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Katy Washington
Virginia Commonwealth University

Katy Washington, J.D., Ph.D., is the inaugural Chief Accessibility Officer at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Office of Institutional Equity, Effectiveness, and Success and serves as the ADA/Section 504 Coordinator. She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for AHEAD. She has spent over eighteen years working with faculty and staff to facilitate an inclusive campus environment for disabled students. In her current role, Katy uses an innovative approach to proactively remove physical and digital barriers to equal access by collaborating with workgroups and partners across the university; administering the employment-related accommodation process; and ensuring university compliance with relevant state and federal laws which directly impact equal access and inclusion of disabled employees, students, and visitors. Katy received a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from the University of Central Arkansas. She also holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Arkansas.

Paul Grossman
Executive Counsel of AHEAD, and OCR and Hastings College of Law, retired

Paul Grossman, J.D. is the Executive Counsel of AHEAD with over 40 years of service at OCR in Washington and San Francisco, most of them as a Chief Regional Attorney. Paul also taught disability law for over 20 years at the University of California, College of Law. Paul remains a frequent guest lecturer for AHEAD, CAPED, UC College of Law, UC Berkeley, the California Community College System and the National Association of ADA Coordinators. Paul served multiple terms on AHEAD’s Board of Directors and remains a member of the AHEAD Public Policy Committee as well as the Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) Expert Advisory Board. Through investigation, decision writing, and negotiations, Paul has addressed every form of discrimination in education including race, national origin, sex and disability, often developing new approaches for protecting the civil rights of students. Paul is the author of AHEAD’s publication, The Law of Disability Discrimination for Higher Education Professionals. Paul joins Jamie Axelrod, M.S. and Mary Lee Vance, Ph.D. in two book chapters on analytical tools and procedures for DSS officers when they face their most complex and challenging questions, recently published by AHEAD. 

Jo Anne Simon
New York State Assembly

Jo Anne is a nationally recognized disability civil rights attorney and a longstanding advocate for accessibility in education and beyond. Currently serving as a member of the New York State Assembly, she previously founded a disability civil rights law firm in downtown Brooklyn and serves as general counsel for AHEAD. Jo Anne is also an adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at Fordham University and has worked extensively to improve educational opportunities for students with disabilities. Jo Anne continues to use her position to champion policies that promote equity, inclusion, and access. 

L. Scott Lissner
The Ohio State University

Scott is The Ohio State University's ADA Coordinator and 504 Compliance Officer. Scott is also an Associate of the John Glenn School of Public Policy and serves as a lecturer for the Moritz College of Law, the Knowlton School of Architecture and Disability Studies. Scott is a Past President and Public Policy Chair for AHEAD. He is a regular and popular presenter both nationally and internationally.