Robert Sinclair, Director, Accessibility Business Unit, Microsoft Corporation

Biography

Rob Sinclair, director of Accessibility at Microsoft, is responsible for the company's worldwide strategy to develop software and services that make it easier for people to see, hear and use their computers. Sinclair manages the Accessibility Business Unit (ABU), which consults with Microsoft product groups to help shape their product designs, manage relationships with assistive technology vendors, track and interpret regulatory changes, and guide marketing activities related to accessible technology at Microsoft. ABU provides the center of excellence Microsoft needs to make its products more accessible, and to ensure its platforms and tools are the best solutions for other companies to develop applications, content, and specialized assistive technologies for people with disabilities

Sinclair joined Microsoft in 1997 as a developer support engineer in the Premier Support Group, where he provided technical and business support for some of the company's largest customers. In 1998, he accepted a job as an ABU program manager. Over the next five years, he rose to become group manager in charge of development, testing and program management. Sinclair, who is also an international award-winning nature and wildlife photographer, left ABU in 2004 to join Microsoft's digital photography program and contribute to the strategy and technology roadmap for improving Windows' capabilities for professional photographers. A year later, he accepted an offer to return to ABU as director.

While Sinclair and his team focus on helping Microsoft and partner companies create technology that empowers people with disabilities or age-related difficulties, their underlying goal is to make it easier for everyone to use computers.

"Today, people are required to adapt themselves to the technology they encounter. So using a computer means knowing how the machine expects us to give it information and learning how we can get information from the machine," Sinclair says. "These are artificial barriers that prevent us from making the best use of technology."

"Our goal is to create computers that adapt to the user, so they become much easier and more natural for people to use," he says. "By addressing the needs of people with a wide range of abilities, we also will create a system that is more functional for everyone."

A native Texan and a U.S. Air Force veteran, Sinclair earned bachelor and master degrees in computer science from New Mexico State University, where he focused on software usability and user-centered design. While still in graduate school, he founded a successful software company that built custom medical software and provided consulting services and technology solutions to help businesses streamline their workflow. Before joining Microsoft, he worked in a variety of roles in the software industry, including graphic design, development, testing, documentation, training, and public relations. Sinclair holds multiple patents in both accessibility and digital-photography.

Sinclair describes himself as a "pragmatic dreamer," someone who likes to think big, set aggressive goals, and develop a plan to achieve them. He gets his biggest thrill from solving difficult problems.

Sinclair says, "I've really been pursuing the same goal throughout my software career: making technology easier for people to use."