Now in its 32nd year, CAREERS & the disABLED’s Annual Employee and Employer of the Year Awards celebrates and underscores the advocacy and inclusion efforts of the 2024 winners.
For 32 years now, CAREERS & the disABLED has been acknowledging, honoring, recognizing, supporting, and celebrating the personal and professional achievements of remarkable individuals with disabilities (IWDs) via its Annual Employee of the Year Awards.
The awards committee assigned to choose this year’s roster of 10 talented and remarkable role models profiled in this issue on the following pages found these winners to have made prodigious contributions to the workforce in and outside of their respective workplaces, and the greater community and world outside of work.
We unveil this year’s winners on the following pages. We take a special look that spotlights the roles of these winning individuals as trailblazers and advocates while underscoring their unique expertise, career highlights, and advocacy for the Disability Community and the world at large.
This year’s Employees of the Year represent a diverse group from NFP, an Aon company, Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), Wells Fargo & Company, U.S. Department of State (DOS), Eskenazi Health, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Intel Corporation, PRIDE Industries, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC) and Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Panama City (FL) Division.
In addition, per usual, we reveal this year’s noteworthy Employer of the Year winners. CAREERS & the disABLED recognizes Bank of America (BofA) with the Private-Sector Employer of the Year Award and Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) with the Public-Sector Employer of the Year Award. Learn about both employers’ commitment to recruiting, hiring, retaining and promoting people with disabilities (PWDs) in this edition on the following pages.
The congratulatory section honoring this year’s winners in this issue kicks off with their company profiles, followed by the profiles of the 32nd anniversary slate of impressive Employees of the Year. Read on and enjoy this special look underscoring this year’s talented and deserving winners – all stars, firecrackers, and trailblazers in their own right – as we highlight all of their advocacy and inclusion efforts, and help us celebrate, recognize, and honor all of the 2024 winners, as we’ve been doing for three decades-plus.
Bank of America (BofA), Private-Sector Employer of the Year
Bank of America (BofA): Fostering Inclusive Business Practices
Bank of America is CAREERS & disABLED’s Private-Sector Employer of the Year for 2024.
Supporting Teammates’ Disabilities
Today, one in four adults in the U.S. has a disability. While there are many barriers to traditional employment for this growing population, the adoption of inclusive business practices is helping to break these barriers at Charlotte, NC-headquartered Bank of America (BofA).
We’re proud to be an employer of choice for individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities. From recruiting and hiring to engagement and retention, our BofA teammates with disabilities – both visible and not – are thriving in a culture that recognizes their individual and collective strengths.
Through a variety of programs and career support, we encourage our teammates with disabilities to bring their whole selves to work, and take pride in being a great place to work for all.
Some of these opportunities include:
Support Services
Bank of America’s industry-leading support services team is an in-house marketing and fulfillment operation staffed by more than 300 employees with disabilities. Established in Newark, DE, in 1990, our support services teammates support every major line of business within the enterprise. The team also operates in Belfast, ME, Dallas, TX, and Boston, MA.
For individuals regularly facing barriers to employment, this team provides the opportunity to achieve financial stability and become self-sufficient members of their communities while producing material that’s vital to the business.
Neurodiversity Hiring Program
An estimated 15% to 20% of people worldwide identify as neurodivergent. Many among this population have the role-based skills employers need, but struggle with the soft skills expected during the traditional interview process.
In 2019, Bank of America launched a neurodiversity hiring program, in partnership with Neurodiversity in the Workplace. As part of the program, neurodivergent candidates participate in a skill-based hiring screening that gives them an opportunity to directly demonstrate role-related competencies. We also provide extensive training for managers and through Neurodiversity in the Workplace and provide job coaching for our new hires to help them integrate into our workforce. The program has been impactful in our Technology and Operations spaces, and we continue to expand our support to move closer to our mission of an even more diverse and equitable workforce.
By focusing on skills-based hiring, we’re helping to ensure that neurodiverse candidates are equipped to be successful and have productive, meaningful careers at BofA.
