Sandy K. Lacey

I've spent my career turning ambitious ideas into durable systems.For years, that work lived at Perkins School for the Blind, where I founded and led the Perkins Innovation Center -- building, with and for people with disabilities, one of the country's most active DisabilityTech ecosystems. I led teams that designed, tested, and scaled solutions across AI, braille literacy, adaptive products, and inclusive design. The work I'm proudest of: leading the digital transformation of the Perkins Brailler -- used by roughly half a million people worldwide, teaching braille to an estimated 1.5 million learners -- with the Perkins Braille Bloom, a connected companion that turns any Brailler into a real-time braille-to-text keyboard. I built the team from scratch and we shipped it in under a year, with every decision starting from what Braille learners, teachers, and parents told us they needed -- not what a lab assumed they needed.Today, my work lives in Pittsfield, MA, where I've stepped into the role founding Executive Director of the Mill Town Charitable Foundation. We are a brand-new nonprofit being built in public from the ground up to expand educational opportunity across Berkshire County. Same approach: listen to the community first, build second.I'm also an educator and public voice for innovation that actually works. I have taught the practice of innovation at MIT Sloan and Tufts University, helping students understand how change really happens — through systems, incentives, and lived experience, not technology alone. Beyond the classroom, I speak at major global stages including CES and TechCrunch Disrupt, and my work has been featured in national and industry press.Whether I'm building products, shaping ecosystems, or standing on a stage, my focus is the same: moving bold ideas out of theory and into the world -- designed with intention, built with rigor, and delivered where they matter most.Recognition & MediaBostInno 2024, Fire Award Nominee, Ecosystem SupporterForbes, 2025 & 2026 Accessibility 100Boston Globe, How Hard Is It To Make Mobile Apps Accessible?Forbes — Perkins School For The Blind's Sandy Lacey Talks Howe Innovation Center, Indexing AccessibilityINC Magazine, This Car Maker’s App Helps Blind Passengers Enjoy the RideTechCrunch, DisabilityTech Startups Kill the Cynic in MeBoston Globe, Beyond chatbots: Latest AI breakthrough is a real eye-openerForbes, Accessibility Tech Showcased At CES 2025 Is Transforming Shared ExperiencesBusinessWire, Howe Innovation Center at Perkins Hosts DisabilityTech Pitch Challenge With Mitsubishi ElectricBoston Globe, Boston Attracts Massive Tech Startup Festival