President – Melanie Sinohui (Phoenix)
Melanie has been involved in ACB since the mid-1990s in Texas, West Virginia, California, and Arizona, elected as a Director for ACB Texas at age 19, and was the 2005 DKM First-Timer for the West. She resides in Phoenix and is President of both the Arizona Council of the Blind. She is Secretary and Publications Chair of the Council of Citizens with Low Vision, Vice-Chair of the ACB Durward K. McDaniel Fund Committee and a member of ACBs Employment and Media Support Committees. Melanie holds a B.A. in Journalism – Public Relations and an M.S. in Project Management. She is currently a Senior Process Engineer at Wells Fargo. Melanie and her husband enjoy cooking, traveling, wine tasting in California, and spending time with “framily”.
Vice-President – Lily Vu Bogan (Marana)
Lily was born & raised in California and has been residing in Arizona for the last 27 years. She received her B.S. in Psychology at Arizona State University in 2005 and her Pharm.D. at Midwestern University-Glendale in 2008. She is an advocate for the blind & low vision community and is serving on several boards & commissions. She currently resides in Tucson with her husband, 3 step-kids, 2 dogs and her cat. She is passionate about health & fitness and the equity & inclusion of the disability community.
Treasurer – John McCann (Tucson)
John McCann has served in several high-profile roles with both the American Council of the Blind and several of its affiliates for many years. He currently serves as chair of the ACB constitution and bylaws committee, treasurer of both AZCB and SAZCB, director on the boards of both Blind Information Technology Specialists and the Tucson Society of the Blind. He continues to share his ideas on matters about which he is particularly passionate, i.e., succession planning, organizational stewardship, Mentoring, and the adoption of effective organizational management practices. He resides in Tucson with his wife Emily. Outside of his engagement with organizations serving blind persons, John enjoys his pool, jamming and performing with his circle of musically talented friends, and amateur radio.
Secretary – Lisa Brooks (Phoenix)
Lisa is a former assistive technology instructor who taught classes in the use of braille displays, speech, and low vision access technology with Windows, Office, and smartphone products in various settings. She is also an audio transcriptionist transcribing university lectures and various podcasts and other media. She learned to read braille in the first grade and is an avid reader and uses braille in her daily life. Lisa’s interests include financial research in stock market investments, performing in virtual karaoke, and creating music tracks on her electric keyboard and through Band in a Box.
Director – Jeff Bishop (Tucson)
Jeff Bishop is a long-time resident of Tucson where he lives with his wife Keri and son David. Jeff has worked in the areas of software development, product management and accessibility with companies including Avalon Software, the University of Arizona, Microsoft Corporation, among others. His passion throughout his career has always been to be effective in the lives of those who are blind while supporting his family. Jeff has served in many leadership positions within the American Councill of the Blind. He served on the national ACB board for 8 years and now serves on ACB’s Board of Publications. As a tech guru, Jeff chairs the Information Access Committee for the national organization plus is the President for the special interest affiliate Blind Information Technology Support (BITS), and serves in roles with ACBDA, BRL, among others. Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, going for long walks with Chief, his new guide dog, and spending quality techie time with friends working on geeky projects!
Director – Ted Chittenden (Phoenix)
Ted has been a long-time resident of Arizona where he attended the Schools for the Blind and completed his master’s in business from Arizona State University in 1990. He started his career with HFS, initially in reservations and subsequently in inventory control. He left several years later to train in the BEP (Arizona’s blind vendor program), which led him to become a scheduler for a local plumbing outfit. Subsequently he began proofreading braille textbooks for Arizona State University for several years. He still proofreads part time for the Foundation for Blind Children (FBC) and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE.). The late Barbara McDonald encouraged Ted to join the AZCB and then the Governor’s Council on Blindness and Visual Impairment (GCBVI). Although Ted has retired from the GCBVI, he still updates the group about things the ACB is doing on a national level. Ted has served as the Secretary for the Central Arizona Chapter and the State Affiliate, plus he has served as the Chair of the Constitution and Bylaws committee for several years for the AZCB and Chaired the Affiliate’s Nominating Committee. He returned to serve on the State Affiliate Board initially as the Central Chapter representative and currently serves as a Director.
Central Arizona Chapter Representative – Jeffry Ricker (Scottsdale)
Jeffry Ricker joined AZCB in 2021. He was vice-president of the Central Chapter for two years and now serves as that chapter’s representative to the AZCB state Board of Directors. He began to lose his eyesight in 2017 and was totally blind less than five years later. He is a freelance health journalist who focuses on disability issues. He joined the American Medical Writers Association in 2021, where he now serves as cochair of its DEI Committee. He also serves on ASU’s Universal Design & Accessible Technology Working Group.
Southern Arizona Chapter Representative – Kei Best (Tucson)
Kei is originally from Northeastern Pennsylvania, about 15 minutes from Scranton where they received their Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology from Misericordia University. They have a fascination with learning about other cultures, especially in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion for disabled people. They can often be found curled up on their beanbag chair with a few different snacks from other countries listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, and horror movies, or playing the occasional Dungeons and Dragons game if they aren’t exploring different cities.