Nancy Britt, Office Manager

Nancy, our Office Manager, retired as the assistant to the controller of the University of NC at Chapel Hill before joining us in 2006.

Nancy brings her can-do Tar Heel attitude, cheerfulness, and excellent organizational skills to us as she assists the Director, manages files, and helps produce the contracts and documents that keep us moving forward.

She exemplifies commitment to service: “It’s a good feeling to know you’re helping someone else help meet the low vision needs of others!"

Nancy lives in Hillsborough with her husband, Doug, and enjoys spending time with her two daughters, and more so in the future, her two grandchildren.

Jan Elder, Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist

Jan graduated from Meredith College with a bachelor's degree in Sociology and certifications in both Early Childhood Education and Social Work. She taught in regular education at Wake Forest Elementary School for 6 years before she became a stay-at-home mom and later the Director of Wake Forest Baptist Preschool for 11 years.

Jan’s desire to work with VI students took her to the Visual Impairment Training Program at North Carolina Central University where she become a Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist (COMS).

Jan lives in Wake Forest with her husband, Mike, and their two college-age children, Gretchen and Trent. Jan thoroughly enjoys spending time with her family and teaching Orientation & Mobility in the public schools.

John Higgins, Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist, Director of Services

John, a native of Minnesota, received bachelor's degrees in English and Religion from Berea College in 1984 and a master's degree in Blind Rehabilitation with an emphasis in Orientation and Mobility from Western Michigan University in 1985.

John came to North Carolina in 1985 and found the friendliest people and the first-ever opening for the position of Orientation and Mobility Specialist in a North Carolina public school system, Wake County, where he worked for 10 years.

Founder, President, Director of Services and COMS, John practices win-win thinking to help create a climate where students, parents, teachers, and schools all benefit from each other.

John continues to see a full caseload of students throughout North Carolina and likes to see young students learn to move and orient through play and older students gain assertiveness and public transportation skills so they may access their communities independently.

John lives in Hillsborough with his wife, April, where he enjoys helping his two sons grow and his own passion for orientation & mobility, exploring the backroads on his old Norton motorcycle.

Kim Hudson, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Orientation & Mobility Specialist

Kim has been a Teacher of the Visually Impaired and Orientation and Mobility Specialist since 1998. A graduate of Florida State University with a master’s Degree in Visual Disabilities, Kim began her teaching career with Visually Impaired children in Florida before moving to North Carolina in 1999.

Kim found her niche in life working with visually Impaired students and has enjoyed working with all ages from birth to seniors to see the unique challenges each stage of life presents.

Kim lives in Wake County on a farm with her wonderful husband, dog, cats, and chickens, and enjoys cooking, gardening, 4-wheeling, archery, and spending time with friends and family. 

Llewellyn Jones, Teacher of the Deaf-Blind

Llewellyn taught and worked at the Eastern N.C. School for the Deaf for 31 years.  Many of these years were spent teaching children with dual disabilities, including vision loss and/or mental retardation in addition to their hearing loss. 

Llewellyn enjoys the challenge of working with these children: “Creativity and thinking outside the box are so important in finding ways that work to help them learn.  They have such capacity, if only we can figure out a way to input information.”

Llewellyn’s goal is to help these children reach their maximum potential and to learn that, with proper support and help, they can be successful.  Some of her Deaf-Blind students have gone on to college, while others live in group homes, their abilities as wide-ranging as the general public's.

Llwellyn enjoys camping, reading, and volunteering with NC Baptist Men’s Disaster Relief Team in addition to spending time with her husband and three grown sons.

Deb Lapolice, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Low Vision Specialist

Deb is a certified vision teacher with 25 years of experience working with visually impaired individuals from birth through adulthood. 

Deb has a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in assistive technology for the visually impaired and works with both children and adults in finding technology that works to meet their daily needs.

Previous to joining Invision, Deb spent 11 years at the Duke University Eye Center where she ran the low vision clinic and assessed and trained both school children and adults in the use of low vision devices. Deb is the author of numerous articles regarding low vision and is the co-author of a chapter of the AFB publication, Looking to Learn.

Deb lives in Raleigh and, when not working, enjoys traveling overseas, walking with her dog and reading great books.

Denise Munz, Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist

Denise, a COMS, received her bachelor's degree in Psychology from Thiel College in her native Pennsylvania, and her master's degree and dual certification in VI and O&M from the University of Pittsburgh.

For two years Denise worked as an O&M instructor at Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind in Pittsburgh before moving to North Carolina where she first provided instruction at the Governor Morehead School and the Raleigh Lion’s Clinic.

For the past 10 years, Denise has been instrumental serving the O&M needs in the Wilson and Johnston county schools with us. She also contracts her services with the Eastern School for the Deaf to provide O&M with their deaf-blind population.

Denise lives in Wake Forest with her husband Ric, an optometrist, and is the proud mother of two grown sons, Matt and Ben, busy with college and work.

Judy Roman, Finance/Business Manager

Judy has been involved in the accounting and business administration field for over 35 years.  She graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) in Trenton, NJ. She lived in South Florida for over 25 years, and, while there, her experience included 8 years as controller of a private care home health agency and as independent accountant for Asea Brown Boveri, an international power and engineering company. After moving to NC, she worked as Assistant Controller for the North Carolina Technological Development Authority (NCTDA) before starting her own bookkeeping and accounting service. 

Judy has been with Invision Services since 2005.

Jennifer Simmons, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Orientation & Mobility Specialist

Jen came to North Carolina from Florida after graduating from the University of Florida in 1997 with a degree in Criminal Justice. She worked with juveniles in the justice system before switching gears to pursue more education and a teaching certification.

Jen holds a certification teaching children with visual impairments from North Carolina Central University and teaching children with learning disabilities from UNC Charlotte. She has been a Teacher of the Visually Impaired since 2003 and is currently working on a master's degree in orientation and mobility from Western Michigan University. Jen expects to begin working as an O&M Specialist in the 2007-2008 school year.

Jen enjoys working with children and knowing that she is helping them learn and grow.