Featured speakers
Harkin Belfast will provide the platform for a number of presentations. We are delighted that the following distinguished guests have agreed to share their experiences and insights in disability employment.
Yasmine Laroche
Deputy Minister, Public Service Accessibility, Canada
Yazmine Laroche is Canada’s first Deputy Minister of Public Service Accessibility, responsible for overseeing the efforts of the Canadian public service to meet the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act. She has served in many leadership roles in different federal departments and agencies. Yazmine is proud to be the Deputy Minister Champion for Federal Employees with Disabilities and the Deputy Minister Champion for her alma mater, Carleton University, from whom she received an honorary doctorate in 2019. She is a board member of Muscular Dystrophy Canada, and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal recognizing her charitable work on behalf of people with disabilities.
Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo
World Bank Group
Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo is the Global Disability Advisor for the World Bank Group. Her work at the Bank focuses on disability-inclusive development under its twin goals to end poverty and promote shared prosperity. As Disability Advisor, she supports operational teams across the institution to ensure that Bank policies, programs, and projects are disability-inclusive. Her responsibilities include; leading the production of analytical products; analyzing and articulating Bank policy on disability and development.
Taryn Williams
US Department
of Labor
Taryn Mackenzie Williams is the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy. In this position, she advises the Secretary of Labor on how the Department’s policies and programs impact the employment of people with disabilities and leads the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), which works with employers and all levels of government to promote evidence-based policy that improves employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities. Previously, Williams was the managing director for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at American Progress, and she worked at ODEP on a variety of issues related to education and workforce policy.
Jürgen Menze
International
Labour Organisation
Jürgen Menze is a Disability Inclusion Officer in the Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch of the ILO. His responsibilities include the mainstreaming of disability issues into ILO programming, development cooperation projects, internal policies and practices as well as the development and dissemination of disability-specific knowledge products. He forms part of the Secretariat of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network.Jürgen has worked for the ILO both in its headquarters and its office for Central America. Before he joined the ILO, he worked for the Austrian federation of blind people, the Western Pacific Regional Office of the WHO in the Philippines as well as for GIZ in Kenya.
Hector Minto
Microsoft
Hector has worked at the cutting edge of accessibility and assistive technology (AT) for 25 years specializing in alternative communication, home automation and computer access. His career has spanned public sector, enterprise, education, regularly contributing to government consultations on disability inclusion.Hector’s role at Microsoft as Lead Technology Evangelist sees him engaging with major global employers, Microsoft’s commercial partner network and a wider set of community stakeholders to showcase inclusive design, product accessibility, inclusive hiring practices, the role of disability employee resource groups and accessibility innovation. He is the incumbent UK Government Disability and Access Ambassador the Technology Sector.
Susannah Rodgers MBE
Independent
Consultant and Paralympic Athlete
Susie is a Paralympic swimmer, who competed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, winning gold in Rio and five bronze medals across both Games. She won 30 international medals during a career of a decade, including 17 Gold. Susie now works as a global disability inclusion consultant in the public and the private sectors and currently as a technical adviser on disability inclusion in global health at the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. She was made a Young Global Leader in 2018 by the World Economic Forum and awarded an MBE by Her Majesty the Queen for services to swimming in 2017. She is an ocean ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society and a trustee of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy charity, Spirit of 2012. She is a member of the Disability Advisory Panel at the British Council.
Deirdre Ward
Northern Ireland Civil Service
Having joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1993, Deirdre has held a number of positions across Invest NI, Ordnance Survey, Housing, Human Resources and the Employment Service. When working for Invest NI, Deirdre led the development of the Accelerated Entrepreneurship Strategy, and worked as Client Executive in America for over 3 years, attracting foreign direct investment to Northern Ireland.
In 2018, Deirdre was appointed Director for Work and Wellbeing within the Department for Communities, with responsibility for Employability, Disability and Work policy, and delivery of labour market interventions.