Monday, February 2, 2026
7:00 PM ET
Broadcast on ACB Media Six
Call to Order: Deb Cook Lewis, ACB President
President Cook Lewis called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM Eastern time.
Roll Call and Introduction of Guests: Katie Frederick, Secretary
At the call of the roll, the following directors and staff were present: Deb Cook Lewis (President), David Trott (1st VP), Kenneth Semien Sr. (2nd VP), Katie Frederick (Secretary), Michael Garrett (Treasurer), Kim Charlson (Immediate Past President), Chris Bell, Cheryl Cumings, Peter Heide, Gabriel Lopez-Kafati, Cecily Nipper, Terry Pacheco, Rachel Schroeder, Koni Sims, Jeff Thom, Zelda Gebhard, BOP Representative, Scott Thornhill, Executive Director, Nancy Marks Becker, CFO, Julie Palmer, Casey Tesfaye (guest), and Kate Vendemio.
Absent: Donna Brown
Following the call of the roll, quorum is confirmed.
Review and Approval of Agenda: Deb Cook Lewis, ACB President
Chris Bell moved and Kenneth Simeon seconded a motion to approve the agenda as distributed. The motion passed.
Mount Vernon Consulting: ACB Legacy & Future Readiness Initiative, Deb Cook Lewis
Mount Vernon Consulting wishes to interview all board members prior to the DC Leadership Conference in March. A link to the Google Calendar scheduling is in the board email list.
When interviews are conducted, the same questions will be asked for consistency. This project will take place throughout the 2026 year.
Executive Director’s Report: Scott Thornhill
2026 is a year of evaluation and growth for ACB.
ACB staff will be attending the Super Bowl, related to the ACB/NFL partnership to help make this and future events more accessible. This brings recognition to ACB about the organization and the work we do.
DC Leadership Conference is approaching. The hotel room block closes Friday, February 6. The Friday tour will be at the Museum of African American Culture and History. The board meeting will follow on March 7 with the leadership conference on March 8 -10. Conference registration closes February 28.
ACB is working on hiring three individuals: an Audio Description Project Coordinator, Legal Counsel for the Accessibility and Compliance Specialist, and an operations administrator.
ACB’s partnership with Free Will begins this week. This will enable individuals to create a will and designate ACB as a beneficiary, if they choose.
DC Leadership sponsorships are looking good, awaiting confirmation from a few more. Conference and convention sponsorships are also underway and going well. ACB is being strategic about grants and individual giving.
ACB Media: Significant progress has been made transitioning the legacy system to Live 365. The transition is about 75% complete, predicting to wrap it up within the next 30-60 days.
Cindy Hollis and others are working on the youth track at the conference and convention.
ACB’s social media presence continues to grow. Content has nearly doubled from 2024 to 2025. Followers continue to grow on Facebook and Tik Tok. In 2025 ACB posted 2,332 pieces of content. There was 1,745,212 content views on all platforms in 2025. Approximately 1.4 million of those were through Facebook views. Tik Tok views are 181,000. LinkedIn engagement will be a focus for ACB communications this year.
ADP Facebook views are up by nearly 1,000. Work continues on the website and the site has seen growth in views from 2024 to 2025.
Partnerships: ACB has partnerships with the following organizations: Dot, BookShare, NFL, Free Will, and Speak4. These partnerships present tremendous opportunities and responsibility.
Special interest Affiliate Name Changes: Deb Cook Lewis, ACB President
CCLVI is now Low Vision Alliance, BITS is now Blind Information Technology Solutions.
ACB’s New Mexico affiliate registered four members in 2022 - 2024. In 2025, no member dues were paid. If they wish to recertify again, they will need to provide recertification of their members. David Trott suggests the Credentials Committee would report the information and state the affiliate charter is rescinded. Julie, the Parliamentarian, will get back to the board about this issue, no board action by the board is taken at this time.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 PM Eastern time.
Respectfully submitted,
Katie Frederick, Secretary
Date Submitted: 2/19/2026
Date Approved: 3/07/2026