Its election time again! We have four AERO members asking for your support to serve as At-Large Board Members for a two year rotation. Ballots will be sent out very shortly . . . be on the lookout! If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Vicki Lorenz at .

Remember to help us welcome newly elected Board Members at the one day conference in October!!

Bernadette Van Den Tillaart

Bernadette is a board member of AERO, a co-chair of the divisions Multiple Disabilities/ Deafblindness and Infant/ Preschool and a PR-Website committee member. She started her work at the internationally renowned Center for Deafblindness at Royal Kentalis in The Netherlands as a teacher for the deafblind and held other positions such as IEP coordinator, supervisor and lecturer. She developed the evidence based Interaction Program in Deafblindness to support educational staff and families. Since her move into the United States in 2002, she has worked with several national and state educational agencies and universities. Currently sheis a Ph.D. Scholar with the National Leadership Consortium on Sensory Disabilities, at OSU. She also works at Ohio State School for the Blind. As a national team lead she developed several peer-reviewed on-line intervener modules with the National Center on Deafblindness. She is an (inter)nationally invited speaker and has published materials on deafblindness. She is a board member for national and state deafblind advisory boards. She holds two master’s degrees in sensory impairments and Ohio TVI and THI licensures and believes strongly in highly qualified personnel. She received AER and AERO awards in her field of expertise.

Bernadette would like to represent ideas and experiences from AER Ohio members to guide discussions and decisions in the AERO board. She strives to address the members’ professional needs by organizing thematic Division 3+8 conferences. She also has planned to co-organize a special professional development day in 2018. It would be her pleasure to continue serving you as a board member.

Katie Toennis

Katie Toennis began her teaching career as a middle school science and mathematics teacher. While in this position, she served on the school-based decision making council comprised of parents, teachers and administrators of the school. After receiving her Master’s of Special Education, Katie became an itinerant Teacher of Visually Impaired. She also completed the Ohio State O&M program in 2016. Katie is currently providing contractual O&M services for school age students in Southwest​Ohio and early intervention vision services through OSSB.

Robin Finley

Robin received a M.Ed. and licensure as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired in 1991. She has worked in the field of blindness and low vision for the past 28 years. Robin’s background includes experience in elementary, middle and high school in both typical schools and the Ohio State School for the Blind. She has also worked as an Outreach Consultant for the State of Ohio. Robin teaches as part of the Curriculum class in the TVI program at OSU and acts as a mentor to student teachers at our summer camps. She has served as the secretary of AERO in the past and just finished a term as a board member. Robin has only missed two AERO conferences in the past 29 years and values the opportunities for personal and professional growth at each one.

Sarah J. Kelly

Sarah would be a new and fresh board member for AERO. Sarah is a COMS and work in Ohio’s Vocational Rehabilitation Program for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She is currently the Program Manager for the Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired, and has worked in the field of Vocational Rehabilitation for the past 5 years.