease that leads to total blindness. My parents encouraged me to succeed in life by instilling the value of hard work, tenacity, and the ability to adapt and work well with others.
I received a Bachelor's degree in Finance and an MBA concentrating in Accounting from the University of Florida. Unfortunately, in the early 1980's none of the Big 8 accounting firms were ready to hire a blind person, so it was time to adapt. My best friend and I opened two pizza parlors where we learned marketing, bookkeeping, customer relationships and employee management skills. It was a wonderful experience, but my vision continued to decline, and it was time to adapt again.
I went back to school at my community college and participated in a program called, "High Tech Training for the Disabled", and learned to be a computer programmer. I was hired by Siemens (formerly Westinghouse) as the only blind person in a workforce of over 5,000. I spent the next 25 years of my career receiving increased positions of responsibility and retired in 2014 as a Senior Project Manager. My years at Siemens taught me the skills to implement a project on schedule and within budget, manage people and establish a team culture.
In 2017, I was elected ACB First Vice President. The past two years, I have had the opportunity to learn from ACB President, Kim Charlson, the skills and processes necessary to be an effective leader. I know that together we can build on a strong foundation to clearly establish ACB as the “Chief Influencer” within the blind and visually impaired community.
3. What do you consider to be your strongest contribution to ACB at either the national, state, special-interest affiliate or local chapter level and why?
My business experience has provided me the opportunity to learn project management and team organizational skills. These attributes have allowed me to form new projects within ACB and FCB. I am especially proud of our efforts with the ACB Angels Memorial Tribute Program. We created a vehicle to honor our National and Affiliate Leaders in a respectful and meaningful way. This program started just six years ago and has grown to 52 Angels. It gives me goose bumps each year when I hear the presentations at the ACB convention opening session.
These organizational abilities have also helped create the Annual Giving Societies, which recognize over 200 ACB friends that donate to our organization with an Annual Reception. We have organized the ACB Volunteer Hours Reporting Process and captured over 20,000 volunteer hours in 2018 worth over $420,000.
At the Florida Council of the Blind Affiliate, we have organized the fundraising committee, which has developed seven fundraising projects that earn over $20,000 for FCB each year. In addition, we organize an Annual Trivia Night for our local chapter, which hosts 90 participants from the community and raises over $3,000.
Proudly, we have worked very diligently to organize the Audio Description Project Committee. We have established an ADP Mission Statement and a set of 45 SMART objectives for this year. We have seven subcommittees working on Audio Description issues from streaming AD content, to certification, and implementing a Google grant to audio describe visitor brochures at our National Parks. The Next Generation Committee was formed to encourage younger members to get excited about ACB and we sponsored 10 young leaders to attend the D.C. Leadership Conference through a JPMorgan Chase grant. We established the Legacy Endowment Fund and authorized bequests for $1.3 million in gifts in the first year of operation.
4. What do you consider to be the most important challenge facing ACB? How will you work to address it?
Our biggest challenge within ACB is growing resources. These are both human resources, through member and volunteer acquisition, and the supporting financial resources these additional members will bring to ACB.
We can only accomplish these goals by transforming our organization. We must ask ourselves, "What added value do we bring to our membership in the 21st century?" Currently, 95 percent of all blind and visually impaired individuals do not belong to any consumer organization. How do we recruit these people?
We need to increase our marketing efforts and reach out to the growing population of newly blind seniors. We have re-platformed our acb.org website and need to integrate it with social media including YouTube for video content.
This will not be easy, but with a dedicated strategic plan we can double our ACB membership over the next five years and raise an additional $250,000 for necessary staff to provide support for affiliates, marketing, and advocacy requirements. I would appreciate your support for the position of ACB President. Together we can make a difference.