2025 APA National Conference
Speaker Info

Keynote Speaker

John Wodatch is a disability rights attorney, with over 50 years specializing in the Americans with Disabilities Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  He served for 42 years in the Federal government, where he authored the government’s comprehensive disability rights regulations and created and led the Department of Justice’s office in charge of enforcing the ADA.  He is the chief author of the first Federal regulation implementing section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. He is presently working as a Senior Disability Policy Advisor with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

He is one of the drafters of the Americans with Disabilities Act., serving as a member of the White House negotiating team and as the Department of Justice’s chief technical expert during the writing and passage of the ADA.  He was also part of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations that helped develop the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  

He was the chief author of the Department of Justice’s 1991 ADA regulations, created the DOJ’s initial ADA technical assistance programs, and assembled the Department’s ADA enforcement staff. From 1990 until 2011, he served as the Director and Section Chief overseeing all interpretation, technical assistance, and enforcement of the ADA at the Department of Justice. Just before he retired, he was responsible for the first major revision of the Department's ADA regulations, including the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design. 

He has worked with the State Department and US embassies in providing guidance to foreign nations and disability rights groups on implementation of their own disability rights laws and the CRPD, including visits to Japan, Korea, China, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Georgia, Trinidad and Tobago, Armenia, and Montenegro.

In 2010, he was honored with the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for exceptional achievement in his career. He received a B.A. from Trinity College, an M.P.A. from Harvard University, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law School.

Sabrina Blackman began her career in architectural and construction consulting and quickly became interested in the technical aspects of accessibility compliance. She still recalls being handed the Fair Housing Design Manual as a new employee tasked with memorizing as much as possible. Over the past 10 years, she has continued to deepen her understanding of accessibility in an effort to improve our relationship with the built environment. Her experience includes consultation services for many project types, including multifamily developments, public housing, college campuses, and a variety of retail and commercial properties. She joined the team at theACCESSpartnership, l.p. in 2021 and currently oversees all its projects in California.

Gene Boecker is an Architect Emeritus from both the State of Ohio and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and a graduate of The Ohio State University. Having lived in Ohio, Florida, and Missouri, he has worked on projects of many types in various parts of this country. Since working at CCI Gene has consulted on accessibility projects both domestic and overseas, assisting in accessibility needs for owners, developers and architects; and, occasionally, provided plan review services for governmental agencies. Additionally, he has worked as an expert witness for several FHA complaints.

His involvement with the International Code Council and as a voting member of the ANSI A117.1 committee has resulted in a number of codes and standards being revised and updated. Gene has been a speaker at AIA conferences, NFPA conferences, the National ADA Symposium and numerous conference presentations for the Accessibility Professionals Association (APA). He is currently President Elect for the national APA organization and holds an APAC-BE certificate.

Dan Buuck joined the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in 2010. He supports the association’s codes and standards efforts in a wide range of areas including plumbing, mechanical, fire, electrical, accessibility and residential construction. Dan is a voting member on four NFPA standards, including Code-Making Panel 2 of the NEC. He is also a voting member of the A117.1 standard on accessibility and has participated in the last four ICC code development cycles. He provides technical assistance to NAHB members and affiliates as they address codes issues that impact the home building industry. Dan worked as a building inspector in Minnesota and holds a degree in architecture from the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt in Germany.

Kaylan Dunlap is a Principal and Director of Technical Services with Evan Terry Associates. She is the firm’s primary technical access specialist for the Los Angeles Housing Department and the US Capitol Complex. Kaylan is a subject matter expert for the California Division of State Architect, serves on the Certified Access Specialists Institute Board of Directors, and was a charter member of the California State Architect’s Access Code Collaborative.

Robert Fine is a board certified construction law attorney and a Florida-registered, nationally certified architect. Robert, who had served as a long-time chair of the firm’s ADA, Accessibility, Building & Life Safety Codes Practice provides defense counsel and consulting in claims brought under disability rights laws including Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Housing Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Formerly, the City of Miami Beach’s first ADA/Section 504 Coordinator, Robert has consulted on a multitude of projects regarding the ADA, FHA, and similar state and local laws, rules and codes. In addition, Robert provides defense counsel and consulting in matters involving auxiliary aids and services such as website accessibility, audio description, sign language interpreting and captioning. Robert provides cost-effective disability rights laws representation to business and property owners in numerous industries such as hospitality, professional sports teams, venues and sanctioning bodies, performing arts venues and theaters, retail (both strictly online and bricks & mortar-based), health care and commercial real estate and development (including multifamily residential).

Marsha Godeaux has worked within the Architectural Barriers program at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for the last 16 years. She started as a plan reviewer and has worked her way up to program supervisor. She has a bachelor’s in environmental design from A&M University and a master’s in architecture from Texas Tech University. She is a mother of 3 and in her spare time volunteers with the Scouts BSA.

