Brenda Perkins

Brenda Perkins serves as Director of Business Relations at the Center for Disability Inclusion (CDI), a role she has held since 2019. In this capacity, Brenda leads partner acquisition, engagement, and retention while overseeing CDI’s marketing and communications strategy. She plays a critical role in helping organizations understand the business value of disability inclusion and guiding them into meaningful, long-term partnerships with CDI.

Brenda brings a career-long focus on helping businesses strengthen employee engagement, communication, and retention. As a former small business owner in the employee benefits and communications space, she worked closely with business and human resources leaders to improve employee understanding, appreciation, and connection to workplace benefits and programs. This experience gives her a practical understanding of how inclusion strategies must be communicated clearly to drive adoption and impact across an organization.

She was co-founder and senior communications consultant of Joshua Communications and holds the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation. Brenda’s background bridges strategy, communication, and relationship-building—key elements in supporting employers as they advance disability inclusion in a way that aligns with workforce and business goals.

Brenda has also held extensive volunteer leadership roles within the human resources profession. She served with SHRM at both the local and state levels, including as President of SHRM–Kansas City and State Director for Missouri SHRM. She later served on SHRM’s national Membership Advisory Council, reporting directly to the SHRM CEO. Through this work, Brenda developed deep insight into the challenges HR leaders face related to talent acquisition, engagement, and disability inclusion.

Her commitment to disability inclusion is both professional and personal. Having two nephews with a developmental disability was the catalyst for her involvement as a founding board member and past president of the Greater Kansas City Business Leadership Network—an organization that later became Disability:IN Greater Kansas City and is now the Center for Disability Inclusion. This experience continues to inform her passion for helping businesses create inclusive workplaces where all talent can contribute and succeed.