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About Us

Workers shaking hands

Disability:IN Chicagoland helps businesses in the greater Chicagoland area drive performance by leveraging disability inclusion in the workplace, supply chain and marketplace throughout the communities they serve. It is the region’s only business-to-business, employer-led disability inclusion program providing its members with resources, networking and programs that equip them to create and implement better practices to increase the attraction, hiring and retention of people with disabilities in their workforce.

 

What We Do

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Disability:IN Chicagoland serves small, midsize, and large businesses through:

  • Education: Workshops, seminars, thought leadership programming, and facilitated discussions
  • Access to Resources: Connecting employers to an untapped talent pool through local disability organizations and service providers, and tools that support corporate disability inclusion efforts to gauge and improve performance, like the Disability Equality Index®
  • Networking: Enabling business collaboration by supporting best practice sharing, facilitating disability E/BRG connections, and providing updates on recent developments to support collaboration on common issues

Who We Are

Disability:IN Chicagoland is governed by a Board of Directors, comprised of local leaders from Disability:IN Chicagoland partner businesses who have a passion for integrating disability inclusion into their organizations’ larger diversity, equity and inclusion strategies.

Board Members:

  • Ann Manikas, American Medical Association
  • Joe Higgins, Comcast
  • Keys Felton, CDW
  • Kent Klaus, DePaul University
  • Chris Stathopoulos, Grant Thornton
  • Mark Daniels, Guidewire Software
  • Jill Bradley, Health Care Service Corporation
  • Scott Hoesman, inQUEST Consulting, LLC
  • Andrea Beirne, KPMG LLP
  • Allyson Riemma, McDermott Will & Emery
  • Carlos Terrazas, McDonald’s
  • Nancy Nauheimer, Northern Trust
  • Tricia Myers, RGP
  • Heather Winandy, RSM
  • Sheryl von Westernhagen, Walgreens
  • Mary Ann Rivers, Wintrust

In addition, an Advisory Committee made up of leaders from the disability community in Chicago provides guidance and consultation to help the Disability:IN Chicagoland Board of Directors achieve its goals. The Committee also provides advice, technical assistance, training information and other resources to facilitate increasing the number of businesses that successfully recruit, hire and retain workers with disabilities, thereby increasing the number of persons with disabilities gainfully employed throughout the Chicagoland area.

Advisory Committee Members:

  • Robin Jones, Director, Great Lakes ADA Center
  • Kathleen Dillon Narko, Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern University
  • Karen Tamley, Access Living

Our Strategic Partners

Disability:IN Chicagoland is an affiliate of Disability:IN, the collective voice of nearly 50 Disability:IN affiliates across the United States, representing over 5,000 businesses.