Disability Action Network (DAN)
BofA’s Disability Action Network (DAN) is an employee group that supports employees with disabilities, as well as employees who have family members, friends or customers with disabilities throughout the enterprise. The group is active and thriving, with more than 22,000 members and 30 chapters worldwide. Members are connected to opportunities for professional growth and development through informational forums and community engagement.
DAN members also provide insight to the company about issues that affect them inside and outside the workplace. They provide key input into product and service development, disability-related training, and insight into the company’s health benefit opportunities.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Public-Sector Employer of the Year
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR): Committed to Inclusion
NAVAIR accepts CAREERS & the disABLED’s Public-Sector Employer of the Year award for 2024.
The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) recognizes the immense value of a diverse and inclusive workplace. “Win with Inclusion and Respect” is one of the command’s core values.
Patuxent River, MD-headquartered NAVAIR is committed to developing its workforce.
“Our professionalism is rooted in our ability to deliver what we promise,” says NAVAIR Commander Vice Adm. Carl Chebi. “We invest the time to lead, mentor, educate, grow, and inspire our diverse workforce to perform at the highest levels while also achieving their professional and personal goals.”
NAVAIR implements a robust array of programs designed to attract, retain and empower individuals from all backgrounds, including those with disabilities. NAVAIR managers use various recruitment appointing authorities to cultivate diverse talent by hiring individuals with disabilities (IWD), individuals with targeted disabilities (IWTD), and disabled veterans, including Schedule A Hiring Authority, Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA), Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA) and 30% or More Disabled Veteran Hiring Authority, among others.
The command actively targets a wider talent pool via focused recruitment strategies and partnerships with organizations that champion disability inclusion, such as Equal Opportunity Publications (EOP), Inc. NAVAIR continues its long-standing history with EOP by contributing to its diversity recruitment efforts, including annual participation in EOP-led career fairs to recruit a strong applicant pool of highly qualified, diverse candidates to meet NAVAIR’s current and future mission needs.
NAVAIR regularly participates in job fairs focused on diverse candidates and leverages outreach programs to universities with strong disability services. Each NAVAIR site has a point of contact dedicated to recruiting and hiring IWDs, and wounded warriors (WW), who work with leadership to execute a national recruiting program for IWDs and veterans with disabilities. NAVAIR’s careers website, https://jobs.navair.navy.mil/disabilitieshiring, includes a dedicated page with extensive information on its IWTD and WW programs.
NAVAIR adheres continuously to on-going agency personnel management programs with the goal of improving accessibility for hiring, placement and advancement of IWDs. Hiring managers also receive information about the various hiring authorities during annual supervisory and recruiter training, which contains information about how to hire IWTDs. Additionally, NAVAIR provides resources to hiring managers and supervisors to enable inclusivity, such as the book Meet the Challenge: Resources to Ensure Inclusion for Individuals with Disabilities. This resource covers the SF-256, how to hire using Schedule A and veterans with disabilities hiring authorities, and serves as a reference guide for reasonable accommodations and disability etiquette.
NAVAIR’s commitment to inclusion extends far beyond the hiring stage by offering a multitude of programs to retain and empower its diverse workforce, with a particular focus on employees with disabilities. These include mentorship and leadership programs, employee resource groups (ERGs), accessibility resources, and skills development programs.
NAVAIR’s commitment to diversity and disability inclusion is evident in its comprehensive programs. From targeted recruitment to mentorship programs and a culture of inclusion, NAVAIR is fostering a workplace where all individuals can reach their full potential and make a meaningful impact on the mission and the fleet.
To learn more about NAVAIR’s commitment to diversity, visit https://www.navair.navy.mil/ or connect with NAVAIR on social media.
Employee of the Year: Alex Barrasso
Barrasso Champions Diversity at DOS
An estimated 1.3 billion people experience some form of disability, and many have hidden disabilities. A hidden, or invisible, disability is a physical, mental, or neurological condition that isn’t visible from the outside, yet can limit or challenge a person’s movements, senses, or activities. The Sunflower Program was created to encourage inclusivity, acceptance, and understanding of these invisible disabilities.