Bill Hecker is a graduate of LSU and an architect (Colorado, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia Licenses) specializing in facility access compliance. He began working in this area of expertise while at Evan TerryAssociates, Inc. just after the ADA was passed in 1990. He has extensive experience in ADA and Fair Housing Act litigation and since 1994 has been one of a handful of architect expert witnesses retained on behalf of the US Department of Justice in ADA and FHA investigations and lawsuits. He was a defense expert for the California Department of Transportation and the City and County of Honolulu in major ADA curb ramp litigation and testified for the defense at the 2011 ADA trial against the City and County of San Francisco. He was a member of the US Access Board's Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Advisory Committee and consults extensively on facility compliance issues around the nation.

Kim Hooker - Photo and bio coming soon

Jessica Hubert - Bio coming soon

Luísa Janssen Harger Brown is an NYC-based Accessibility Consultant at Code Consultants, Inc. (CCI), specializing in accessibility compliance and solutions for architectural projects across the United States. She is certified as an Accessibility Inspector/Plans Examiner by the International Code Council, a member of the Accessibility Technical Committee for the development of the next NYC Building Code, and a licensed Architect and Urban Planner in her home country, Brazil. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from UFSC, Brazil (2018), pursued a study-abroad year in Architectural Technology at the University of Westminster in London (2014-2015), and completed her Master’s in Architecture at the City University of New York in 2020.

Theresa L. "Terry" Kitay focuses her practice on defense and preventive representation of clients in the housing industry in all civil rights matters, including fair housing, Section 504, Title VI, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

Terry's clients include many of the leading residential housing providers and public housing authorities in the country. Her practice places particular emphasis on advice regarding disability and accessibility issues, including compliance with the Fair Housing Act and building code requirements for accessibility in the design and construction of new multifamily housing. Terry is a California Certified Accessibility Specialist (CASp) and an Accessibility Inspector/Plans Examiner certified by the International Code Council. She was formerly a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Terry's enforcement background with HUD, combined with extensive experience in the defense representation of housing professionals since leaving HUD, have given her a unique ability to assist clients who face civil rights issues or wish to avoid them in the future.

Terry is a member of the state bars of Georgia, California, and North Carolina.

Mark Mazz started his accessibility career more than 40 years ago with the University of Maryland's Section 504 Transition Plan. Since then, he has been responsible for the accessibility projects in his private practice and in the offices of Edwin F. Ball, AIA, and Celentano Esposito & Associates. Also, Mr. Mazz has collaborated with other nationally known "accessibility firms" including Ron Mace and Barrier Free Environments. His clients include owners, architects, engineers, developers, construction managers, organizations for persons with disabilities, and governmental agencies. His major clients have included the Architect of the Capitol, other Federal agencies, and Montgomery County, MD. In his eight years with the Federal Government, Mr. Mazz was an architect in DOJ’s Housing and Civil Enforcement and Disability Rights Sections and the senior advisor on accessibility issues in HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

More than 80% of his career has focused on accessibility. The other 20% of his work has been standard architectural design and construction observation. For the past 24 years, Mr. Mazz has focused exclusively on the ADA, the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Section 504, the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), and accessible design issues. Prior to federal employment, he belonged to several disability organizations and donated services through the Spinal Cord Injury Network of Metropolitan Washington and Independence Now, Inc.  He continues to donate services through Disability Rights Maryland and as vice-president of the board of directors of CALMRA, a community based residential service provider for adults with cognitive disabilities.

Marsha Mazz joined the staff of the United Spinal Association as the Director of Accessibility Codes and Standards in September 2018.  Before joining the USA, Marsha directed the United States Access Board's Office of Technical and Information Services, which is responsible for developing and maintaining the Access Board's accessibility guidelines and standards and its training and technical assistance programs.

Marsha is best known for leading the development of accessibility guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Architectural Barriers Act. She was instrumental in efforts to harmonize federal accessibility requirements with their counterpart codes and standards in the private sector, including those codes and standards authored by the International Code Council, the National Fire Protection Association, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).    

Marsha is highly regarded for her technical expertise and mastery of detail in architectural accessibility and building codes and standards. Her outreach and coordination with the codes community significantly advanced the integration of accessibility into model building codes and standards.  In recognition of her work at the Access Board, Mazz received the prestigious American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) 2010 Ronald H. Brown Standards Leadership Award, which recognizes her demonstrated leadership in promoting standardization and eliminating barriers to global trade. On October 17, 2018, ANSI also awarded her the Meritorious Service Award, which she presented to individuals or groups with a record of significant contribution to voluntary standardization and who have demonstrated outstanding service in enabling ANSI to attain the objectives for which it was founded. Marsha is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and was active in the independent living movement in her early career. 

Nanette Odell, Ed. D., has lived and/or worked with individuals with disabilities most of her life and in a professional capacity for over 40 years. After working in the public sector for 15 years, she started her own consulting business in 2010 then was hired as the Disability Service Manager/ADA Coordinator for the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012. Since then, she has become a content expert on accessible areas of assembly and has recently developed the Venue Access Academy. Having non-visible disabilities of her own, Nanette speaks passionately from both her professional and personal experiences.

Rex Pace has over 30 years of experience making the built environment accessible to people with disabilities. He is currently at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity's Senior Advisor for Accessible Design. He works on issues related to the Fair Housing Act, Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Architectural Barriers Act (ABA). Rex came to HUD from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), where he managed their National Accessibility Program to ensure the accessible design of federal facilities. Before GSA, Rex worked at the U.S. Access Board, where he was a senior accessibility specialist and oversaw the technical assistance program. 

Sarah Presley is an Accessibility Specialist with the Access Board. Presley provides technical assistance and training on design standards for accessible buildings and facilities and accessible public rights-of-way. Before joining the Access Board, Presley served as a Reasonable Accommodations Coordinator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Presley previously worked at the D.C. Department on Disability Services as a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist and at the U.S. Census Bureau as a Statistician. Presley also served in the Peace Corps in Morocco as an English instructor at a school for students who are blind. She holds a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from George Washington University.

Leah Schoelles is an Accessibility Specialist working with REIT's, property owners, lenders, architects, and Title II government and education entities on a variety of property types including office, retail, multifamily, and community college facilities. She is a licensed Architect in the State of California, Certified Access Specialist, and ICC Certified Inspector/Plans Examiner who graduated from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona with a Bachelor of Architecture. She is currently in pursuit of the APAC-BE and ADAC. In school, she focused her energies on the treatment of historic architectural resources. Following college, working with small businesses to design and permit their tenant improvements first introduced her to the challenges that are faced when complying with accessibility codes and regulations. Through this experience, she became more curious about what the requirements are, who they are for, and how accessibility consultants can work to build a better world.

Meghan Simecek - Bio coming soon

Jennifer Skulski has more than 30 years of professional experience as a consultant, instructor, and researcher advocating for the inclusion of people with disabilities in parks, recreation, and tourism. She has diverse expertise in the accessibility standards specific to recreation facilities and outdoor recreation environments, program access, policy development, transition planning, and universal design. She has conducted accessibility assessments of more than 60 national parks and 1,500 municipal park and recreation facilities. She has authored numerous articles on ADA compliance and served as the principal researcher for the U.S. Access Board’s longitudinal study on the accessibility of playground surfaces. Jennifer is the Principal of Skulski Consulting LLC and publisher of Accessibility Management News, a monthly e-newsletter focusing on the news, emerging trends, people making access happen, and top things every ADA/504 Coordinator should know to make their job in accessibility management easier.

Jonathan Sparks has been with the Architectural Barriers program of TDLR since April 2021. He started as a Program Specialist I and has worked his way up to a Program Specialist III. Prior to working with TDLR, Jonathan has worked in many different fields such as physical security, automotive technician, and logistics. He brings a variety of knowledge and is a valuable member of the Architectural Barriers team. He is a native Austinite and attended Pflugerville High School. After graduating, Jonathan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a Motor Transportation Operator and is a combat veteran.

James L.E. Terry is the CEO of Evan Terry Associates (ETA). He joined the firm after receiving his B.S. in Architecture from the University of Southern California and his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Michigan in 1977. Since July 27, 1990, he has led ETA’s team focused on accessible design and, in particular, the Americans with Disabilities Act and various state accessibility standards’ requirements. Seven years ago, he and ETA launched Corada.com, the Comprehensive Resource for the ADA, as a free service for ADA professionals and others. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of ADA Coordinators and the national expansion committee of the Accessibility Professionals Association and their certification exam SME team. Under his leadership, ETA serves clients like The Architect of the U.S. Capitol, The U.S. Department of Justice, The Los Angeles Housing Department, the City of New York, CVS, Sutter Health, and others.

John Rife Torkelson founded the theACCESSpartnership, l.p., in 1997 to provide consulting services relating to accessibility for the ADA, FHA, and local building codes nationwide for architects, building owners, and institutions. He is licensed with the State of Texas and California; serves as an Accessibility/Usability Specialist with the International Code Council; and is a recognized expert on Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA). In addition, John has acted as a third-party expert working on behalf of both the Plaintiff and Defense with clients as varied as the United States Department of Justice, The Equal Rights Center, and the National Fair Housing Alliance. 

John Rife Torkelson is a founding member and the incoming president of the Accessibility Professionals Association. He is also a member of the Certified Access Specialist Institute.

Joseph Wages is the Southern Technical Field Representative for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).  He served previously as the Director of Education with the Independent Alliance of the Electrical Industry (IAEI).  He also held the positions of Technical Advisor, Education, Codes and Standards, and Seminar Coordinator with the IAEI.  He represented IAEI on NFPA’s NEC Code Making Panel-14 for the 2026 NEC.  He previously represented IAEI on NFPA’s NEC Code Making Panel-2 for the 2020 and 2023 NEC code cycles and NFPA’s NEC Code Making Panel-3 for the 2014 and 2017 NEC. He served on the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Electrical Council and on several UL Technical Standard Panels.  Joseph continues to hold state electrical licenses and several IAEI and ICC building-related certifications.

Jonathan White is a licensed architect in the State of Ohio and has worked for the University at Buffalo’s Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDEA Center) since 2007. His current projects include the innovative solutions for Universal Design (isUD) certification program, Universal Design Education Online (UDEO), stock plans for universal design housing, as well as ongoing ADA and Fair Housing compliance audits and evaluations.