Jeffrey Rodgers

About Jeffrey Rodgers

Twenty years in higher education and enterprise consulting will teach you things about technology adoption that no course ever will. I\'ve been in the room when faculty pushed back on a new LMS, sat across from leadership who dismissed accessibility as something that \"only benefits a few people,\" and helped organizations navigate compliance requirements that quietly kill vendor contracts before they ever get started. I\'ve also seen what happens when you change that thinking. Leading cultural change around inclusive design at Accessiblü has expanded client market share by 20% — because better usability benefits everyone. As founder of Great Lakes AI Solutions, I help organizations build practical AI strategies that actually get implemented. Governance-first, compliance-aligned, built around how people actually work — not how vendors wish they did. I\'ve spent the last three years working daily with LLMs, RAG systems, and AI implementation strategy across manufacturing, healthcare, and edtech. As Director of Digital Accessibility at Accessiblü, I lead compliance programs for 200+ enterprise clients including Accelerate Learning, 95 Percent Group, Membean, Arizona State University, and the Big Ten Academic Alliance. My background sits at an intersection that\'s hard to find. Faculty member, department chair, instructional designer, LMS administrator, edtech vendor liaison, and accessibility compliance director. I\'ve overseen multimillion dollar facility projects, supervised faculty and staff, and guided organizations through technology transitions that didn\'t have a clean playbook. Technology only works when the people using it are set up to succeed. That means the right governance framework, the right training, and a strategy built around how organizations actually operate. USMC disabled veteran. I bring that same discipline to every engagement.

Experience

1. Founder & Principal Consultant

   Great Lakes Ai Solutions

   Sep 2025 — Present · Akron, OH, US

   Founded a governance-first AI consulting practice serving SMBs and mid-market manufacturers across the Midwest. I advise executive leadership on AI readiness, risk, and implementation — and I stay in the work, not just the strategy.Develop AI governance frameworks aligned with HIPAA, ADA, and enterprise privacy standardsDesign and deploy custom GPT and RAG-enabled knowledge systems for marketing, sales, and compliance workflowsAdvise organizations on AI vendor evaluation, pilot design, and scaled deployment across manufacturing, healthcare, and professional servicesFounded the Great Lakes AI Network, a regional consortium of 50+ business leaders and practitioners focused on ethical AI governance

Education

• The Armed Forces School of Music

  Certificate, Music Performance, General

  1997 — 1998

• Kent State University

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Music

  1993 — 1997

• The Recording Workshop

  Certificate, Recording Engineering & Production

  2001 — 2001

• Indiana University Indianapolis

  Master's degree, Music Technology

  2004 — 2007

• Berklee College of Music

  Certificate of Completion, Audio Post Production

  2012 — 2012

• Purdue University

  Master of Science in Education, Learning Design and Technology

  2012 — 2014