Speakers
The voices shaping Canada's accessibility future.
Stephanie Cadieux
Government of Canada
Stephanie Cadieux is Canada's first Chief Accessibility Officer, appointed under the Accessible Canada Act in 2022. Prior to her appointment, she was the first woman with a visible disability to serve in the BC Legislature and Cabinet, bringing a unique perspective shaped by lived experience and leadership at the highest levels of government. Known for collaborative and visionary leadership, her decision-making style is inclusive and evidence-based. She leads with empathy and strategic insight, building consensus while driving bold, systemic change, making her a trusted advisor and catalyst for inclusion.
Varun Chandak
Access to Success
Varun Chandak is the Founder and Executive Director of Access to Success, a Toronto-based non-profit on a mission to Enable Everyone. Driven by his own lived experiences with disabilities, Varun grew ATS to be a leading global innovation hub for accessibility startups. Under his leadership, ATS has expanded its reach to 41 countries and its startups have benefited over 2.5 million people with disabilities worldwide. As a leader in accessibility innovation, disability inclusion and inclusive design, Varun has been invited to speak on 5 continents. He has been recognized as a Top 50 Changemaker in Canada and was awarded the inaugural Tom Wilson Leadership in Disability Award. Varun has a professional background in financial services, holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, and is a Chartered Accountant.
Eugene Woo
Venngage
Eugene is the CEO of Venngage, a design platform that helps organizations produce accessible documents at scale. He focuses on moving accessibility upstream, shifting from remediation to creation with built-in checks, templates, and governance. His team partners with public sector and higher-ed institutions to standardize accessible-by-default outputs across departments.
Jennison Asuncion
Co-Founder, Global Accessibility Awareness Day & Chair, GAAD Foundation, GAAD Foundation / LinkedIn
Jennison's interest in digital accessibility can be traced back to his participation in a CNIB summer national program that exposed blind and visually impaired youth to access technology. Fast-forward to 2006 when he took on his first full-time digital accessibility role at RBC. He is currently LinkedIn's Head of Accessibility Engineering Evangelism. Outside his professional pursuits, Jennison co-founded Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) in 2012, after happening upon a blog post by a developer, Joe Devon, who called for such a day of digital accessibility awareness. On the occasion of the 10th GAAD, Joe and Jennison co-founded the GAAD Foundation, whose mission is to disrupt the culture of technology and digital product development to include accessibility as a core requirement. A member of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation Board of Trustees, Jennison has been recognized for his industry contributions. These include: featured by Business Insider in 2020 among 30 power players and rising stars helping new CEO Ryan Roslansky run LinkedIn; recognized in 2023 by his alma mater, Concordia University, as a Benoît Pelland Alumnus of the Year; and named alongside LinkedIn in 2025 to the inaugural Forbes Accessibility 100 List of Top Innovators and Impact Makers in accessibility.
Juan Olarte
Founder and CEO, A11YVERSE / Digita11y Accessible
Juan Olarte is a technology entrepreneur and digital accessibility leader with more than 25 years of experience advancing inclusive digital experiences. His work is shaped by both deep technical expertise and lived experience with visual impairment, giving him a practical and personal understanding of what accessibility truly means. As Founder and CEO of Digita11y Accessible, Juan leads a company focused on helping organizations embed accessibility into the core of their digital products and operations. Through a combination of expert services and AI-driven solutions, the company enables teams to move beyond compliance and build accessibility into their workflows in a sustainable, scalable way. Juan is also the founder of A11YVERSE, a growing initiative focused on connecting the accessibility ecosystem through knowledge, stories, and innovation. A11YVERSE brings together organizations, professionals, and communities to make accessibility easier to understand, implement, and scale, while creating space for collaboration and real-world impact. Throughout his career, Juan has worked across sectors including finance, education, and government, helping organizations translate accessibility standards into practical strategies that improve user experience and drive business outcomes. Beyond his companies, he is deeply involved in the accessibility community, organizing events, contributing to industry conversations, and supporting initiatives that empower people with disabilities to participate in and shape the future of technology. Juan's work sits at the intersection of accessibility, AI, and innovation, with a clear focus on one outcome: making accessibility a natural and essential part of how technology is built.
Jennifer Chadwick
Senior Accessibility Strategist, CPACC, CUA, CXR, Aequum Global Access Inc.
Jennifer Chadwick is an award-winning digital accessibility strategist and former UX designer with 15+ years of global experience guiding digital teams to understand, own and operationalize accessibility and disability needs. She is a policy and standards advisor (WCAG, EN 301 549) and W3C invited expert, contributing to WCAG 3.0 and co-chair of the Accessibility Roles and Responsibilities Mapping (ARRM) Community Group. Her 4-week Journey Accessibility Task-planning Program (ATP) helps organizations quickly adopt accessibility efforts and transform culture. She has spoken at CSUN, A11yTO, AccessU, IAAP M-Enabling Summit and United Nations COSP 2018 and 2022. In 2025, Jennifer wrote Chapter 6: Creating Inclusive Content for the best-selling book Inclusive Design for Accessibility.
David Dame
Senior Director, Product Accessibility & Human Centered Design for Windows and Devices, Microsoft
David Dame is the Senior Director of Human Centered Design at Microsoft, where he leads the strategy, design, and delivery of inclusive, human-first experiences across Windows and Devices. A product maker at heart, David has spent more than 30 years helping build and scale technology used by millions of people around the world. His work sits at the intersection of design, engineering, accessibility, AI, and organizational change. David has led the creation of shipped products and platforms including Microsoft Adaptive Accessories, the Surface Adaptive Kit, Inclusive Trackpad, Bold Keyboard, and the Inclusive Tech Lab. These are not concepts or prototypes - they are real products designed to remove friction and expand what is possible for people. David lives with cerebral palsy. That lived experience gives him a firsthand understanding of where technology breaks down and how thoughtful design can unlock independence, dignity, and opportunity. It shapes how he leads, how he builds, and how he challenges teams to think differently. He believes human centered design is not about empathy alone - it is about outcomes. When we design for the edges, we improve the experience for everyone. Accessibility becomes innovation. Inclusion becomes a growth strategy. Before Microsoft, David held senior leadership roles at Scotiabank, OpenText, PTC, BlueCat Networks, and MedShare, leading large-scale agile and organizational transformations across global enterprises. He is a TEDx speaker, Professional Scrum Trainer, Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, and the author of the upcoming book Leading with Imperfect Feet, which explores leadership, resilience, and designing systems that adapt to people instead of forcing people to adapt to systems.