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Meet the Disability & Philanthropy Forum Team

Our Team

Emily Harris, a white woman with short dark curly hair wearing glasses and a maroon top standing in front of several trees.

Emily Harris

Emily Harris, Executive Director of the Disability & Philanthropy Forum, started her role with the Forum as a consultant to the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy in late 2019. She led development of and first steps to implement the Theory of Change, and is honored to work with Ford, Robert Wood Johnson and other foundations to build a new organization focused on disability inclusion in philanthropy.

Emily was the founding Executive Director of ADA 25 Advancing Leadership (now Disability Lead), the nation’s first disability civic leadership program. As a Senior Director at the Chicago Community Trust, she led ADA 25 Chicago, and engaged more than 200 local organizations in doing one thing to advance disability inclusion in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. At the Trust, she also directed the Disabilities Fund, and facilitated a roundtable multi-sector coalition to advance equity in the construction industry. As Vice President of Metropolis Strategies, Emily focused on regional economic growth, open space conservation, early childhood education policy, and served as Executive Director of the Burnham Plan Centennial. Through her consulting firm, Harris Strategies LLC, Emily helped non-profit organizations, public agencies, businesses and philanthropies to develop strategic plans and move their ideas to action.

Emily earned a B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.A. from the University of Chicago. She serves on the Forest Preserves of Cook County Conservation and Policy Council, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago Advisory Board, and is President of the Board of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation. A member of Disability Lead, she is proud to be a part of the disability community. Click here to read Emily’s story, “Shifting My Mindset: From Internalizing Ableism to Dismantling It.”

Photo of Gail taken outdoors. She is smiling into the camera and is wearing a red blazer with a black shirt and silver necklace. Her hair is in a short bob with bangs.

Gail Fuller

Gail Fuller is the senior director of program and communications for the Disability & Philanthropy Forum. Prior to her current role, she served as the communications strategist for the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. As a black woman with a non-apparent disability, Gail is committed to aligning her professional experience and personal commitment. She works to deliver on the Forum’s mission to engage the philanthropic sector in a collective learning journey about disability that moves toward a more equitable, inclusive future.

With more than 30 years of experience, Gail’s career has spanned several industries, including nonprofit, corporate, publishing, sports, and philanthropy. Her philanthropic career has included serving as vice president of marketing and communications for the San Francisco Foundation and director of communications for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. During her days in sports, she developed and spearheaded the Orlando Magic’s first corporate communications strategy. Early in her career, she served as a public relations consultant for AT&T.

Gail holds a Master of Business Administration from Nova University and a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications from Wake Forest University. As a recipient of the Central Florida YMCA Black Achiever Award and the YMCA Greater New York-Harlem Branch’s Black Achievers in Industry Award, she is a two-time YMCA Black Achiever honoree recognized for her accomplishments in her field and community. Click here to read Gail’s story, “Black and Disabled: I Have Lived in the Shadows.”

Emily Ladau, a white woman with brown curly hair and glasses, wearing a black dress with red and green flowers.

Emily Ladau

Emily Ladau is the digital content manager for the Disability & Philanthropy Forum. She serves as editor-in-chief for all Forum publications and hosts the upcoming Forum podcast, “Disability Inclusion: Required.” Emily is a passionate disability rights activist, writer, storyteller, and digital communications consultant. In 2021, her first book, Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally, was published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Emily’s career began at the age of 10, when she appeared on several episodes of Sesame Street to educate children about her life with a physical disability. A native of Long Island, New York, Emily graduated with a B.A. in English from Adelphi University in 2013 and now serves on their Board of Trustees. In 2017, she was named as one of Adelphi’s 10 Under 10 Young Alumni. In 2018, she was awarded the Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities. In 2022, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism honored her with their Disability Advocate of the Year Award and the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities honored her with the Frieda Zames Advocacy Award.

Emily’s writing has been published in outlets including The New York Times, CNN, Vice, and HuffPost and she has served as a source for outlets including NPR, Vox, and Washington Post. Emily has spoken before numerous audiences, from the U.S. Department of Education to the United Nations. At the core of her work is a focus on disability identity, sharing our stories, and harnessing the powers of communication and social media as tools for people to become engaged in disability and social justice issues.

Sarah Napoli, a white woman with shoulder length blonde hair. She is smiling and has blue eyes. She is wearing a black top and the background is blurred.

Sarah Napoli

Sarah Napoli is the learning services director at the Disability and Philanthropy Forum. From 2019-2023, she acted as the lead disability inclusion project officer within the people and culture Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity team at Open Society foundations, where she also developed and facilitated DEI related training throughout the network. She has over 20 years of experience teaching and conducting training on social justice and advocacy, in higher education and nonprofits. Before joining philanthropy, she worked primarily within higher education, most recently she acted as the director for the inaugural Center for Inclusion at Manhattanville College and as the assistant head of Goodricke College at the University of York, England.

Sarah holds two MA degrees in social justice in intercultural relations and applied human rights. She identifies as a proud disabled person and enjoys chatting about Geek culture—all things fantasy and sci/fi and her former life as a hip hop researcher and dancer. She has conducted workshops and training all over the USA and in the world, including Japan, Guatemala, throughout Europe, South Africa, and Canada.

Olivia Williams, a young Black woman with low cut coily black hair, wearing a black turtleneck, silver hoop earrings, and red lipstick. She is smiling softly at the camera.

Olivia Williams

Olivia Williams is the Program and Communications Associate for the Disability & Philanthropy Forum. She is passionate about the ways race, gender, LGBTQIA+ identities, and socioeconomic status impact disability justice and is excited to insert these lenses into the Forum’s philanthropic disability learning journey.

Olivia’s background in philanthropy includes executing content creation and communications strategies for the Ewing M. Kauffman Foundation and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. During her time with the Kauffman Foundation, the op-ed that she wrote on local systemic inequity led to increased donations for small organizations and an interview on a local NPR show. She is a trained writing consultant and has provided freelance services to aspiring and published authors.
Olivia holds a Bachelor of Arts in African and African-American Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. There, she supported disabled students in a role with the Disability Resources Center and engaged in her own disability learning journey through seminar courses centering members of the local disabled community. Olivia is also a published writer of short fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Her work has been featured in Periphery Art and Literary Journal, The Common Reader, elementia, and the Kansas City NPR show, Up To Date.

Noor Al-Ahmadi, a woman wearing a yellow beanie and a sweater under blue overalls with long brown hair smiles at the camera in front of a solid yellow background.

Noor Al-Ahmadi

Noor Al-Ahmadi (she/her) is the Administrative and Member Services Associate for the Disability & Philanthropy forum. Before joining DPF, Noor was the Operations Coordinator for Programs at Youth Rise Texas, a non-profit in Austin, TX dedicated to uplifting the voices of youth impacted by parental removal through incarceration and deportation. As a disabled Palestinian American, Noor is unrelenting in her vision for a post-abolition world aligned with disability justice.

Noor’s belief in abolition led to co-founding “Lasting Empowerment for Teen Success”, a non-profit in Austin whose mission was to empower incarcerated youth by providing creative outlets, fostering self-worth, and building sustainable support systems in their community. The relationships she built through community organizing and art encouraged her to work with ATX Interfaces, a community initiative that nurtures and amplifies marginalized artists, as Accessibility Director.

Noor graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s in Sociology and a degree in Arabic & Journalism. Noor is a published poet and spends her time growing her relationships in Austin, Texas in order to fulfill her dream of creating inclusive arts and music spaces for folks with disabilities and other accessibility needs.