If there is one person that’s held CIDI together over the last 17 years, it’s Dawn Evans. 

Evans started at CIDI’s predecessor AMAC in August of 2008. She was in what is now known as Document Accessibility Services, creating accessible PDF textbooks for students who needed them. 

“It allowed me to geek out and learn all of these new things and new software and how to make things accessible,” says Evans. “It was really exciting, and I just gobbled it up.”

She moved up the ranks quickly. In 2013, she became the supervisor of the unit. In 2016, she became the head of what recently became PubFile Nexus, a database that helps disability service providers gain access to publisher files quickly. 

Throughout this time, Evans built relationships with organizations in the accessibility space. 

“I have great relationships with publishers, government entities, with other large accessibility organizations, with consultants in the accessibility space, and most importantly, with hundreds of disability service providers across the US and Canada. So I really understand their needs and speak their language,” says Evans. 

This vast accessibility experience and relationship building across sectors made Evans a natural choice for CIDI’s first ever Client Relationship Manager. 

“One of my first goals with this new role is to meet with all our current clients, in person if possible. I want to make sure they know we’re here, that they know what all our services are, and if there are additional products or services that would help their departments,” says Evans. 

Another part of her aims are internal. “I also want to meet with each of our service units, to understand what their goals are, how we can engage with the clients strategically, and what kinds of work they want to be doing.”

Looking toward the future of accessibility, Title II looms over the horizon. State and local governments, as well as most universities, need to have all mobile apps and websites meet certain accessibility standards by April 24, 2026—a task CIDI can assist with. 

“One of CIDI's goals is to become integrated more thoroughly with Georgia Tech and the state of Georgia overall,” says Evans. “This very much aligns with work that I will be doing as we update our working relationship with the University System of Georgia, and with new clients starting to come to us in order to meet the compliance deadline of the Title II updates.”

To Evans, the growth she brings will not only benefit CIDI, but people with disabilities everywhere. 

“It’s so important to enhance and build and maintain relationships with other human beings that care about people with disabilities. Relationships make everything grow, not only our revenue and financial sustainability, but it also grows our ability to help even more humans with disabilities, so it’s win-win-win all around.”

Want to talk to Dawn about our services? Contact her here by clicking the button below.