ANCOR Foundation Recognizes 2025 Class of Honorees

Three awards programs honor individuals, organizations dedicated to enhancing community inclusion for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Today, the ANCOR Foundation announced the 2025 class of honorees for three awards programs, each of which recognizes outstanding contributions to community inclusion for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Honorees for the Rising Star Mid-Career Impact Award, the Legacy Leaders Hall of Fame, and the Community Builder Award will be recognized as part of ANCOR Connect ’25, taking place April 7-9 in San Diego.

The ANCOR Foundation aspires to cultivate and recognize exceptional leaders supporting inclusive communities. Through a number of vehicles, including the three awards announced today, the ANCOR Foundation seeks to lay the groundwork for a more inclusive future. The Foundation is the 501(c)(3) charitable arm of ANCOR, the leading voice in Washington for more than 2,500 community-based providers of I/DD services. Together, ANCOR and the ANCOR Foundation advance the ability of its members to support people to fully participate in their communities.

Established in 2024, the ANCOR Foundation’s Rising Star Mid-Career Impact Award recognizes mid-career professionals who support ANCOR’s mission through service and dedication to change in public policy or organizational practice.

The 2025 Rising Star Mid-Career Impact Award, sponsored by TCare, recognizes four honorees, including Brandi Foreman, vice president of compliance and regulatory affairs for the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities in Indianapolis, Ind.; Jennifer Hodges, southwest director for Trinity Services, Inc. in New Lenox, Ill.; Rachit Pandey, a consultant based in Uttar Pradesh, India, for California-based Bayberry, Inc.; and Erica Thomas, education and outreach manager for RCM of Washington in Washington, D.C.

The second award being bestowed next month is the ANCOR Foundation’s Legacy Leaders Hall of Fame. Established in 2010, the Legacy Leaders Hall of Fame recognizes longtime members of ANCOR who have positively influenced the association and made meaningful contributions to its quest for community inclusion for all.

This year, the Legacy Leaders Hall of Fame is sponsored by The Arc of Plymouth and Upper Cape Cod and will honor three outstanding professionals who comprise the 2025 class of inductees. They include Marian Baldini, president and chief executive officer for KenCrest in Blue Bell, Pa.; Jon Fisher, recently retired president of community support services for Sevita in Edina, Minn; and Heidi Mansir, executive director for Uplift, Inc. in Gardiner, Maine.

Finally, the Foundation’s Community Builder Award honors substantial initiatives undertaken by organizations other than I/DD service providers that create inclusive opportunities for people with I/DD to live fulfilling lives. Established in 2004, the Community Builder Award recognizes organizations that actively seek to amplify the contributions of individuals or groups that are systematically overlooked. This year’s Community Builder Award is generously sponsored by Adjoin.

The recipient of the 2025 Community Builder Award is New York State Industries for the Disabled (NYSID) in Albany, N.Y. Founded in 1975, NYSID is a nonprofit with a mission of “advancing employment and other opportunities for individuals with disabilities and qualified veterans.” NYSID contracts with government entities and private companies for products and services on New York’s Preferred Source List. NYSID’s efforts in 2024 resulted in 4,758 individuals with disabilities employed, totaling $82.7 million in wages earned, with 3,692,449 hours worked, and a weighted average hourly wage of $22.40.

“This year marks the ANCOR Foundation’s 25th anniversary and since we started out a quarter-century ago, the ANCOR Foundation has continued to invest in leaders across the country who are relentless in their pursuit of community inclusion. This year’s honorees recognize that the work they do cannot be done alone—that it takes all of us, such as community partners like NYSID who work every day toward a more inclusive future for people with I/DD,” said Gabrielle Sedor, director of the ANCOR Foundation.

Rita Wiersma, president of the ANCOR Foundation Board of Directors and president and CEO of Accord in St. Paul, Minn., added: “From experienced leaders like Marian [Baldini], Jon [Fisher], and Heidi [Mansir] who have dedicated their careers to this work, to emerging leaders in the field like Brandi [Foreman], Jennifer [Hodges], Rachit [Pandey], and Erica [Thomas], our communities are made stronger by their leadership and their dedication to supporting people with I/DD to live their very best lives.”

To learn more about the ANCOR Foundation and its initiatives to honor exceptional leaders in the field of community-based I/DD services, please visit ancorfoundation.org.

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For more than 50 years, the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ancor.org) has been a leading advocate for the critical role service providers play in enriching the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). As the 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm of ANCOR, the ANCOR Foundation exists to recognize current and past leaders and to develop future leaders through dynamic education and innovative practices to strengthen inclusive communities for and with people with disabilities.