Meet Our Founder

Vail Blackwell Horton, is an innovative and passionate entrepreneur. He is making an impact coast-to-coast, through his companies and his involvement in the community nationwide. 

Vail, born without legs and improper bone growth in his arms and adopted at birth, is the founder, chairman and CEO of Keen Mobility Company and founder and chairman of Incight Foundation. Vail has a true calling to change the world for the better.

Horton’s persistence and tenacity turned into a company, when at age 22 he was prescribed to a wheelchair. Instead of succumbing to life in a wheelchair, Horton invented a crutch with shock-absorbing technology that allowed him to remain vertically mobile. Keen Mobility Company provides world-class products focused on safety, mobility, and comfort for the disabled, elderly and injured “so they are able to contribute more to society rather than take from society.” Vail has now led the company to over $2.5 million in annual sales, 25 different product lines, more than $1.7 million in capital, and 12 employees. Keen Mobility has also been recognized by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum as one of the three most successful growth-stage companies in the state, ranked number 30 on the 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies List, and was placed on the Governor’s Honor Role for Employers of People with Disabilities. Vail has been appointed to the Secretary of State Advisory Committee for Worldwide Disability Policy (invited by Condoleezza Rice for business acumen and proven commitment to the disabled), was recognized as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” executives in the City of Portland by the Portland Business Journal, and announced as an Oregon Healthcare Hero by Senator Gordon Smith on the floor of the US Senate. Vail serves on the Quality Improvement Committee for the American Healthcare Association. Vail was named as one of the 2007 Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the United States Junior Chamber (Jaycees).

Vail, as founder and chairman of Incight Foundation has raised over $1 million in private, corporate, state and federal donations, 164 disabled high school students have received $750 college scholarships to date, 15 internships have been created, and 5 universities have entered matching scholarship programs. Vail will not rest until the current statistics are changed from only
16 percent of people with disabilities receive a college education and 76 percent are unemployed.

Through motivational speaking, Vail created his own personal organization Handicrap LLC, which educates and moves individuals to acknowledge their boundaries, and to move beyond them.  He currently speaks all over the nation and a few times in parts of the world.

Vail graduated from the University of Portland and was awarded the Contemporary Alumni Award in 2007. Vail is beautifully married to Elizabeth Ann Horton with their 4 children. The Horton family makes their home in Portland, Oregon today.