After hearing about the successful implementation of the Sunflower Hidden Disabilities Program at Mission Australia, Alex Barrasso brought the idea to the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Disability Action Group (DAG) Council. Barrasso’s vision was to replicate Mission Australia’s success, but on a larger scale, bringing the Sunflower Program to the Department of State headquarters in Washington, DC. Barrasso, a foreign service officer and senior advisor, INL at DOS, drafted the grant application that funded the program and persuaded senior leadership in 13 bureaus to collaborate with DAG to launch it. The first federal agency headquarters to join the global Sunflower network was DOS, which was commemorated with a town hall on January 11, 2024. Opening remarks were given by senior leadership followed by a panel sharing their personal stories and explaining why this program, which acknowledges and supports employees with invisible disabilities, is so important. And the coup d’état of the town hall was when all participants completed their training and received their Sunflower certification. One hour into the launch and almost 600 people are equipped with the knowledge of how to identify, and help, individuals with hidden disabilities.
Barrasso is passionate about developing our next generation of leaders and empowering them to succeed while promoting respect, professionalism, and diversity. He’s currently serving as the chair of DAG, the employee organization that advocates on behalf of employees with disabilities to senior management at the Department of State. He’s been a DAG member since 2019, and he’s mentored officers and members to strengthen DAG’s voice and grow the membership to more than 550 employees. DAG also serves as a key partner for the Department’s office of accessibility and accommodations, and the office of diversity and inclusion (D&I).
Barrasso joined the Foreign Service in 1999 and has served in six different countries, lifting up the voices of individuals with disabilities in each assignment. He served as chargé d’affaires, deputy chief of mission (DCM), acting DCM and acting consul general in three countries. In Saudi Arabia, he led a staff of more than 150 employees working on a $1 billion bilateral counterterrorism program. Being blind since birth has made his commitment to diversity a personal one, and his mentorship helps the Department of State retain its diversity and talent. In his tours in Brunei and Thailand, he oversaw grants for several programs, including on education of persons with disabilities, a youth leadership exchange visit, and one to reduce political violence against minorities.
Outside the office, he serves on the board of the U.S. Blind Chess Association where he’s the reigning U.S. Blind Chess Champion.
Employee of the Year: Kristin L. Adair, Ph.D.
Adair Advocates for Stroke Survivors & the Disability Community at Sandia
Kristin L. Adair, Ph.D. uses her stroke survivor experience within Albuquerque, NM-headquartered Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) as a member and active participant in Abilities Champions of Sandia (ACS), an employee resource group (ERG). She’s also a member of the Information and Security Division’s Belonging, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (BEDI) team. She volunteers to speak about her experience within Sandia and in the Albuquerque stroke survivor community.
Adair is passionate about exercise and team sports for people with disabilities (PWDs). She helped start a sled hockey team, New Mexico Blade Runners, in New Mexico, now with a dozen members competing within the U.S. In addition, she’s working to start an Achilles International chapter in Albuquerque. This organization transforms lives of people with disabilities through athletic programs and social connection. She’s also an active member of the Stroke Survivors Group in Albuquerque.
As the manager, research and development (R&D) of the advanced information security department at Sandia, Adair was one of the managers who established and is advancing Sandia’s vision for software and systems security, working to develop technologies and methods to secure data and software from cyberattacks.
Adair holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Furman University and a Master of Science and doctorate in computer science from Florida State University. She has more than 20 years experience in applying computer science research and development to solve challenging commercial and national security problems. She was a post-doc and R&D staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), developing algorithms for anomaly detection for insider threats in secure facilities and a member of a satellite ground system team while at Sandia in 2000. She left Sandia in 2001 to work for Rio Grande Medical Technologies, and, from 2002 to 2010, at its start-up, Lumidigm. While at Lumidigm, Adair was the senior scientist responsible for anomaly detection, identity verification, and design and analysis for a new biometric technology, deployed to CareFusion medical kiosks, multiple border crossings, and all Walt Disney World theme parks.
In 2010 Adair returned to Sandia and has had various assignments across the labs. She was a principal R&D staff member for five years, and was the technical lead for multiple operations research projects, including lead in the Enterprise Modeling and Analysis Consortium (a partnership with the operations research and computational analysis department and members across the nuclear weapons enterprise), another partnership with Operations Research and Computational Analysis, and as principal investigator for a multilayered security project. She served two years as manager of advanced enterprise software engineering, a role in which she managed multiple teams for enterprise software development.
