About Us

Management Team

Joe Cioffi, M.Ed.

Founder, CEO

Joe has worked as a consultant in deafblindness education for the past 28 years, with expertise in Orientation and Mobility techniques for the deafblind and blind. His experience includes supervising the O & M department at the Helen Keller National Center in the 90's, and teaching the first group of Masters level O & M instructors in Thailand. He has also been a leading designer of tactile maps for the past 20 years. He has published various articles and book chapters on Usher syndrome and Orientation and Mobility, and has taught and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad.

Phil Agee

Phil most recently served as Chief Technology Officer and Senior Software Architect for startup ventures in the media and insurance industries. He got his technology start in the early days of the Internet as a software developer in the financial services industry, where he participated in the construction of real-time market data applications. He went on to provide technology consulting services to the education sector and non-profit community. While specializing in database and web application architecture, Phil brings expertise in all facets of enterprise level technologies from requirements analysis and software design to secure infrastructures for large scale, consumer websites.

Board of Advisors

Christopher G. Bell, J.D.

Partner (retired), Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzler & Krupman

Chris is a nationally recognized expert, lecturer, and trainer on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and is a leading advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities and seniors in the Twin Cities area. As Acting Associate Legal Counsel for ADA Services and principal advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), he spearheaded the development of EEOC's ADA regulations, Technical Assistance Manual, and ADA sections of the Compliance Manual. Chris also played a significant role in the development of the ADA, providing technical assistance to the White House and Senate and House committees during the ADA's legislative process. His co-authorship in 1983 of Accommodating the Spectrum of Individual Abilities provided the conceptual foundation for this landmark legislation. As a legal services lawyer with over 20 years of experience, he conducted litigation under the employment and public accommodations Titles of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Chris also provides expert technical assistance to trial attorneys litigating cases under the ADA.

Beezy Bentzen, COMS (Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist), Ph.D.

Director of Research, Accessible Design for the Blind

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Boston College

As a leading authority in wayfinding for blind and low vision travelers for more than 30 years, Beezy has worked as a nationally acclaimed consultant and researcher for major orientation and mobility initiatives, including Architectural Accessibility for the Visually Impaired and Education of the Visually Handicapped and Orientation & Mobility. She has published extensively and authors the standard textbook used in orientation and mobility training programs. She has won numerous awards, including the Lawrence E. Blaha Award, considered to be the highest award in the orientation and mobility profession presented by the Orientation and Mobility Division of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired. Beezy has conducted acclaimed research for numerous institutions, most recently for the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program.

Ed Gervasoni

Chairperson, Assistive Technology Committee, Arizona Governor's Council on Blindness

Ed is a native sign language speaker, who received a BA degree in Deaf Studies and American Sign Language Interpreting from Maryville College, in Maryville Tennessee. He also holds a Masters degree from San Francisco State University in Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind and Deafblind and an Educational Specialist Degree in Orientation and Mobility for the Blind and Deafblind (with a minor in Communication Strategies and Techniques for the Deafblind) from the University of Arizona. He has over 24 years experience in the field. He has been serving Deafblind individuals in a variety of capacities including Support Service Provider (SSP) and trainer, Interpreter, Independent Living & Orientation and Mobility Specialist, Intervener Trainer and Community Advocate. He has extensive experience working with individuals who have combined hearing and vision loss (deafblindness) from birth to death. His current interests are assistive technology for the Blind, the Deaf, and the Deafblind. He has given numerous presentations all over the country, including California State University, California State University, Northbridge (CSUN) Assistive Technology Conference in March of 2007, entitled "Assistive Technology for People Who Are Deafblind". He is currently the chairperson of the Assistive Technology Committee for the Arizona Governor's Council on Blindness.

Glenn Johnston

Director, Application and Database Services Technology Services, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management

Glenn's responsibilities include information technology infrastructure and service delivery; project planning; system and cost analyses; integration, implementation and rollout of IT systems including administrative databases, distance learning and web sites. Glenn has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Arts degree from Boston College, and a Master of Science degree from Boston University.

Deborah Mendenhall

Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator, Pittsburgh Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services

Deborah is the Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator for Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, a private nonprofit agency that offers programs and services to people with vision loss. She is responsible for agency publications, advocacy, working with the press, and managing the national client recruiting program that she created. Deb is a former investigative reporter and has worked at newspapers in Michigan, Kentucky, Florida, California and Pennsylvania. Her work has won many awards and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times.

Curt Micka, J.D.

Disability Advocate, Minnesota Disability Law Center

Curt is a long time advocate for the interests of people with disabilities. As an attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center, he represented deaf and deafblind individuals, including those with mental health and employment-related challenges, in their quest to receive services enabling them to lead productive and independent lives in their local communities. He continues this work through the Minnesota Department of Human Services, as a mediator with the Minnesota Special Education Mediation Services program, and as a consultant for InTouch Graphics and ClickAndGo Wayfinding Maps.

Ilene Miner, LCSW

Licensed Social Worker

Ilene has been a licensed clinical social worker since 1974, first in New York, and now in California where she lives. She is fluent in American Sign Language with extensive experience with deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind people in medical, rehabilitation, and mental health settings. Currently she is consulting for the Deaf, elder and disabled program of a well known domestic violence prevention agency in Los Angeles and continues to volunteer with deafblind people as a Support Service Provider (SSP). She is widely published in issues related to Usher Syndrome and has lectured and given workshops around the United States and in several European countries, including Spain, Holland, England, and Denmark. Most recently she collaborated with the Information Center for Acquired Deafblindness in Denmark on a project examining deafblindness and identity which can be found at www.dbcent.dk.

Ken Rodgers

Program Evaluation/Public Policy Intern, Rehabilitation Services, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

Ken is a prominent advocate for people with disabilities in Minnesota and nationally. He currently serves on several transportation related commissions and task forces, including the Citizen Advisory Committee for the Central Corridor Light Rail Project, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Stakeholder Advisory Task Force, and the Transportation Access Advisory Committee of the Metropolitan Council for Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ken received his Bachelor of Science in Human Services and Education from the California State University, Fullerton. After teaching computer science, working as a registered nurse, and administering educational programs, Ken served as President of the American Council for the Blind of Minnesota. In 2005 he was appointed by Minnesota Governor Pawlenty to serve as member of the Minnesota State Council on Disability. Ken is currently a candidate for the Master's Degree in Public Policy at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Jo Taliaferro

Chairperson, Scholarship Committee, Minnesota American Council of the Blind

As a life member of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), Jo edits the quarterly publication "The Minnesota Memo", which covers new assistive technologies and highlights members who distinguish themselves in service to the ACB. Jo is a member of the ADA Stakeholders Committee for the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Transit for Livable Communities. Jo is a graduate of Cornell College and received a Masters degree in Christian Education from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virgania. She served as President of the Grand Rapids Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, she also worked as a volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters, as a staff chaplain for a catholic hospital, and served on the Consumer Advisory Council of the Grand Rapids Area Transit Authority.

Jane L. Toleno

Speaker and Writer

Jane is an author and poet based in Big Lake, Minnesota. Her most recent book is BlindSight: Come and See, conversational essays about one woman's unconventional journeys through blindness and life. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts Honors Division and active in the Minnesota based writers' group Word Weavers.