Executive Director
Dr. Kirk Adams, PhD joined the Institute for Sustainable Diversity & Inclusion (ISDI) as Executive Director in December of 2025, bringing decades of cross-sector leadership at the intersection of workforce inclusion, accessibility, and organizational transformation.
Dr. Adams is best known for building “inclusion that scales.” From 2008–2016, he served as CEO of The Lighthouse for the Blind in Seattle, where he expanded the organization’s footprint and business lines while dramatically increasing economic opportunity for blind and deaf-blind employees, growing revenue from $27M to $95M, increasing blind and deaf-blind employment from 150 to 250, and driving wages up 40%.
He then led the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) as President & CEO (2016–2022), guiding a major turnaround that included closing large Manhattan offices, shifting to a virtual model ahead of the pandemic, and moving AFB’s headquarters from New York City to Arlington, Virginia; he concluded his tenure on June 30, 2022.
After AFB, Adams founded Innovative Impact, LLC, a consulting practice focused on helping organizations move beyond good intentions and build disability inclusion into how they hire, lead, and design workplaces.
He is also a widely sought after speaker and strategist who emphasizes that disability inclusion is not charity, it is a durable driver of performance, talent, and competitive advantage.
Adams’ work is deeply evidence-based. He holds a PhD and MA in Leadership and Change (Antioch University), an MA in Nonprofit Leadership (Seattle University), and a BA in Economics (Whitman College); his doctoral research examined employment experiences of blind adults in large American corporations.
In 2020, he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from SUNY Upstate Medical University.
In addition to executive leadership, Dr. Adams has held civic and field-building roles, including service on the Governor’s Task Force on Disability Employment and the Seattle Public Library’s Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, and board service with National Industries for the Blind and the National Association for the Employment of People Who Are Blind. His professional affiliations include VisionServe Alliance and he is a Voting Member of the World Blind Union (NA/Caribbean Region).
LinkedIn (Individual): https://drkirkadams.com/linkedin
LinkedIn (Company): https://drkirkadams.com/linkedinpage