As a four-year survivor of a massive stroke, Adair uses that experience to advocate for stroke survivors and the Disability Community through transparency about her struggles. She’s a mentor and empathizes with those who are struggling. She continuously demonstrates courage and determination. As a member of the Information and Security Division’s BEDI team, Adair actively engages in discussions across the spectrum of BEDI. She’s a thought leader on the team for underrepresented individuals, normalizing courage on her team with storytelling and understanding.
Employee of the Year: Pete Denman
Denman Improves UX via Inclusive & Accessible Tech at Intel
Pete Denman is a user experience (UX) design researcher who’s worked at Santa Clara, CA-headquartered Intel Corporation for more than 18 years. As a person with both visible and non-apparent disabilities (quadriplegic and dyslexic), Denman understands first-hand the hurdles that many people in the Disability Community experience in their day-to-day lives. At Intel he develops exploratory prototypes and guides ideas through the user-centered design process, which includes collaborating closely with developers, engineers, and ethnographic researchers to develop new technologies. His range of skills has provided him with many opportunities to work on projects he’s deeply passionate about across several fields, including education, data visualization and healthcare. He also leverages his personal experience to advocate for the Disability Community inside and outside of work, and has made tremendous contributions enhancing inclusive and accessible technology.
During the 2000s Denman worked on the Intel Reader, which photographs text and reads it aloud to the user, a device that’s particularly helpful for individuals who are blind or dyslexic. He also worked with esteemed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and conducted a complete redesign of Hawking’s user interface. Currently, he’s involved in numerous projects at Intel. This includes Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit, also known as ACAT, to improve communication for folks with limited speech and typing capabilities. In this work, Pete examines how people digest and interact with a computer interface based on their abilities. He leverages a switch-base interaction that uses a cursor and allows the user to hit a switch when they get to the right key and then select it. Denman is also involved in a project that aims to understand how people work together at the senior level with the goal of breaking through silos to increase collaboration and visibility into others’ work. Through his job at Intel, he’s constantly seeking new ways to improve the ways people work.
In his personal life Denman is actively involved in the community. He serves as chairman of the board at Quad Inc., a Portland, OR-based non-profit organization dedicated to helping people with physical disabilities live a self-sufficient and independent life through low-cost accessible housing and care services. He’s also passionate about championing the rights of the Disability Community. This is evident through his tireless work on SB 576, a bill that seeks to provide medical assistance to employed people with disabilities regardless of their income or resources. His dedication and work ethic are also apparent through his impressive achievements. He’s the holder of 12 patents, he’s contributed to or written 15 academic research papers, and he’s been featured in four books and two movies. Both inside and outside of Intel, Pete is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where folks of all abilities can thrive.
Employee of the Year: Emily Earle
Earle Goes Above & Beyond at Eskenazi Health
Emily R. Earle is early in her career, but she’s already made a significant impact. While pursuing a degree in elementary education at Ball State University, she won a Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Dare to Dream Paraeducator Award for her skill in working with students and fellow staff, as well as for her own academic achievements.
Before graduating from Ball State University, she joined the Gregory S. Fehribach Center at Eskenazi Health internship program, of which Larry Markle is the program director. The Fehribach Center gives college students with physical disabilities the work experience opportunities they need to be competitive in the job market. Earle completed multiple internships through the center. Markle was later awed to discover the laborious, time-consuming process she willingly endured to get in and out of her wheelchairs and onto public transportation to ensure a timely arrival at her positions.
Earle was honored by her university with a Markle Award in 2021, given to an internship program participant who’s both a strong student and who’s taken action to support access in the university’s community.
After she graduated, the staff at Eskenazi Health Clinical Education, who had employed her as an intern, were eager to hire her full time, but had no position open. Undeterred, Earle wrote a letter to Eskenazi Health’s chief human resources officer, Christia Hicks, to urge her to create a position just for her. Due to the value Earle brought to the team and the organization, a position was created, and she became a full-time employee in September 2022. She’s currently clinical education program coordinator for Indianapolis, IN-headquartered Eskenazi Health.
