Bill Adair
Bill is the Director of Community Development for Accessibrand. This company is Canada’s first accessibility-focused creative agency built by creatives with disabilities.
He has extensive professional and community leadership experience in the areas of healthcare and disability. His career in the non-profit and public sectors employs collaborative and principled leadership that inspires all involved to achieve extraordinary results.
Bill served as the National Patient Services Director at the Canadian Cancer Society for 13 years. During those years, he developed a strategic plan to coordinate cancer control efforts across Canada. He was the first Executive Director of Wellspring, a psycho-social support centre in Toronto for people living with cancer. He participated on an international panel to evaluate the first five years of Europe Against Cancer. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Spinal Cord Injury Ontario for 23 years. During this time, he increased the organization’s budget from $2 million to over $10 million. He served as the Executive Director of Spinal Cord Injury Canada for an additional 10 years.
He is a founding member of the Canadian Disability Policy Alliance, the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, Candlelighters Canada and the Dorothy Ley Hospice.
Bill has contributed his leadership and expertise to the Government of Canada in several ways. Through the Federal Accessibility Legislation Alliance, he worked on the development of the Accessible Canada Act. He was a member of the Working Group on Alternate Format Materials and the Parliamentary Precinct Advisory Panel. Additionally, Bill served on the Disability Advisory Committee for the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion.
He has a Bachelor of Science (University of Minnesota) and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Course on the Management of Non-Profit Organizations (Harvard University). He received a Meritorious Service Medal from the Government of Canada in 2016.