Barbara Kelley became executive director in March 2016. As HLAA’s chief executive officer, she is the primary spokesperson for the organization. She is responsible for overseeing the administration, programs, and strategic plan of the organization. Other key duties include fundraising, advocacy, marketing/media relations, and national and international outreach.

Hired by Founder Rocky Stone in 1988, Barbara has been a part of the organization’s growth, serving as editor for the award-winning magazine for 28 years. Her position as editor allowed her to influence attitudes, establish lexicon, and give people credible, reliable and timely information, and support, through the printed word. She has also helped manage the office team, served as deputy executive director from 2008-2016, and worked on many of the HLAA programs.

Barbara said, “It has been my life’s work to contribute to the mission of the organization. It’s been exciting to be part of an organization that has had so much influence on public policy and people’s lives.”

Barbara serves on various boards and coalitions, among them: The National Institutes of Health Council of Councils (DPCPSI), member of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health; the Federal Communications Commission Disability Advisory Committee; member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Consumer Nominating Organizations; panel member of the U.S. Department of Defense Hering Restoration Research Programl the U.S. co-chair of the Consumer and Professional Advocacy Committee supporting the Delphi Cochlear Consensus Process;  board member of the Cochlear Implant International Community of Action; member of the Hearing Health Care Collaborative (standard of care initiative in the U.S.), former member of the Ida Institute Advisory Board and the Ida Institute Person-Centered Hearing Network; Consumer Technology Association Hearing Accessibility leader; former chair of the Friends of the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus, a coalition of organizations who support the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus. 

In addition to making her life’s work HLAA, her hobbies once included publishing her own digital magazine, Celebrate Home, blogging about food and hospitality and a video series on how to be the best host. Barbara enjoys reading, Washington Nationals baseball, Georgia Bulldawg football, biking (at a leisurely pace!), and, most of all, and welcoming people to their home with some Kelley hospitality.