Hicks was impressed with Earle’s initiative and her impact, praising “all of the value and the persistence and tenacity that Emily brings to our organization.”
Just a year after she was hired, Earle was honored with a Top ACTS of PRIDE award by Eskenazi Health, an honor for employees who in their daily tasks perform “the ordinary extraordinarily well” and go “above and beyond their duties while carrying out Eskenazi Health’s mission.”
One reason Earle was granted this honor was for starting a scholarship for a current Fehribach Center intern who demonstrates perseverance and excellence in the program, explaining, “I may not be able to do a lot of physical work, but it’s a way that I can do something and share with what has been shared with me.”
The first recipient, who was presented with the award in Summer 2023, said that the honor meant the world to her since it demonstrated that others appreciated her persistence in overcoming vision challenges.
In addition to advocacy for those with disabilities, Earle has volunteered for College Mentors for Kids.
The example that Earle sets is an inspiration to all of us at Eskenazi Health, and Markle couldn’t have been prouder to nominate her for this award that she’s now earned.
Employee of the Year: Kristin S. Shaw
Shaw Enhances Value While Educating Colleagues at NSWC
Kristin S. Shaw is a contract specialist/contracting officer who works at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Panama City (FL) Division, and her supervisor is Mary Langfeldt, chief of contracting). Her accomplishments include the achievement of DAWIA Level II certification being a contract specialist and a contracting warrant (with a $700,000 limit) as a contracting officer. Shaw also obtained a master’s degree in acquisition management from American Graduate University all while working full-time in the contracting division.
Currently she’s working on acquiring contracting credentials under the new DAU career initiative. These credentials will expand her knowledge and increase her efficiency and functionality while working in the contracting career field. She’s also taking a year long Leadership (Level 3) course to expand her capabilities as a future leader. She puts forth consistent effort every work day as a contract specialist while going beyond when necessary to meet the customer’s needs.
Shaw doesn’t allow her disability to prevent her from doing the job along with her colleague’s. She’s performed many pre- and post-award actions for a variety of firm fixed price (FFP) and/or cost plus fixed fee (CPFF) service and supply type contracts.
She’s has also participated on several panels to improve overall work processes such as the Closeout and Procurement Operating Procedures (POP) reviews. The Closeout group worked together to close out very old contracts and reduce the number of outstanding actions. The review panel provided recommendations for processes/procedures for all contracting personnel to follow to increase efficiency of the required work products.
Shaw has held several in person and virtual complex negotiations and conferences with federal contractors while making sure to get the best overall value for the government.
She collaborates with developmental (interns) and more experienced colleagues to facilitate learning and a better understanding of procurement processes and/or procedures. At the Panama City Beach, FL-headquartered division, she hopes to accomplish a higher-level job such as a team lead in the next one to two years.
Outside of the workplace, Shaw has held multiple officer positions in several local and nationwide canine dog clubs while accomplishing many tasks as a valued board member.
She’s member of Little People of America (LPA), and attends local and national conventions to connect with others like her while accessing the best resources available to maintain a higher quality of life. She works with other members in LPA to facilitate society’s acceptance and understanding of those with similar disabilities. This includes advocating for legislation that increases access to everyday life activities and/or petitioning local businesses to adhere to the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulatory requirements. In conclusion, Shaw is an excellent all-around role model for others with disabilities inside and outside the workplace.
Employee of the Year: Tameka Rich
Rich Organizes for Success at PRIDE Industries
For more than 20 years, Tameka Rich has dedicated herself to advocating for people with disabilities. At Roseville, CA-headquartered PRIDE Industries, where she’s worked since 2007, Rich has drawn on her lived experience as a person with a disability to streamline service delivery and develop new processes to enable more people to reach their career goals.
“I’ve always enjoyed making things work more efficiently,” says Rich, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration while working full-time. “When I got my dream job – helping people with disabilities succeed in employment – I decided to make everything run as smoothly as possible for people I was helping.”
Rich began her career at PRIDE Industries as a job coach. She helped hundreds of people access the government services they needed to participate fully in their communities, and supported them on the job, whether that was by stocking cans in a grocery store or by writing grant proposals for a foundation. She excelled in her role, and, before long, the Department of Rehabilitation was requesting her assistance on complex cases.
