- Tuesday July 19, 2022
- 10am-1pm EST
- Virtual
Digitally Accessible Finance & Insurance Event

The Future of Digital Accessibility
JOIN US for the accessible digital experience event to explore how banking, finance and insurance can grow and benefit from increased audience reach!
Finance & Insurance
Banking, Finance & Insurance are increasingly digital, with user expectations being higher than ever. Potential clients are insisting on convenient, real-and-near-time access — access that is easy, digestible and accessible for all audiences — including the 20-30% of users who have some form of disability or visual limitation.
The accessible Finance & Insurance event will enable you (and your team) to deeply understand both the challenges and opportunities in digital spaces, in order to evolve to a world-class user experience by using actionable insights. Though leadership, tools and approaches will be shared in order to inspire and educate about the significance of accessibility — to your brand and your bottom line.
What is accessibility?
Accessibility is the inclusive practice of making digital assets user-friendly for people with and without disabilities, in order to provide all users equal access to digital content. The main idea is that all people deserve inclusive first-rate digital experiences, no matter how digital content is shared or consumed.
Our Expert Speakers
Our Accessibility Speakers are industry experts, representing a wide array of valuable experience across financial and insurance industries, sectors, and types of accessibility implementation. These experts will share valuable information based on deep experience, applied knowledge and user empathy; enabling viewers to both understand and better implement accessibility.
JOIN US on July 19th at 10am-1pm EST!
Speakers

Jake Abma
Topic
KEYNOTE SESSION:
Strategic Accessibility, from Must to Management
From initial requests to a managed approach where accessibility is defined and measured. A journey into the change of processes and an engineering culture where inclusiveness is embedded.
Speaker Bio
Jake Abma is Accessibility Lead for Netherlands at ING Bank. Jake has set up a raft of initiatives to make sure products and services are accessible to people with the widest range of capabilities. He’s a passionate promoter of accessibility both inside and outside the Bank.
From within the accessibility team of the ING the mission is to make accessibility managed and documented. Building the right technology, and creating standards, is a top priority for Jake and the team, which is made up of people from different disciplines. Other main activities are a Champions Network and providing training and support.
Outside of the bank he is very active in the WCAG Working Group. Also, Jake is active as an ambassador of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) actively contributing to spread the knowledge and to raise awareness of the existence and necessity of the rights of people with disabilities.
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Samuel Tesfamichael
Topic
Digital Accessibility at Sun Life
- Sun Life’s commitment to accessibility
- Accessibility testing
- Assistive Technology
- Training / Coaching
- Accessibility Resources
Speaker Bio
Samuel is a seasoned web accessibility and inclusive design professional with diverse industry experience. He is passionate about applying and maintaining accessibility guidelines across business units and portfolios.
He has been with Sun Life since April 2015, when he joined as UI Design & Technical Lead role. He later transitioned to a Principal Accessibility Specialist. Samuel has designations through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) as a Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) and Accessible Documents Specialist (ADS).
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Daniel Dafoe
Topic
Accessible Design: How to Prepare for the End of the World
Can accessible design save us from the next global economic disruption? Learn how you can future-proof your products and design experiences that thrive in uncertain times.
Speaker Bio
Daniel’s an enthusiastic and curious designer, engineer, educator, learner, and speaker. He started his journey into accessibility by testing internal software with JAWS at RBC—Canada’s largest bank. He’s held roles in Quality Assurance, Engineering, and Design. When creating digital experiences, Daniel’s ability to understand both design and engineering perspectives make him a valuable ally for accessibility. Outside his profession, Daniel keeps busy. He studies Linguistics part-time at the University of Toronto and teaches about Front-End Design and Development at George Brown College. He’s also learning ASL—American Sign Language.
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Andreas Helge
Topic
Deliver Inclusiveness
What do we do at Allianz to deliver inclusiveness? Andreas will share some insights that help Allianz-projects make applications more accessible.
Speaker Bio
Andreas is Quality Manager at Allianz Technology in Munich, Germany and makes sure that enterprise software becomes more accessible and usable for everyone. Together with a colleague, he leads a company-internal global community to share knowledge and tools that help everyone deliver content more inclusive.
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Danielle Stirling
Topic
PDF Accessibility – Co-operators
An overview of the approach taken to apply accessibility to all PDF documents at Co-operators, including challenges faced, how they were resolved, and wins that came out of the project.
Speaker Bio
Danielle Stirling is the lead Webmaster at Co-operators Insurance, in Guelph, ON. She has been a developer for 10 years; she started off as a full-stack developer but ended up pursuing a front-end career. Accessibility has always been part of her development, both in practice and building knowledge, and it has become a strong focal point in her career.
In her time at Co-operators, she has a hand in baking accessibility into her team’s development processes. Her role includes auditing, testing, and updating websites to meet accessibility requirements and to ensure the techniques implemented provide the right user experiences. She also provides accessibility documentation, training, and coaching to teams at the company.
In her free time, Danielle is either gaming, drawing, or out on an adventure with her dog.

Kristen Delorey
Topic
PDF Accessibility – Co-operators
An overview of the approach taken to apply accessibility to all PDF documents at Co-operators, including challenges faced, how they were resolved, and wins that came out of the project.
Speaker Bio
Kristen Delorey is a Webmaster at Cooperators Insurance in Guelph ON, with over 10 years’ experience in the tech space. She recently made a career shift into web development where her passion for creating meaningful user experiences took root.
At Co-operators, Kristen’s role focuses on accessibility requirements for all audiences. Her team ensures that the digital products they build and solutions they deliver meet the needs of the user as well as the goals of the organization. They offer support, training and documentation that touches on a variety of topics related to accessibility best practices.
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