Digital accessibility leader taps industry veteran Tom Babinszki to scale education programs
eSSENTIAL Accessibility (eA), an Accessibility-as-a-Service platform, announced the appointment of Tom Babinszki as its new Vice President of Accessibility. With more than 20 years of experience in the accessibility space, Babinszki joins eA to increase its accessibility training and compliance services while continuing to create more inclusive experiences for individuals with disabilities.
“Tom is joining us at a pivotal time in eA’s history as brands push for more inclusive practices and build accessibility earlier on in their product development,” said Mark Steele, co-founder and CEO of eA. “With his help, we’ll continue to scale our technology and processes to further support our customers and ensure inclusive access to digital content for people with disabilities.”
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Blind since birth, Babinszki has spent his life creating accessible experiences for individuals with disabilities. Babinszki led the Forsythe Center for Entrepreneurship at the Hadley School for the Blind in 2010, utilizing his unique expertise to assist more than 500 blind and visually impaired entrepreneurs in creating and executing new business concepts. Following this role, Babinszki bolstered his enterprise experience at IBM as an Education Program Manager, managing and administering an on-site accessibility education program with over 6,000 participants across 10 countries. Most recently, he served as Principal Digital Accessibility Engineer at UnitedHealth Group, spearheading accessibility training initiatives and consulting with product-focused teams to enhance mobile accessibility.
“Achieving digital accessibility isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. We’ve quickly learned that changing lines of code on a website isn’t enough to provide inclusive access for everyone — companies need comprehensive solutions that combine technology and human expertise,” said Babinszki. “I look forward to working with the eA team to continue driving its growth and making the world a more inclusive place for those living with disabilities.”
Babinszki’s appointment marks the latest milestone in eA’s expansion plans. The company recently announced a $55 million Series B funding round led by global investment firm KKR. With this capital infusion, eA is strengthening its leadership team with key hires like Babinszki, making strategic investments in its platform, and adding talent to its workforce across all areas of the business.
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