A few years later, when she became a rehabilitation services supervisor, Rich was able to share her best practices with a whole team of job coaches, helping them navigate everyday challenges and learn to liaise effectively with government agencies. She also streamlined routine reporting and documentation processes, enabling job coaches to spend more time with clients, and lowering overall program costs. These innovations led to an influx of referrals.
“Tameka likes to think outside the box,” says Diana Erickson, Rich’s former supervisor. “Under her leadership, documentation became more robust, and yet less time-consuming. And, to top it all off, she’s a great mentor to the job coaches.”
Rich now serves as director of rehabilitation for commercial contracts, a position in which she’s responsible for the development and oversight of the group’s rehabilitation team, including vocational rehabilitation counselors and job coaches. During her time in this role, she’s improved communication with other departments, as well as improved service delivery and enabled PRIDE Industries to help more people with disabilities.
As if she weren’t busy enough, Rich is also active as a Thought Leader for People of Possibilities (POP), a PRIDE Industries employee resource group that she helped launch as the founding chair. POP is a welcoming place for people with diverse abilities and ensures that their voices are heard within the company. Outside of PRIDE Industries, Tameka supports others within the rare disease community. She’s a newly certified sickle cell health educator, and has volunteered as patient mentor and legislative advocate, most recently by participating in Rare Disease Week on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Rich believes that people with disabilities have a role to play in our society – one that includes helping others with disabilities.
“People with disabilities can support our own community,” she says. “When working to diversify my team, who can I get in the door that has an inherent passion for what we do and the desire to ‘pay it forward’? That’s the question I ask.”
Employee of the Year: Andrew Holbrook, Ph.D.
Holbrook Ensures Accessibility at Wells Fargo
It could be said that advocating for people with disabilities was Andrew Holbrook, Ph.D.’s family business. He was born hard of hearing and has worn hearing aids since he was seven years old. His father and stepmother taught children with autism. Holbrook came of age with his parents’ students, training with some of them for Special Olympics and doing vocational training with others. In college, he volunteered at Wright State’s Office of Disability Services. As a young adult, while working for Bob Saget, he became active with the Scleroderma Research Foundation. Since entering financial services in 2006, he’s been incredibly active in disability-focused business resource groups. Through four decades, Andrew has logged more than 1,000 volunteer hours, many across dozens of U.S. Special Olympics affiliates.
Holbrook joined San Francisco, CA-headquartered Wells Fargo & Company in 2013, leading customer analytics in consumer credit solutions marketing. Since then, he’s headed multiple data science teams whose insights have helped deliver improved products and experiences across Wells Fargo’s consumer lines of business.
In addition to his day job, from 2021 to 2023, Holbrook was Wells Fargo’s enterprise president of the Disability Connection employee resource network (ERN), having previously served in multiple ERN leadership roles. As president, he was instrumental in growing Disability Connection’s membership to more than 10,000 members, including the development of the ERN’s first international chapters in India and The Philippines.
Holbrook served as chief consultant to Wells Fargo’s operating committee on initiatives related to customers, clients, and employees with disabilities. Under his tenure, he prioritized disability employment outcomes, resulting in significant growth in Wells Fargo’s employee self-ID rate, surpassing the 7% employees with disabilities goal established by U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Wells Fargo also increased its ranking on Fair360’s Top Companies for People with Disabilities to number two, up from number seven in 2021.
Holbrook is now Wells Fargo’s first ever chief accessibility officer, leading efforts to ensure accessibility is further integrated in everything Wells Fargo does. He reports to Kristy Fercho, the head of diverse segments, representation, and inclusion (DSRI), who is a Wells Fargo operating committee member. DSRI focuses on increasing diverse representation at all levels of the company, creating a more inclusive workplace, and better serving and growing diverse customer segments and diverse suppliers.
Prior to Wells Fargo, Holbrook worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co. for seven years. There he held many leadership roles in consumer bank marketing, including head of mass media and cross-sell and head of campaign analytics. He was an executive member on JPMorgan Chase’s Access Ability business resource group, advising on regulations associated with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and representing disability-related issues of employees, customers, and clients.
