Board Chair

Ali Ingersoll 

Ali Ingersoll is a day trader, consultant, disability advocate, writer, blogger, editor, and public speaker. She started her advocacy mission after being repeatedly denied medically necessary equipment by insurance companies over the last 10 years since becoming a C6 quadriplegic and full-time wheelchair user after a shallow water diving accident.

Ali’s passion lies in coaching people with disabilities on how to improve their quality of life by teaching them to self-advocate in order to live a life of independence, dignity, and grace.

Ali has a firm philosophy of paying it forward by giving back to the community through outreach, working together, and building each other up. She believes it’s important to band together as one in order to affect the greatest change on the national stage and in local communities.

Vice-Chair

Kim Andrews

Kim Andrews began her career as a special education teacher. Kim holds BS and MEd degrees in Educational Psychology and has worked as an instructional designer, trainer, or performance consultant for over 25 years.

Kim has led the analysis, design, and development of performance-based training for employees worldwide to address technical, soft skills, organizational development, and business skills topics using a variety of methods from self-study to the classroom to online training.

Originally from Detroit with key stops in Tennessee and Kansas, Kim has lived in Durham for over thirty years. When not working, Kim performs improvisational comedy with a team and loves classic movies.

Her focus as a board member is to use her skills to provide outreach opportunities that benefit ADANC.

Treasurer

Crystal Johnson

Crystal Johnson was born and raised in Raleigh with a deep, meaningful connection with the NC community. Crystal has worked in the finance & accounting field since 2013.

Her goal as an ADANC board member is to strengthen the disability community by using her finance and accounting experience. She’s volunteered for Habitat for Humanity since 2009 and the Special Olympics Spring Games held in Raleigh.

Board Member

Shefaali Keegan 

Shefaali is a Managing Director at the Kara Group where she has worked extensively with executives on strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, operations improvement, and reorganizations. Prior to the Kara Group, Shefaali was Vice President at Inova Health System, a $2.5B nonprofit healthcare system in Northern Virginia, helping the system to improve employee and patient experience.

She is passionate about a number of community issues including alleviating poverty, providing access to education, and enabling those who are underserved to achieve their full potential. In addition to working with ADANC, she is also on the Board of Directors for InStepp Inc., where she served as Chairman for 2 years.

Board Member

Lee James

Lee James, who sustained a C5-6 spinal cord injury and near-drowning at the age of 15 in a diving accident, is a licensed LCMHC counselor/therapist with 19 years of highly successful experience providing effective, evidence-based mental health services, including extensive individual and group psychotherapy and case management. 

He earned 2 degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1999, and a Masters of Science from the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Counseling in 2002, with internships as a staff therapist in the UNC Department of Psychiatry, all achieved as a manual wheelchair user. 

Since graduating in 2002 Lee has been honored to work in community mental health, specializing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) based interventions with dually diagnosed individuals via outreach team modalities with XDS Incorporated and UNC Center For Excellence In Community Mental Health of Chapel Hill.  He is currently in private practice in Chapel Hill/Durham specializing in working with disability and other diagnoses.

Board Member

Kèliy Grobbelaar

Kèliy Grobbelaar is a graduate student at the University of Carolina, Chapel Hill studying Social Work, with a concentration in organizational leadership, and disability studies. Following graduate school, which she will complete in May 2022, she hopes to continue her work in the field of disability justice by working with organizations to build, reimagine and restructure programs, trainings, and environments that center the voices of the disabled communities they serve.

Her goal as a Board member is to extend outreach and advocacy further into the community, ensuring that people of all backgrounds, cultures, and communities are supported and the voices of the most marginalized are centered through ADANC’s work.

Board Member

Rao Harkara

Rao Harkara is a senior technology executive with over 25 years of experience in technology leadership, transformation strategy, and delivery in Financial and Health Care Services. Rao’s career reflects a demonstrated track record in leading successful large-scale transformation initiatives, for increased competitiveness and profitability. He is consistently recognized for delivering bottom-line impact through strategic planning, innovation, and building top-performing teams.

Currently, Rao is a Senior Vice President at Fidelity Investments where he is responsible for leading the Health & Welfare and Medicare Technology organization. He has held various senior leadership roles across Asset Management, Work Place Investing, and Health Care divisions. He has been significantly involved in strategy, multi-year planning, and execution of numerous transformation initiatives to adapt to changing market conditions and disruptive market forces.  Rao is distinguished by his ability to identify, leverage, and develop talent. Throughout his career, he has helped associates recognize their unique capabilities by addressing career strategy and leadership development.

Rao has a Master of Business Administration degree from F.W Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Technology from Nagpur University.

Chief Financial Officer (Non-Voting)

Kayli Miller

Executive Director (Non-Voting)

Vicki Smith