Board of Directors

Virtual Ability, Inc. is a non-profit corporation, chartered in the state of Colorado, and recognized as a tax exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.  The corporation is governed by a Board of Directors, which consists of:

 

Alice Krueger. Ms. Krueger is Chairman of the Board, and the founder of Virtual Ability. She worked part time from home as a technical writer and editor for an education research firm for five years using adaptive office equipment. As a woman with Multiple Sclerosis, she found it increasingly difficult to participate in her real life community. No longer able to leave home to work, volunteer, or socialize with friends, she turned to virtual worlds to fulfill these basic human needs. Ms. Krueger is the mother of three young adults with disabilities and has been a special education teacher. Ms. Krueger’s avatar in Second Life® is Gentle Heron. Gentle can stand and walk without crutches.

 

Dick Dillon. Mr. Dillon has over 30 years experience in organization management, working with both for profit and nonprofit behavioral health organizations. He is the founder of the Cox CARE Center, and co-creator of the Web of Addictions site (one of the first websites to provide accurate information about addiction). As an executive at Preferred Family Healthcare, he created Avatar Assisted Therapy, in which therapeutic interventions are delivered in a virtual environment. He is now CEO of Innovaision LLC, a consulting firm for nonprofits wishing to work in virtual worlds. His Second Life avatar is Coughran Mayo.

 

John Lester. John Lester’s areas of deep expertise and interest include Community Development, Immersive Learning, Knowledge Management, Artificial Life, Augmented Reality and Multiuser 3D Virtual Worlds.  He is currently a Product Manager at OpenText where he develops the InfoFusion software system for knowledge management, search and content analytics. See http://electiontracker.us for an example. Previously, John was the Chief Learning Officer at ReactionGrid, developing 3D simulations and multiuser virtual world platforms. From 2005-2010 he worked at Linden Lab, where he led the development of the education and healthcare markets in Second Life while evangelizing the innovative use of virtual worlds in research, art and immersive learning. John has also worked at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, creating online medical education and patient support communities while exploring the underlying neuroscience behind how people effectively communicate and collaborate.  His active side projects involve working with Opensimulator to explore interconnected virtual worlds, experimenting with HMDs to enhance perceptual immersion, and building interactive 3d environments using Unity.

 

Margaret A. Nosek, Ph.D., is founder and Executive Director of the Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (CROWD) at Baylor College of Medicine and Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. At TIRR-Memorial Hermann, she is a Senior Scientist and leads their efforts to establish a Women’s Center. Her research and writing have focused on the psychosocial and physical health of women with disabilities, internet-based interventions, secondary conditions, health promotion, reproductive health care, sexuality, self-esteem, spirituality, abuse of women with disabilities, and health care reform. She has published extensively and spoken internationally on these topics. Details are available on the CROWD website. She and her team of investigators are currently testing health promotion interventions for women with physical disabilities using Internet-based technologies. Their first Second Life-based intervention was on self-esteem enhancement, and the second one is the GoWoman Weight Management Program for Women with Mobility Impairments. As a person with severe spinal muscular atrophy, she is a long-time activist in the disability rights movement. The President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities has honored her as a “Disability Patriot.”

 

David Ludwig. Mr. Ludwig is Vice President of Virtual Ability, Inc., responsible for strategy, planning, and operation, with a strong organizational and project management background. Mr. Ludwig has 30 years of experience in the Information Technology field, as a developer, analysis, project manager and program management officer at firms including Dell and Hewlett Packard.