Before entering financial services, Holbrook was an assistant professor at the University of New Orleans. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in political science at Wright State University and his Master of Arts and doctorate in political science from The Ohio State University. He continues to hold close his relationship with Ohio State, serving on the College of Arts and Sciences advisory board where he consulted on the university’s American Sign Language (ASL) minor.
Additionally, Andrew recently served as the first private-sector representative on the American Political Science Association’s careers committee leadership team. In 2023 he joined Bender Consulting’s advisory board, an organization committed to employment equity for people with disabilities, and the board of directors of Toivoa Coaching, an organization improving accessibility of mental health resources.
Outside of work, you’ll likely find Holbrook on a sailboat. He races in the J-105 and Express 37 fleets in the San Francisco Bay. Andrew and his wife, Sarah, live in San Francisco with an extremely spoiled cat named Axel.
Employee of the Year: Jason Carr
Carr Advances Accessibility at NFP
Jason Carr is a remarkable individual who has demonstrated a deep commitment to disability advocacy. His work as a technology coordinator, human resources (HR) technology supporting the development of enrollment portals for employee benefits clients in the Atlantic region of New York, NY-headquartered NFP, an Aon company has been exceptional, and the company is proud that believe he’s been named Employee of the Year in 2024 by CAREERS & the disABLED.
Carr’s personal and professional accomplishments are truly inspiring. As a person born with cerebral palsy, he has a first-hand understanding of the challenges people with disabilities face. He channels these life experiences to make the world a better place and fuel his passion for advocacy. Outside of his day job at NFP helping clients solve their human capital needs, he dedicates himself to advancing careers and opportunities for people with disabilities.
One of Carr’s greatest accomplishments at NFP centers on advancing the use of accessible technology. He works closely with NFP’s HR technology team to ensure new work design products and tools are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. In addition, in his HR tech role and as chair of D-IS-ABILITY business resource group at NFP, he’s engaged with his local leadership team and NFP’s national business resource group counterparts to build a rotational internship program, specifically for people with disabilities. He wants these employees to fully participate in and enjoy their career, just as he has.
Carr continuously works to promote inclusion and equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities and encourages NFP to create inclusive and accessible work environments. He’s a strong proponent of disability awareness training, recognizing that education is a key component of creating an inclusive workplace culture.
His commitment to disability advocacy has been recognized by many. He’s received numerous accolades within NFP for his work, and he’s been open about sharing his insights on disability inclusion.
Carr isn’t only an exceptional employee and colleague, but he’s also an exceptional individual who demonstrates a deep commitment to his craft and disability advocacy. His accomplishments at NFP, advocacy for equal employment opportunities, and personal achievements reflect his passion for creating a more inclusive and accessible world.
For these reasons, Carr is a deserving recipient for Employee of the Year by CAREERS & disABLED. His contributions to the Disability Community, and NFP, will undoubtedly continue to have a lasting impact.
Employee of the Year: Jamie Connor
Connor Educates Colleagues Around the World at JPMorgan & Chase
Jamie Connor has been with New York, NY-headquartered JPMorgan Chase & Co. for 19 years. As a business analyst, she’s a vital part of the company’s asset and wealth management (AWM) core operations team, based in Newark, DE. But it’s the invaluable work she’s done in addition to her day job for which she’s been named one of 10 Employees of the Year by CAREERS & the disABLED for 2024.
A ‘Sign’ of Excellence: The Universal Language of Inclusion
As a member of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community, Connor is being honored for using her creativity and leadership skills to help teach more than 600 hearing and deaf colleagues in North America and around the world how to communicate with employees, clients and family members who are deaf.
An Ally Fosters Inclusion
When Dawn Kreiss, manager of transformation and support for asset and wealth management, helped Connor land a job with AWM’s core operations team, Kreiss knew she’d have to find a way for colleagues and managers to communicate with her.
“I grew up learning sign language, but I knew most people at work did not and would have doubts about their ability to communicate with her,” recalls Kreiss. “Connor and I worked together to create an hour-long introduction to American Sign Language (ASL), which was designed to teach the alphabet, numbers one to 20, greetings and common work-related signs. She’s spent countless hours teaching others her language and raising awareness for the Deaf Community. And, after almost 20 years, we’re still offering that class.”
