Previous Experience

Logo: W3CW3C Freelance

November 2006 – Present

  • Active Contributor to W3C Working Groups and Standards Development
  • On-going contributions to the development of WCAG 2.1, WCAG 2.2, and emergent work for WCAG 3.0; co-author/contributor to the Media Accessibility User Requirements (MAUR); contributor to the emergent Personalization & Pronunciation specifications; active participant in the Application Platform Accessibility Working Group.
  • Previous participant and contributor to:
    • W3C HTML 5 specification
    • Media/Timed-Text specification
    • Television on the Web Interest Group
    • ARIA Working Group
    • Cognitive Disabilities Task Force

Logo: DequeDeque Systems, Inc – Principal Accessibility Strategist

March 2015 – October 2020

  • Joined Deque Systems in the spring of 2015 as a Principal Accessibility Consultant.
  • Provided strategic technical and program consultation to Deque’s clients and internal projects as a Subject Matter Expert.
  • Senior Accessibility trainer and course developer.
  • Deque’s W3C Advisory Council representative, where he was the official spokesperson for the company.

Logo: JPMorgan ChaseJPMorgan Chase – Web Accessibility Specialist

January 2012 – February 2015

  • Joined the Electronic Communications Accessibility Team (eCAT) as a Senior Web Accessibility Specialist.
  • Lead Accessibility Trainer to the various web development teams across the firm.
  • Instrumental in establishing their internal accessibility training initiative.
    • Led the development and creation of JMPC’s 1st Generation Digital Accessibility training materials.

Open Web CampOpen Web Camp – Co-Founder

2008 – 2015

  • Co-Founder of Open Web Camp, which provided a free, day-long web developer’s conference in the Bay Area (California) for 7 years, with an emphasis on digital accessibility.

Logo: Stanford UniversityStanford University – Manager, Stanford Online Accessibility Program

July 2006 – December 2011

  • Established and ran the Stanford Online Accessibility Program.
  • Worked with multiple stakeholders across the numerous Schools and Centers across campus to achieve digital accessibility compliance.
  • Reported to the University Registrar’s office, and provided consultation to the University’s General Council office, ADA compliance office and other senior stakeholders.

WATS.caWATS.ca – Co-founder

April 2003 – July 2006

  • Worked with both public and private sector clients to create web sites that were universally accessible, fast, focused and easy to use.
  • Provided consulting, development, training services to numerous organizations, including:
    • The Supreme Court of Canada,
    • Canadian Space Agency,
    • National Research Council,
    • The City of Ottawa,
    • Queens University
      …and numerous departments within Human Resources and Development Canada, Industry Canada, and others.

Logo: bytown internetbytown internet

January 1998 – July 2006

  • Consultant, web site developer, and corporate trainer, John has created and managed web content professionally since the late ’90s.
  • Developed and managed commercial web sites for a variety of small to medium sized businesses, delivered seminars and other training opportunities and spoke regularly at conferences and technology meet-ups.
  • Clients included:
    • Canadian School for Public Service
    • The Canadian Passport Office
    • Treasury Board of Canada
    • (Former) Ottawa City councilor Doug Thompson
    • Zaphod Beeblebrox Nightclub
    • The All Seasons Church of Canada
    • The Prescott-Russell Tourism Association
      …and more.
  • For 2 years John also consulted as a member of the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Web Accessibility testing team, advising and recommending government departments on issues of web accessibility.

Logo: Entrust.netentrust.net – Customer Experience Prime

2000 – 2001

  • Provided customized Front-end user interfaces for entrust.net’s client base of digital certificate re-sellers.
  • Experienced in internationalization and Cold Fusion development, John worked with a team of 8 application developers, QA testers, etc.