Lauren Lee | Feb 3, 2025 - Atlanta, GA

Two leaders have emerged at CIDI, both with the same title but very different roles. 

Guy Toles and Johan Rempel have both been appointed to be Associate Directors of Research Operations. Toles will be in charge of the Post Production Units, which are Braille, Captioning and Described Media, and E-Text. Rempel will lead the ICT, AT, and Education units, which consist of Tools for Life, ICT/UX, SAM, and Instructional Design. 

Guy Toles started on the Braille team fourteen years ago as a Digital/Braille Media Specialist, and has been an integral part of the unit’s success ever since. In recognition of his leadership skills, Guy was promoted to Braille Services Manager. He was recently promoted to Associate Director of Research Operations, which includes the Braille unit he still oversees. 

When asked about his goals in his new role, Toles said, “We have great teams. I feel like my job is to support the unit managers in doing what they do. They’re the experts in their areas.” In his role, he wants to give the service units any support they need but also make sure they feel empowered to make their own decisions that carry their units forward. 

Toles knows the service units have had an immense impact on making education more available for people with disabilities. He believes CIDI can continue to have the same impact on tomorrow’s education by continuing to center accessibility and finding solutions to new challenges as technology evolves. He’s also excited to see how CIDI can work with students and researchers at Georgia Tech to harness technology to improve our existing products and develop new ones that can empower individuals with disabilities.

Johan Rempel’s passion is to empower individuals and organizations to maximize access for everyone, regardless of abilities. With over 20 years of experience in disability awareness and accessibility, Rempel brings both expertise and talent to the table. Rempel serves as both an Associate Director of Research Operations and the ICT/UX Quality Assurance Manager, where he makes sure that people with disabilities have access to web-based content. 

Rempel is especially looking forward to expanding CIDI’s impact for people with disabilities. When asked about his new position, Rempel said: “CIDI has the tremendous privilege and opportunity of contributing to a better experience for individuals with disabilities throughout this country. I’m honored to work with such a talented and passionate team, and to further support this impactful work in my role as Associate Director.”

Both Rempel and Toles are eager to begin the work to improve upon past CIDI successes. If you would like to ask them questions, or have any suggestions, please feel free to contact them below.