2026 ACED Awards Celebration

The Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology (DoIT) is the central technology department for 36 agencies under the Governor and more than 90 state entities. DoIT maintains secure, reliable systems for agencies and residents, as well as connecting government, schools, and communities. Through these efforts, DoIT supports all residents across Illinois with modern, dependable technology services.

The DoIT Office of Information Accessibility works to improve access to Illinois’ information and services for employees and constituents with disabilities. Over the past year, DoIT has dramatically expanded statewide accessibility efforts, including preparing and providing:

• 25 Accessibility Guides helping staff create accessible documents and forms
• 40 hands-on Accessibility Trainings for almost 2,500 staff across more than 60 agencies
• 50 accessibility reviews of new information systems being bought or built by agencies
• Ongoing accessibility reviews of 160 websites and 120,000 web pages, now achieving over 95.8% Siteimprove Accessibility Score – and 100% for the new ACED website!

DoIT also supports employees with disabilities, helping staff use screen magnifiers, screen readers, speech recognition tools, and other assistive technologies.

DoIT is grateful and thankful for ACED’s partnership in encouraging all agencies and employees to help create a more accessible Illinois!

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Representative Gregg Johnson was inaugurated in January 2023 to serve the 72nd District in the Illinois House of Representatives. A lifelong resident of Rock Island County, he dedicated more than three decades to the Illinois Department of Corrections as a corrections officer and supervisor. A committed union leader, Gregg served as president of his AFSCME local and as a delegate to the Quad City Federation of Labor. He has also served on community nonprofit boards and remains an active volunteer throughout the Quad Cities. Since entering the General Assembly, Gregg has been recognized for his leadership and advocacy with numerous awards, including the Charles Toney Sr. Civil Rights Hero Image Award from the Rock Island County NAACP (2023); Legislative Ally of the Year from the Police Benevolent Protective Association (2024); the Illinois Farm Bureau ACTIVATOR Award (2024 and 2026); Legislator of the Year from the Illinois Association of School Social Workers (2024); Legislative Hero Award from Illinois Alliance of YMCAs (2024); and Community Advocate of the Year from The Arc of the Quad Cities (2025); Legislator of the Year from the John Howard Assocation (2025); Legislator of the Year from Adult Secondary Education(2026). He lives in East Moline with his wife, Celia, and their youngest daughter, Gabby.

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Jay Williams has spent the last 26 years at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) improving the lives of people with disabilities and their families. 

Jay is responsible for running the Disabled Outdoor Opportunities program, with the goal of improving access for disabled individuals to hunt, fish and pursue other outdoor activities.  He believes that everyone belongs outdoors and works hard to ensure that. 

Via the Disabled Opportunities Program, IDNR provides archery and shotgun hunts, sport shooting events, fishing opportunities for group home residents, and P2A cards that exempt disabled individuals from hunting and fishing license requirements. Many of these events provide all necessary equipment for the activity, as well as a meal – often at no cost to the participants.  

Jay has joined in with federal partners and other states to help replicate the success of Illinois’ program across the country.  

However, as Jay recognizes, people with disabilities don’t want to just hunt, fish, birdwatch, hike, or camp at a scheduled event.  They and their families want to be able to enjoy the outdoors whenever time allows. Many parks across the state have accessible camp sites. Many hunting sites are equipped with accessible waterfowl blinds. IDNR also issues standing vehicle permits that allow disabled hunters to enjoy their sport from their accessible vehicles. If disabled individuals would like to hunt, fish, or camp at a site that is inaccessible, they can reach out to the site 10-days in advance of their trip and said camp site will make any and all practical adjustments to ensure the space is accessible.  

If all else fails and you are looking for someone to help you find that perfect place in the outdoors, you can reach out to Jay. He will always return your calls and e-mails, and work diligently to ensure that your time spent outdoors is enjoyable and worry-free.  

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Donna Hardy is an executive team leader, certified mediator, and organizational strategist with more than 30 years of leadership experience spanning government, nonprofit, and community-based organizations. 

Donna currently serves as Director of Mediation and Special Projects at the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), where she advances civil rights protections and provides strategic direction for the Department’s Mediation Program.  Among the many leadership roles she has held at IDHR, Donna is especially proud of the eight years she served as the Director’s designee to the Interagency Committee on Employees with Disabilities (ICED), now known as the Accessibility Committee for Employees with Disabilities (ACED). This statewide interagency body works to advance employment opportunities, accessibility, inclusion, and equitable participation for employees with disabilities throughout Illinois State government.  In this role, Donna provided administrative and strategic leadership to the Committee and helped elevate its visibility and impact across state government.

