John Robinson

John Robinson | Our Ability, CEO

John is dedicated to connecting individuals with disabilities towards education and employment through mentoring, workshops, public speaking as well as job placement. Our Ability is the only disability owned and operated business dedicated to building employment opportunities through our job platforms, employment webinars, digital profile system and personal empowerment.

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John Robinson

C.E.O. | Our Ability

Our Ability’s President and CEO, John Robinson (@OurAbility_CEO) is dedicated to connecting individuals with disabilities towards employment through our emerging technologies. Our Ability is disability-owned and operated; committed to building employment opportunities through our job platforms and engagement.

  • In 2013, John Robinson is named one of ten White House (Obama) Champions of Change for Disability Employment
  • In 2015, Our Ability, Inc. is presented with the Business Excellence Award in Small Business by the New York Small Business Development Corp
  • In 2018, John Robinson is presented with the Chamber Champion Award in recognition of actions that have advanced the mission of the Capital Region (NY) Chamber
  • In 2023, Our Ability was recognized by the Zero Project as an Innovative Solution.

John Robinson is the subject of “Get Off Your Knees: The John Robinson Story” a public television documentary seen around the world. Syracuse University Press published an autobiography of the same title in 2009.

Leadership Team

Kartik Sawhney

Kartik Sawhney
Senior Manager, Technology and Product

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Kartik Sawhney

Senior Manager, Technology and Product | Our Ability

Kartik is a disability advocate and technologist who has not let his disability prove an impediment in the pursuit of his personal and professional goals and has done substantial work in empowering other people with disabilities to be successful tech professionals. As the first blind student to pursue science education in high school in India, he advocated for change in rules that now allow all blind students across the country to pursue sciences in high school. Similarly, after several months of advocacy, he convinced the top technical universities in India to open their doors to blind students, leading to at least fifteen students in India pursuing engineering today.

A computer science graduate of Stanford University, Kartik co-founded Project StemAccess (now I-Stem) that provides technical training, mentorship and hands-on opportunities to blind students across the country, and develops technical solutions to empower them to access educational and employment opportunities. I-Stem also works closely with the government, technical universities and corporates to make their campuses and culture more inclusive, and has worked with nearly 2,000 people with disabilities so far. Before this, he co-founded NextBillion.org, an award-winning global mentorship program for students with disabilities interested in technology that worked with over 1,200 mentees and mentors in 10 countries. As an engineer on the accessibility innovation team at Microsoft, Kartik continues to help identify and develop accessible technologies. Further, given his experience in accessibility and assistive technologies, he serves as an adjunct faculty at the Indian Council of Medical Research, besides serving on boards of several organizations and other high-level committees, such as the Education Commission’s Expert Panel on Technology and Education . His work and views have been published in several journals including UNICEF’s State of the world’s children Report among others.

In recognition of his leadership potential and work, Kartik received the Queen’s Young Leaders Award 2016 from Her Majesty The Queen. In addition, he has received the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (India’s highest honor for contributions to the disability sector) and was selected as one of the 17 UN young leaders for Sustainable Development Goals 2018 by Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth.

Doug Hamlin

Douglas M. Hamlin
Vice President

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Douglas M. Hamlin

Vice President | Our Ability

Doug Hamlin is an experienced executive with over thirty years directing development of software products and building sales, training and support organizations to achieve profitable success. He was a member of the founding group of VersaTrans Solutions Incorporated in 1983. After serving many roles throughout the company, including President and CEO from 2000 until 2008, he guided the company through its acquisition by Tyler Technologies where he served as Division President until 2010.

He is active in both the Onondaga and Albany County communities. As a member of the Board of Directors at Albany Medical Center since 2000, Mr. Hamlin currently serves as Vice Chair of the Hospital Board of Governors. He is also president of the Board of Trustees of the Skaneateles Historical Society and Museum.

From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Hamlin led the planning and participated in the “Journey Along the Erie Canal”, a 360-mile adaptive bicycle ride from Buffalo to Albany on the Canalway Trail highlighting the abilities within everyone. This has led to a passionate interest in the history, engineering and economic impact of the Canal’s past, present and future.

Carrie Krentz

Carrie Krentz

WordPress Developer

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Carrie Krentz

WordPress Developer | Our Ability

Carrie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from the University of Michigan.  She has more than 10 years’ experience creating beautiful and user-friendly WordPress websites.

Carrie uses her experience in sales to connect with clients to find web solutions that meet their business objectives and client needs.  Guiding clients through the process of creating a new website or a redesign she can make sure the end product will meet your needs from increasing online presence with search engine optimization and google analytics, meeting website accessibility standards or securing your website from hackers.

Her favorite hours are spent as the team manager, driver and general counsel for two girls, one husband and a crazy dog.