Paul and Caitlin Duke

Paul has been the impetus for W. C. Duke Associates, Inc. His role has not only been that of a visionary and “idea person,” but also performing practical roles. He was a field tester of physical accessibility for the Virginia Travel Guide for Persons with Disabilities, years before the ADA Access Guidelines were implemented. He is an Opening Doors® trainer, project coordinator, and researcher.

Paul has a keen interest in military history, especially aviation and armor. Assistive technology has increased Paul's independence and abilities. He can move only part of his thumb and his index finger, but a voice input system and modified mouse permits full access to his computer, the Internet, and the world. He corresponds with people around the nation and the globe to learn more about historical interests.

Caitlin has been a stalwart supporter of the family efforts since childhood. She laughs and says she has had no other options. She has grown up in the family business from being a receptionist to typesetting travel guides and developing company Websites. This has allowed her to use her creative and artistic talents.

Caitlin has a degree in Hospitality Tourism Management from her father's alma mater, Virginia Tech. She worked in the hotel business for several years in Virginia and Texas. She returned to Virginia and works in advertising for a large Virginia newspaper. She generously gives her time and energies to assist in a variety of company projects whenever needed, especially on graphics and design elements. Her current projects are helping with the revision of the W. C. Duke Website and the putting the newest edition of the Virginia Travel Guide for Persons with Disabilities on the Internet.

Margo Gathright-Dietrich

As with all of W. C. Duke Associates, Inc.'s “Brain Trust,” Margo brings a wealth or personal and professional experiences to our team. She has been a psychiatric nurse, photojournalist, advertising copywriter, and is currently a motivational speaker and actor/dancer. She had polio as a child, but thanks to excellent rehabilitation she was able to overcome its effects. As an adult, she was became a wheelchair user because of post-polio syndrome.

Margo Gathright- Dietrich performing one of her award- winning dance routines.

Her involvement with disability issues is extensive including working with the Shepherd Center, a renowned rehabilitation facility in Atlanta on their Arts programs, a several term-member of the National Leadership Committee of Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), and on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Post-Polio Association.

Her performing career includes her being a principal dancer with Full Radius Dance, a nationally recognized company comprised of dancers with and without disabilities. She danced in the opening ceremonies for the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics and has been a guest dancer with the Cleveland Ballet Dancing Wheels. Margo has been interviewed on Good Morning America and Nightwatch with Charlie Rose. She appears in training videos for Home Depot and Delta Airlines. Her advertising clients represent the diversity that is a hallmark of her life, including Christian Children's Fund, Zondervan Publishers, Dun & Bradstreet Software, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Margo's service dog,Tuthill II, is an avid tennis player as well.

Cheryl Heppner

Cheryl is a nationally recognized leader in the community of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. She is executive director of the Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In 2002 she was named one of three national winners of the “Women at Their Best” Award sponsored by Saturn Corporation and Conde Nast's Glamour magazine.

Cheryl lost her hearing shortly before the age of seven from Spinal Meningitis and has written extensively about issues faced by those with deafness and hearing loss. Her autobiography, Seeds of Disquiet, was published in 1992. For the first 18 years of her profound hearing loss,she worked hard to live in the hearing world through exhaustive training in speech therapy and speechreading. She excelled in school and college, graduating from Pennsylvania State University without the assistance of trained interpreters or notetakers.

Then, when she was 25, two strokes left her completely deaf. For the next 20 years she worked to recreate her life through sign language and the Deaf community. Cheryl went on to use her astonishing energy working actively to raise public awareness and influence policy and legislation for deaf and hard of hearing persons and their families. Cheryl has served on many national, state, regional and local coalitions,such as president of the Association of Late Deafened Adults.

Cheryl was one of the first people to have a hearing or signal dog. Always vitally interested in technology to improve the lives of persons with hearing loss,she recently had surgery for a Cochlear implant to allow her to hear again.

Cheryl was one of the first members of the W. C. Duke Associates, Inc.'s “Brain Trust” and has graciously appeared in many training videos the company has done for their clients since she can address the needs both of persons who are deaf and those are hard of hearing. She has been a regular on the Duke's needs assessment teams.

Cheryl Heppner (left) and the other actors who are deaf enjoy a joke being told by director, Frank Strickler, who is fluent in American Sign Language.

Ken Jessup

Ken is an internationally known motivational speaker for disability advocacy. Ken had a severe visual impairment since early childhood, and even with a university business degree, mainstream businesses would not hire him upon graduation. He worked for 23 years operating cafeterias, snack bars, and coffee shops by Business Opportunities of the Blind,Inc.

He has been active in the American Council of the Blind,holding state and national offices, as well as being chairperson of his local mayor's committee for persons with disabilities and his state board for persons with visual impairments. He became involved with the Sister City program, which afforded him the opportunity to travel to Japan. He has been working since 1992 in Japan on disability initiatives involving equal rights, establishing centers for independent living, and councils of citizens with disabilities. He is on the faculty of Miyazaki University and works closely with independent living center for people with disabilities in Nagoya Japan.

