Lewis established the “gold standard of disability employment” as a Walgreens executive; Born without arms, Cox became the first airplane pilot to fly with feet in 2011.

Randy Lewis’ son was born with autism. Jessica Cox born without arms. Both have devoted their lives to changing perceptions about what people with disabilities can do, in the workplace and in their personal lives.

Both will be keynote presenters at Alliance Enterprises’ getAwareLive! conference. The July 25-26, 2018 event in Atlanta brings together vocational rehabilitation, workforce, technology, and business leaders across the nation to work on improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

As a Walgreens senior vice president, Lewis pioneered an employment model that resulted in a more inclusive and effective workforce for the company – and ignited a national trend. Today, more than 10% of Walgreens’ logistics workforce is composed of people with disabilities who perform the same jobs, earn the same pay, and are held to the same performance standards as fellow team members.

Lewis outlined the Walgreens’ employment program in his book No Greatness Without Goodness: How a Father’s Love Changed a Company and Sparked a Movement, named by Fast Company as one of its “Ten New Books You Need To Read This Year.”

“I’m excited to share my story at getAwareLive! and learn from others serving in the disability employment community,” Lewis said. “We have great opportunities to make the world a better place for everyone, and it’s so inspiring to gather with like-minded people to discuss how we can do more good.”

 

A Record-Setter

 

Growing up, Jessica Cox learned to do everything with her feet. She became the first person without arms to get a black belt in ATA Martial Arts and owns the Guinness World Record for the first pilot to fly with her feet.

Her book, Disarm Your Limits, recounts her record-setting accomplishments. She also teamed with Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker, Nicholas Spark, on the documentary, Right Footed, the winner of 14 major film awards.

“Randy Lewis and Jessica Cox demonstrate that nearly anything is possible when motivated individuals refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer, and we’re thrilled to have their positive messages at our conference,” said Alliance CEO Chris M. Pieper.