About

Michael Blume is an IT Accessibility Specialist and Senior Associate Product Manager at Workday. He is responsible for driving accessibility across the company by providing accessibility insights on products and services. Michael has guided numerous scrum teams on how to incorporate accessibility into their development processes and new features. He has also refreshed existing processes and documentation to incorporate accessibility, inclusion, and usability across all areas of the organization. Together with David Sexton, Michael built the Accessibility Research and Training (ART) Lab program that has had more than 1,000 enrollments for training on accessibility fundamentals. Michael's goal with this position is to continue bringing accessibility to the next level at Workday, not only ensuring they produce accessible interfaces but also empowering every developer, designer, and leader to create intuitive and innovative experiences for everyone. He has shared his vision for how they can further guide and accelerate Workday's accessibility journey. Prior to his current position, Michael was an IT Accessibility Specialist and Associate Product Manager at Workday. He drove accessibility at Workday by providing accessibility insights on projects throughout the company and connecting developers, designers, and leaders to the resources they need to create accessible software. Michael's goal with this position was to bring accessibility to the next level at Workday, not only producing accessible interfaces but also creating intuitive and innovative experiences for everyone. Before joining Workday, Michael was an IT Web Accessibility Student Assistant at the University of Washington. He consulted on the accessibility of software products for companies like Microsoft, Google, and Zoom, suggesting code solutions to improve the products' accessibility while doing so. Michael ensured that the University of Washington purchased software products for classroom/departmental use that were accessible and efficient for all people to use, including people with disabilities (blindness, color blindness, movement impairments, etc.). He collaborated with developers and designers to improve accessibility prior to deployment on UW campuses. Michael holds a BA in Linguistics with a Computational Linguistics focus from the University of Washington and a High School Diploma from Tesla STEM High School. He has experience as a product manager, designer, research scientist, and web developer. Michael has 4.20 years of relevant experience.