Colleen Hatcher is the Senior Manager, Community Relations for the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) where she has worked for four years to strengthen relationships with and among NDSS supporters, community members, families and affiliate organizations across the country. Colleen and her team support and engage the Down syndrome community through personalized outreach, as well as programs and resources developed to meet the needs of individuals with Down syndrome and those who support them. Colleen has a bachelor’s degree in elementary special education and a master’s degree in elementary special education, severe disabilities from the University of Maryland. 

Isaac Agbeshie-Noye hails from Hyattsville, MD. As a proud son, brother, uncle, and friend, he is most excited about the opportunities to build a culture of equity and innovation in research and education that centers access and justice in its design. Professionally, Isaac has been working in education for over 10 years in a variety of roles across non-profits and colleges and universities in the Washington, DC area.  

His experience includes diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and strategy, college student transition, talent developent, and crisis management. Since 2012, he has also served as an instructor for undergraduate and doctoral student seminars, where he explores his passions for easing student transitions to and through their experiences with and in higher education.  

Isaac earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Virginia, as well as a master’s and doctoral degree in higher education administration from George Washington University. His research investigates organizational culture and brand equity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). 

Simeon Sessley, serves as the Founding Partner of Advisory Trail (advisorytrail.com) which is dedicated to empowering visionary leaders engage with their frontline employees through compelling storytelling. Since founding Advisory Trail, Simeon and his team have supported leaders to create unique storytelling assets on topics ranging from new baby products launched at Walmart Health and Wellness focused on excited yet exhausted parents; to stories embedded within resilience trainings for frontline healthcare workers based upon the COVID19 experiences from clinical peers across Emergency Departments in New York City.

Prior experience for Simeon includes serving as the Executive Director within the Office of Strategy at Atrium-Navicent Health, where he and his team helped over a dozen startups work alongside top clinicians to close health disparity gaps in both rural and urban populations. The seminal work at Atrium-Navicent by Simeon and his team ultimately led to the organization winning the distinguished Health Equity Award from the American Hospital Associations. Prior to working for Atrium-Navicent Health, Simeon had a long tenure at the General Electric Company (GE), where he led a global group of 420 Innovation Coaches who were chartered to change the paradigm for introducing new products to market via apply principles from The Lean Startup. Overall, Simeon is committed to introducing leaders to new ways to transform their organizations by leveraging storytelling and is sincerely honored to have Advisory Trail digitally catalog the thoughtful reflections of our nation’s top public and private sector leaders on the topics of Belonging and Thriving.

Cordell brings 20 years of experience to his leadership of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, a global education forum for leaders and Expectant Advisory, a privately-held leadership consultancy. Previous to his current roles, Cordell held leadership roles with TechTown Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Business Roundtable, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the IBM Corporation.

Honors include: an Eisenhower Fellowship to China; designation as a White House Champion of Change for Computer Science Education; designation as a “40 under 40” by business and civic organizations in Washington State and Tennessee; University of Notre Dame Law School alumni of the year awardee; selections as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow for Young American Leaders and a Broad Foundation Resident in Urban Education. Current board service includes the Alumni Council for Cultural Vistas, AIPAC National Council and the privately-held blockchain start-up Injii. He previously served on the Advisory Council for the Center for Democracy and Technology and the boards of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga, United Way of King County, Downtown Seattle YMCA and the Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation.

Cordell speaks at conferences, leads workshops and moderates panels and seminars all over the world. Recent appearances include: Congressional testimony before the US Congressional Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (December 2019); 2019 Horasis Conference (Las Vegas, NV); 2019 SmartCity Expo (Atlanta, GA); 2019 Concordia Summit (Bogota, Colombia); 2019 Young Leaders Academy of Macedonia (Skopje, Macedonia); 2018 Blockchain Trends Summit (Seoul, South Korea); 2018 The Wright (Golden, CO); 2018 SXSW Festival (Austin, TX); 2017 YSEALI Summit (Manila, Philippines); Confluence ROME (Rome, GA); Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank District’s Reinventing Community Conference (Philadelphia, PA); US News STEM Solutions Leadership Summit (Dallas, TX); ACT Board of Directors Annual Meeting (Washington, DC); Council of Chief State Schools Officers Legislative Conference (Washington, DC); and the Association for Career and Technical Education’s National Policy Seminar (Washington, DC).

Cordell earned a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School, a M.Sc. in Public Policy and Management Studies from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington.

Kim has been practicing yoga for over 12 years and teaching since 2014. After dealing with chronic pain and mental health issues, she knew that it was the power of breath, movement, and presence that would lead to her healing. She completed her 300-hour advanced training in 2017 in South Florida and currently teaches at Wild Heart Yoga in Austin, TX. Other trainings include Core-Strength Vinyasa, Thai Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Transcendental Meditation. Students can expect Kim to teach from a place of intuition and authenticity, infusing her classes with breath-work, mindfulness, and an opportunity to show up exactly where you are on your path towards better health and your Highest Self.

Andreas Urdina lives in Maryland. He currently is a waiter and has worked previously at a grocery store. He likes to run, read and watch films.

Paul Khouri's mission  is to improve accessibility for people with disabilities locally, nationally, and internationally through providing businesses with information and resources that they can use.