Our Authors

Karen McCall, M.Ed.

Portrait of Karen McCall. Karen McCall, M.Ed. has been working in the field of accessible document design since 1999. She began her career in website accessibility and auditing and moved to accessible Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents in 2004. Karen is: 

  • A Canadian delegate of the ISO 14289 or PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) committee and has been for a number of years.
  • A Canadian delegate to the ISO 32000 PDF committee.
  • A Microsoft MVP for Word (Most Valued Professional) since 2009.
  • A Microsoft Accessibility MVP since 2017 when this category of MVP was established.

Karen has written several books on the topic of accessible document design for Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents as well as smaller publications with specific techniques for working with Office applications if you are using adaptive technology and/or the keyboard.

Karen is the president of Karlen Communications.

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Bevi Chagnon, M.B.A.

Portrait of Bevi Chagnon. Bevi Chagnon, MBA, is a publishing consultant, designer, and information technologist for more than 30 years. Because she has family members with disabilities, her work with accessibility issues and technology has spanned her entire career.

Bevi developed her first class and workbook on Section 508 accessibility for government publishers in 2000 when the law went into effect. She is:

  • Half designer, half geek, and 100% teacher!
  • Award-winning graphic designer and art director.
  • Leading consultant to US government publishers for both conventional printed and digital publications.
  • Long time contractor to the US Government Publishing Office in Washington, DC.
  • Moderator of several online discussion forums related to conventional publishing, digital publishing, and accessibility.
  • US delegate to the ISO 14289 committee (PDF/UA standard) and the ISO 32000 committee (PDF standard).
  • Member of ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and the PDFa.org (PDF Association).
  • Speaker and presenter at trade conferences.

Her book series were originally developed for her workshops and classes and are now available individually. They cover traditional graphic design, desktop publishing, and photo color correction/prepress, as well as accessible documents from Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office.

Bevi is the founding member of PubCom, a multi-discipline consultancy for publishing, design, technology, and accessibility. She is also the publisher for PubCom Media, the firm's book division. Her undergraduate degrees are in design and environmental science, and she also has an MBA.

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