NTID Employer Advisory Group

Leah Biggs is the Senior Manager of Strategy and Operations for the Talent Acquisition department at HII’s Mission Technologies division. In this role she is responsible for guiding continuous process improvement for the Talent Acquisition department. She is also the leader of the University Relations recruiting department, the Recruiting Coordination department, and the Human Resources Shared Services Delivery Team. Leah earned her masters in human resources from Troy University in 2007 and started her HR career at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, AL. From there Leah has grown in her HR career, recently having celebrated 15 years with HII.

Lisa Graciani is Vice President and Head of Talent Outreach at PNC. In this role, she is responsible for the strategy and execution of delivering PNC’s external talent brand in the marketplace and identifying future talent pipelines. Graciani leads a dynamic team focused on expanding the organization’s talent network through proactive sourcing, engagement, and recruitment efforts. She and her team ensure that PNC’s talent outreach strategy continually evolve to support the changing needs of PNC’s workforce and remain aligned to the company’s strategy and culture. Graciani joined PNC in 1999 and has since held numerous positions, including those within the Retail group and Campus Recruiting.

In 2018, she joined the Diversity Recruiting team in Human Resources and held positions of increasing responsibility until being named the head of Talent Outreach in 2022. In the community, Graciani serves on the Employer Advisory Committee of National Technical Institute for the Deaf and previously served on the board of the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Centers and Prospanica - Cleveland Chapter. Graciani earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Bryant & Stratton College.

Gerald Homme is the Manager of Talent Acquisition and Technology for Bender Consulting Services, Inc. He has over 15 years of experience in supporting disability employment programming. Gerald also supports internal technology at Bender and projects in Digital Accessibility in a project management capacity. Gerald is the product manager of Bender’s Careers2B program, Workplace Mentoring, and the Bender Virtual Career for persons with disabilities.

Gerald supports the Bender Leadership Academy as a volunteer, where he is integral in supporting PA REV UP Coalition and head of the Bender Lead On Team, a grassroots social media team focused on ending bullying and supporting self-advocacy. Gerald has previously served on the advisory board for IUP’s career services. As a person with Dysgraphia, Dyslexia and mental health disabilities, Gerald remains an advocate for employment equity for people with disabilities.

Katherine Lees is the co-founder and CEO of dozanü innovations, a leading agency specializing in inclusive marketing and accessibility. Under her visionary leadership, dozanü has received recognition as a "Business to Watch" by Austin Women, a "Rising Star" nominee by Women Business Council of Southwest, and one of Texas' top 15 digital innovators by Texas Best Startups. dozanü innovations’ CMO, Michelle Lapides, was honored as the Most Innovative Marketing Solutions CMO at Acquisition International Magazine's Influential Businesswoman Awards.

In her role, she leads the company’s strategic vision, focusing on delivering innovative, accessible marketing solutions that drive inclusion. She oversees the expansion of services, product/service development, and business operations to ensure that dozanü sets the standard for accessible and inclusive marketing strategies across industries. Katherine led the development of PIVOT, an innovative software under the company’s access zanü division, which ensures online content is accessible to people with limited English proficiency, disabilities, and language barriers. Through PIVOT and other initiatives, Katherine is pushing to make inclusive marketing the industry standard.

As a Deaf, Queer, and disabled woman, Katherine’s personal experiences shape her commitment to accessibility and social responsibility. Now, as part of the Employer Advisory Group at NTID, she is dedicated to helping future generations succeed by sharing her insights on marketing trends and industry standards.

Outside of work, Katherine enjoys traveling, exploring Austin with her wife and three fur children, and riding her motorcycle through Texas hill country.

Mr. Petroski, a native of Northeast PA, is a family man and dedicated to the service of others. In addition to his service to the military, he is a foster parent and loves to volunteer to help children and less fortunate people in his community.

After graduation high school, Tom joined the army and served 14+ years in both active duty and National Guard before receiving a medical discharge. During his time in the army, Tom served with the 82nd Airborne Division in a very diverse role. This unique role helped to shape who he is today. He has multiple deployments abroad with various missions from combat to humanitarian aid.

Upon completion of his initial active-duty tour, Tom was accepted into a Construction Management program through Drexel University. Post-graduation, this led his career into a very diverse infrastructure field. Some of the programs that Tom managed include the NFL Films building, Borgata Casino, Sands Bethworks Casino, Mohegan Sun Casino, the Renaissance Center for Art, the Newark Airport Continental Airline terminal, and more.

In 2013, Tom again joined the army. This time, it was as a civilian and at West Point Military Academy. Tom was able to use his military and civilian experience to help the growth and development of the newest leaders of the most elite military in the world. One of Toms most notable achievements was to manage the production of the nationally televised graduation ceremony. Tom worked with the Secret Service and the White House Press to ensure that every last detail was accounted for. Two of the Keynote speakers that Tom served for were President Obama and then-Vice President Biden.

Tom then moved his service to Tobyhanna Army Depot where he currently serves as the Division Chief for the Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, C4ISR Division.

Scott Wills is a R&D Staffing Leader at Dow. In this role, he is focused on developing strategies for hiring technicians for research labs across Dow North America. Before this role, Scott spent 26 years as a research chemist in Dow. He earned his BS in Chemistry from SUNY at Buffalo, and his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Scott has worked with students from RIT/NTID since 2011, when he supervised a student intern in his lab. He has grown his connection to RIT/NTID over the years, serving on the National Advisory Group (2017-2022) and the Employer Advisory Group (2014-2016, 2023-), and leads the Dow recruiting team each year at the NTID Career Fair. Over this time Dow has brought in 55 students in internships across seven sites, and hired eleven RIT/NTID students in full-time roles. As a result of his work with deaf and hard-of-hearing students, Scott was recognized in September 2023 with the American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging Underrepresented and Economically Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences.