It is with mixed emotions that I announce a key departure. Ryan Bishop, whom many of you know as Aira’s Product Manager and more recently as our Head of IT, will be leaving Aira and joining APH, The American Printing House for the Blind, as the Director of Customer Experience.
Ryan has had a presence at Aira for longer than most of us can remember. He has been an active voice in shaping our products and customer experiences, working closely with Aira’s development and engineering team. Ryan has also been instrumental in managing all of Aira’s IT systems which are numerous, and is the ‘go to’ person when anyone on the Aira team need technical assistance. This is no small feat in an organization that operates 24/7, 365 days a year. It wouldn’t be an stretch to say his DNA will forever be part of Aira.
There’s no doubt that Ryan will have an equally memorable impact at APH who is fortunate to have him join their organization. Aira and APH have a strong relationship. Recent focus has been exploring bringing visual interpreting to school age children. Now, with another Aira alum at APH, we look forward to even greater engagement and continuing to advance one another’s missions.
We’ll be hiring. As I announced in my last blog post, we are looking for an executive to advocate and be a champion of our effort to make visual interpreting an ubiquitous accommodation service. And with Ryan’s departure, we will have open positions; they’ll be on our website shortly. Help us find the best people to join us in our mission to make the world more accessible. Spread the word, we encourage community members to apply.
On a personal note, Ryan and I have worked very closely for the last four years. While I will miss our daily interaction, it’s important to recognize that professional growth and new opportunities are natural occurrences for talented individuals like Ryan.
Please join me in thanking Ryan for his numerous contributions and congratulating him on his new position.
Troy Otillio, CEO, Aira