Ken was responsible for the First International Conference on Disability held in Virginia Beach,Virginia in 1997. Ken lives in the United States and lobbies both nationally and internationally on disability issues. He has been one of the founding members of W. C. Duke Associates, Inc.'s “Brain Trust,” appearing in several videos and being part of the needs assessment teams.

Ken is on the left. Bill and I are presenting him with an award on behalf of Virginia Tourism for his work on the Virginia Travel Guide for Persons with Disabilities.

Carmen Jones

As President of the Solutions Marketing Group (SMG), Carmen partners with clients to create a company's marketing program to the disability market. She has been featured on On A Roll radio, CNNfn, the New York Times, Black Enterprise, Glamour, and New Mobility. Prior to founding the Solutions Marketing Group in 1998, Carmen was the Vice President of Marketing at Evan Kemp Associates, Inc. She oversaw marketing and public relations for the company's national publication.

She is active in the community and holds several leadership positions. She has worked closely with JAF Ministries' Wheels for the World Program (WFTW), by being a member of the wheelchair distribution team to Santiago, Chile. WFTW collects, refurbishes and distributes wheelchairs to people with disabilities internationally. She also holds positions on the Board of Directors for the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, Priority Associates and is on the Visionary Committee of ICAN!

Carmen is a graduate of Hampton University, with a B.S. in Marketing. During her junior year she was injured in an automobile accident, resulting in paraplegia. This life experience motivated her to inform and influence corporate America about the impact, benefits and results of disability marketing.

Bonnie Lewkowicz

Bonnie is founder of Access Northern California. This nonprofit organization publishes Access San Francisco and maintains a website on accessible travel information for this region. Bonnie's first goal was to be a dancer. She began dancing when she was five years old and studied modern, jazz, and ballet for ten years prior to becoming disabled from an automobile accident. Wheelchair sports then became her primary mode of movement expression. She has been involved with the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program for 15 years —as a team participant playing quad rugby until it got too rough and tumble for her, and then as a volunteer. Her involvement in sports motivated her to get a degree in Recreation Therapy from the University of California Berkeley.

In 1987 Bonnie helped form AXIS, a dance company exploring dance collaborations between dancers with different physical abilities. She is program director for AXIS' Dance Access, which has comprehensive educational training opportunities for dancers with and without disabilities. The company performed in Salt Lake City in conjunction with the Paralympics and will be performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC this winter.

John McCann

John has been a longtime advisor to W. C. Duke Associates, beginning when he was the Commissioner for the Virginia Department of the Visually Impaired. He left state public service and has been a Judge Advocate with the Social Security Administration in Washington,DC for several years.

Blind since early childhood, John is a graduate of Harvard Law School. His hobbies and interests are eclectic. He plays and collects guitars. His musical abilities range from Irish music to Stevie Ray Vaughan. He also is an amateur radio operator,“ham” radio, and indulges in other technical interests,including computers. He is probably the biggest “brain” in the brain trust and can offer his expertise in a wide range of issues to assist us in developing commonsense solutions for our clients.

Janet Severt

Not only is she a member of the W. C. Duke Associates, Inc.'s “Brain Trust,” Janet is also a senior Master Trainer in Opening Doors®. She uses a motorized chair because of a blood vessel rupture within her spine at age 7. Being an active child, her parents put her energy to good use by involving her as a puppy raiser for guide dogs at The Seeing Eye in Morris Town,New Jersey. Janet won numerous state and national awards for work with dogs, and started self- training assistance dogs at age 20 prior to any formal recognition of assistance dogs. Her jobs have been varied from working with the Passaich,NJ Township police department, being on a chase team for a hot air balloon company, to holding 7 national records in track and field, slalom and pentathlon for wheelchair sports. Competing in international events, Janet brought home 8 medals from 1981 Pan American games and 10 medals from 1982 Pan American Games.

She worked with Canine Companions for Independence, (CCI)in Orlando, FL, helping develop the southeast region for that program. Because of the demand for assistance dogs that CCI could not meet, Janet started New Horizons Service in 1995. This organization,located near Daytona Beach, has placed 79 dogs with persons having disabilities.

Janet Severt and her service dog Disney and a puppy in training.

Carolyn Smith

Carolyn is a longtime member of W. C. Duke Associates, Inc.'s “Brain Trust.” Her professional background, before she lost her sight to Macular Degeneration, was as a nursing instructor with an MS in Gerontology from Old Dominion University. She then earned Master of Arts in Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind and Visually Impaired Person from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo,MI becoming the first vision rehabilitation teacher in private practice in Virginia.

She also serves on several state and national committees and writes articles addressing low vision issues. She is in great demand as a speaker to community organizations, health care givers, and numerous professional groups as an expert on how to best use both their clients' residual vision and the proper adaptive tools so they may continue to be both independent and self-sustaining.

Believing that the loss of any amount of vision quickly becomes a “family affair,” Carolyn works with the total family unit and the available community resources as she encourages and assists them in the adjustment process.

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