Chief Program Officer
World Institute on Disability
Berkley, California, United States
Dawn Skaggs, WID's Chief Program Officer is a recognized and sought-after leader, strategist, and speaker in inclusive preparedness, accessible response and recovery, and whole community resilience. In this capacity she develops, delivers and oversees multiple national and global programs producing organizational and systems change to improve outcomes for people with disabilities through accessibility and universal design. Her unique expertise blends academia, public-private partnerships, and response experience operationalizing inclusion in disasters. Dawn has developed and delivered multiple FEMA courses, served as University faculty in Hawaii and Texas A&M, and special staff at Georgetown and Tel Aviv. She has been selected to lead programs for HHS ASPR, DHS, CDC, and multiple Public Health organizations. Internationally, Dawn provides consultation, technical assistance, workshops to UNDRR, International corporations, governments and NGOs in over 17 countries. Under her leadership, WID programs have won multiple international awards, been recognized by large international corporations, and identified in the Forbes 2025 Accessibility 100 and 2026 Accessibility 200. Dawn has a proven track record of converting research outcomes, the expertise of people with disabilities, and good ideas into operationalized disaster management systems that work for everyone.
Inclusive Alerting: Building Resilient Communities through Accessible Warnings
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
10:15 AM - 11:15 AM PST