Throughout her career, Donna has led organizational transformation, developed high-performing teams, managed complex programs and budgets, cultivated cross-sector partnerships, and designed community engagement initiatives. Her professional experience includes leadership roles with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, City of Chicago Office of Budget and Management, Illinois Action for Children, Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, and Stand for Children Leadership Center.

Donna holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from North Park University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Chicago State University. She also holds graduate certificates in Nonprofit Administration, Conflict Management and Resolution, Change Management, and Human Resource Management. She is a certified mediator through the Centers for Conflict Resolution.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Donna treasures the opportunity to travel and experience some of the most spectacular places in the world. She is the proud mother of her son, Nyles, the apple of her eye, and is grateful for her bonus son, Jerrel, affectionately known as “Mr. Hollywood.”

A woman of deep faith, Donna is a devoted Christian who loves the Lord. She is grateful for and amazed by God’s goodness, grace, and mercy that covers her each and every day!

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Aleeza Strubel is Complex Litigation Counsel at the Illinois Office of the Attorney General, where she serves on the Federal Accountability Team, leading multistate litigation to protect democracy, civil rights, and the rule of law. She plays a key role representing Illinois in multistate matters related to education and civil rights. Her areas of expertise include: sex, race and disability discrimination, LGBTQI+ rights; education law; and administrative law. Ms. Strubel represents Illinois in litigation including multistate lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration’s targeting of LGBTQI+ individuals through Executive Orders and agency actions.

Prior to joining the Office of the Attorney General, Ms. Strubel spent 15 years at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, serving as a national expert for the agency on Title IX and sex discrimination. As a policy attorney on the OCR Program Legal Group Title IX Policy team, Ms. Strubel developed Title IX guidance documents and regulations on sexual harassment, the Title IX coordinator role, administrative requirements of Title IX, grievance procedures for complaints and reports of sex discrimination, and supportive measures for survivors of sexual harassment and sexual violence. She served on the team that drafted the Biden Administration’s 2022 proposed and 2024 final Title IX regulations and 2023 proposed transgender athlete participation rule. Prior to joining the Title IX Policy Team, Ms. Strubel was a supervisory attorney in the Chicago regional enforcement office, leading investigations, compliance reviews, and training and technical assistance on sex, race, disability, and age discrimination.

Earlier, in her career, Ms. Strubel litigated civil rights cases in private practice, including CBOCS West, Inc. v. Humphries, 553 U.S. 442 (2008), in which, as counsel for respondent, she obtained a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court upholding a cause of action for race retaliation in employment under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Ms. Strubel also worked as a Skadden Fellow at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law focusing on strengthening state law protections for pregnant and parenting students and student survivors of domestic and sexual violence and clerked for the Hon Diane P. Wood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. from Cornell University.

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James (Jim) Bennett was appointed IDHR Director by Governor JB Pritzker in January 2019. As Director, he is responsible for overseeing the agency’s primary goal in prohibiting discrimination in Illinois. In April of 2021, Governor JB Pritzker appointed Jim as Chair of the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes (CDHC), convening subject matter experts, community leaders, law enforcement, State agencies, and constitutional offices to investigate the root causes of hate crimes, and what we, collectively, need to do to combat hate crimes and discrimination. Jim has had a long career of standing up for the rights of others, including being on the forefront of fighting for marriage equality here in Illinois. Jim serves as a co-chair for the Accessibility Committee for Employees with Disabilities and is committed to ensuring that voices of state employees with disabilities are heard and addressed. Jim makes every room he walks into a fun and inclusive space, making every person in the room feel seen and heard. Jim was born and raised in Springfield. He received his Bachelor of Science from Illinois State University, and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois in Springfield.

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Rahnee Patrick, M.A., serves as Director of the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Rehabilitation Services. She provides executive leadership for statewide rehabilitation and disability services and brings more than two decades of experience in disability policy, independent living, vocational rehabilitation, and public service. She holds degrees from Indiana University and Adler University.

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For additional information about the 2026 ACED Awards, or to request a reasonable accommodation for virutal attendance on October 8, 2026, please contact Xavier Potts at xavier.potts@illinois.gov.