Finding Community & Confidence
Connor has been an integral part of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) Community, which is part of JPMorgan Chase’s Access Ability business resource group. Soon after joining the DHH Community’s leadership team in 2017, she designed and developed a 12-week ASL curriculum for her colleagues in North America.
As she says, “The DHH community helped me grow my confidence and be open about my disability at work. With the help of accommodations of captioning and sign language interpreters, I’m able to educate employees about Deaf Culture and how to treat deaf people equally.”
Her manager, Linda Frerks, business analysis manager for AWM, describes how Connor uses sign language to benefit the team.
“She’s hosted department updates and used them to spotlight the basics in ASL. The feedback was fabulous and had many wanting to learn more,” remarks Frerks. “She’s even inspired me to obtain some materials to increase my knowledge and interact through sign language more often.”
Sharing Her Knowledge Around the World
In 2022 there was such a high demand for similar sessions in other countries, Connor used her curriculum as a model, and trained a support staff of more than 20 colleagues around the world to lead their own sign language workshops with consistent content. And, thanks to Connor’s leadership, the support staff has grown comfortable leading classes in her absence.
As she became more comfortable and learned more about the firm’s accommodation services such as communication access real-time translation (CART) and sign language interpretation (SLI), Connor has become more confident in talking about herself and her experiences with colleagues.
Upon reflecting on this award, Connor says, “I feel very proud about the great honor of being selected as an employee of the year. And I’m very proud of JPMorgan Chase, which works hard to make everything accessible for employees with disabilities and allows us to reach our dreams and goals.”
Follow this link, https://www.jpmorganchase.com/impact/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/disability-inclusion, to learn more about JPMorgan Chase’s Office of Disability Inclusion and related resources for employees who are part of the disability or neurodivergent communities.
Employee of the Year: Nathanial Smith, Ph.D.
Smith Pushes Innovation & Supports DEIA at NASA Ames Research Center
Nathanial (Neal) Smith, Ph.D. is an aerospace engineer with the experimental aero-physics branch at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC). One of 10 NASA field centers, NASA Ames Research Center is headquartered in Moffett Field, CA in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. His primary role there in the branch as a member of the advanced imaging group includes software development and computer vision-based technique implementation for novel approaches to optical data reduction, and flow physics analysis.
His research interests are interdisciplinary, combining his background in high-speed flows and computer vision, and he’s a member of the NASA advanced Schlieren working group, established to share technology advances in flow visualizations among NASA centers.
Smith is also a member of the X-59 flight visualization team, acting as software lead for the collaborative effort between NASA Ames and Armstrong Research Centers. In this role, he’s worked with colleagues across centers where his interdisciplinary expertise in high-speed aerodynamics and image analysis played a crucial role in the most detailed shock wave visualization of a supersonic aircraft in flight to date, and the first ever visualization of interacting shockwaves in flight. These results from the visualization team were published in national front pages, https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/07/us/nasa-supersonic-shockwave-interaction-flight-intl-scli/index.html, and international news. Notably, the visualizations were selected by Journal of Nature as among top scientific images of 2019, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03839-z.
As a member of the advanced imaging team, in addition to the X-59 demonstrator work, Smith is involved with scientific imaging techniques related to the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project, stereo photogrammetry related to wind tunnel models, and an on-going international collaboration with German Aerospace Center (DLR) Göttingen on advancement of imaging techniques under the NASA-DLR Memorandum of Understanding.
Smith earned his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and doctorate in aerospace engineering from Syracuse University, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the University of Maryland, respectively. Many are unaware of his unseen disability, epilepsy, and he’s pleased by the acceptance and support provided by his colleagues and supervisors who are apprised.
Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) are significant to Smith. As a member of the NASA Ames Disability Advocates employee resource group (ERG), he regularly volunteers to support the ERG’s mission. He strives to bring awareness to disability-related matters, and hopes that barriers and stigmas associated with disabilities are one day fully replaced with the vision that diversity empowers innovation.