Meet our Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board is formed of experts in the field of accessibility. Whether they are educators, experienced coders or people with lived experiences surrounding accessibility, our Advisory Board members are our guiding light. They help to guide our product development, they suggest new ideas, and tell us when things are not going quite right. They are also our ambassadors, spreading the word and love of Zip Captions around the world.

We asked them to tell us a little about themselves, their backgrounds and what makes their voice special. Here is what they had to say:

Katie Fielding

Katie Fielding is the Educational Content Manager at Book Creator. She has 20 years of public school experience. She champions digital accessibility, creativity, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in classrooms. Specializing in technology and STEM integration, Katie creates interdisciplinary instructional experiences and shares her expertise through presentations and workshops. Recognized as VSTE Coach of the Year in 2018 and a featured voice at ISTELive 2024, she holds multiple certifications, including ISTE, Google Innovator, and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert. Outside work, she enjoys cheese and exploring Scandinavia.

Jordyn Zimmerman

Jordyn Zimmerman is a passionate educator and disability advocate. After being diagnosed as autistic at a young age, she did not receive access to augmentative communication until the age of 18. That arduous journey fuels her beliefs around leveraging tools and supports to drive change. She now thrives on boldly showing up and redefining what is possible in learning spaces and throughout the broader community — and has personal experience challenging the status quo, which is featured in the 2021 documentary, This Is Not About Me.

Technology enabled effective communication, and Jordyn began advocating through a series of presentations and keynotes around the world. She has played a pivotal role on several projects focused on accessibility — and her insights on autism and inclusion have been published in places such as The Boston Globe and The New York Times, as well as quotes in The 19th. Jordyn is Board Chair of the nonprofit CommunicationFIRST, an Apple Distinguished Educator, and serves on The United States President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. An avid advocate for all learners, Jordyn's vision is clear: To ensure everyone is able to access effective communication and exercise their right to truly inclusive communities.

Jordyn earned her Bachelor's degree in Education Policy from Ohio University and her Master's of Education at Boston College. She is currently pursuing her Master's of Business Administration.

Kevin Bouwman

Kevin is a proud husband to his wife of 40 years, a father of four adult children. He owns and operates a dairy farm equipment business his parents started in 1982. He also owns and operates a manufacturing business he started in 2016. He is a Christian who is active in his church, serving in several leadership roles over the years. He fielded questions from shut-ins about audio problems with the church’s cable TV broadcast of its services. This led him to seek an informal education in the implementation and use of audio, and later video, equipment in a church setting. Eventually this journey led to the desire to incorporate assistive technology such as captions in the church’s cable TV and live streaming broadcasts as well as for its in-person audience. When investigating captioning he found WebCaptioner, and when it was retired, ZipCaptions. As Kevin got to know the ZipCaptions founders and their goals, he became an enthusiastic Patreon and eventually a member of the advisory board.

Andrea Lepore

Andrea is a certified Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the Montreal Oral School for the Deaf (MOSD). She has extensive experience working as both a classroom teacher and an itinerant educational specialist providing individual educational and listening and spoken language support to mainstream students with hearing loss. At 10 years of age, Andrea was diagnosed with a progressive sensorineural hearing loss and fitted with bilateral hearing aids. She now uses cochlear implants to help her listen and communicate. These experiences have no doubt influenced her passion for accessibility, advocacy, and inclusive design, as well as her desire to collaborate with relevant organizations at the board level.

Andrea has a Bachelor of Arts Specialization in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and a Master of Education of the Deaf from Smith College/Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. She is a Professional Member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and the Quebec Regional Director on the National Executive of the Canadian Association of Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CAEDHH). She also serves as a Member of the Board of Directors at the Montreal non-profit, Hear/Entendre Québec, and volunteers as a deaf and hard of hearing mentor with the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association (CHHA). Andrea’s professional and lived experiences have uniquely positioned her to effectively problem solve and mentor on everyday issues related to hearing loss, as well as approach larger matters of policy and programming with empathy, creativity, and foresight.