Legacy Leaders Circle

The Legacy Leaders Circle celebrates the significant contributions of long-term ANCOR members to the field of community services.

The ANCOR Foundation’s Legacy Leaders Circle honors our finest and most influential leaders. Established in 2010, it celebrates the accomplishments of long-term ANCOR members who have made significant contributions to ANCOR during their tenure as a member. Many Legacy Leaders continue to strengthen their legacy by serving as writers and contributors to ANCOR publications, as mentors to the current and incoming classes of the ANCOR Foundation’s Leadership Academy and more. We look to our Legacy Leaders when we need motivation, inspiration and practical road maps for navigating the challenges of the day while continuing to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to thrive in their communities.

Nominate a Leader Today

Vision

A legacy is an enduring impact that you make on those you serve. Legacies don’t happen by accident. They are intentional, just like the act of tossing a rock into a pond is intentional. Both cause an initial splash, but that splash is always followed by ripples that continue to radiate outward even after the stone is no longer visible. Whether a pebble or a giant boulder, we all leave a legacy. The ANCOR Foundation Legacy Leader Award is designed to recognize those individuals who have deliberately dedicated themselves to making significant contributions to ANCOR and the ANCOR community a better place. 

Eligibility
  • The nominee must have been an ANCOR member for a minimum of 5 years. 
  • The nominee must be able to demonstrate at minimum three ways they have volunteered their time and talents to help the membership and how those actions have impacted.
Nominator Criteria
  • Nominations may be made by both member and non-member organizations.  
  • We welcome self-nominations. 
  • We also encourage nominations from organizations’ boards or other community members. 
  • Current employees of an organization may make a nomination, but that nomination must be approved by the Chief Executive Officer. If the nominator is the Chief Executive Officer, the nomination must be endorsed by the organization’s Board of Directors.
Nomination Process
  • Nominations are due by Tuesday, January 24, 2023.
  • The Legacy Leaders Circle Committee submits its recommendations for Legacy Leader Circle Award recipients to the ANCOR Foundation Board for consideration and approval.
  • The nominator will be contacted regarding the final decisions by February 11, 2023.
  • If your nominee is selected, the nominator will receive instructions to prepare for the awards presentation as well as conference details to arrange travel for the award recipient.
  • The awards presentation will be held on ​April 26, 2023, at the ANCOR Annual Conference. 

Submit Your Nomination

If you have questions about the nomination process, please email Gabrielle Sedor, ANCOR Foundation Director.

Legacy Leaders Circle Inductees by Year

2022

Derrick Dufresne
President
Community Resource Associates

DiAnna Hoover
Former Executive Director (awarded posthumously)
Home of Hope

Kim Opsahl
Director
Indiana Division of Disability & Rehabilitative Services

Terri Williams
President
Mains’l Services

2021

Gary Blumenthal
Vice President, Government Relations
InVision Human Services

William “Bill” Loyd, Jr.
Director, UI REACH
University of Iowa

Julie Manworren
Chief Executive Officer
Volunteers of America Minnesota & Wisconsin

2020

Arthur Ginsberg
President & CEO
CRi

Jan Hannah
Former Owner & CEO (awarded posthumously)
Community Living Concepts

Angela King
President & CEO
Volunteers of America Texas

Cindy Kauffman
Director of Strategic Operations
SEEC

Richard Hernandez
Director of Government Relations, Southwest Region
BrightSpring Health Services

2019

Bob Baker
Vice President
Keystone Human Services

Paula Hart
President & CEO
Volunteers of America Minnesota & Wisconsin

Naomi “Deane” Ruppert
Former President & CEO (awarded posthumously)
Emmaus Homes

2018

Carol Beatty
Secretary
Maryland Department of Disabilities

Rod Braun
Executive Director
Christian Opportunity Centers

Robert Budd
President & CEO
Family Residences & Essential Enterprises

Michael Hutcherson
Senior Vice President
Rose & Kiernan

Joe Severtson
Chief Executive Officer
One Vision

Chris Stevenson
President & CEO
Cedar Lake

Tim Sullivan
Director
Institute for Professional Practice

2017

Mark Davis
President & CEO
Ohio Provider Resource Association

Daryn Demeritt
Vice President, Government Relations
BrightSpring Health Services

Judy Goodwin
Executive Director
Oklahoma Community-Based Providers

Ann Moffitt
Vice President, Community Development
Keystone Human Services

Bruce Nelson
Chief Executive Officer
ARRM

Chris Sparks
President & CEO
Exceptional Persons, Inc.

Greg Wellems
Director of Business Operations
Imagine!

Donna Werner
Senior Vice President, Advocacy
Mosaic

2016

Regis Champ
President & CEO
NHS Allegheny Valley School

Maureen Corcoran
President
Vory’s Health Care Advisors

Tim Kral
Executive Director
Oregon Rehabilitation Association

Marty Lampner
President & CEO
Chimes International

Dan Rosen
Founder & CEO
D. Rosen Associates

Karin Stockwell
Senior Director, Minnesota
Dungarvin

Janet Stover
President & CEO
IARF

2015

Ron Cohen
President & CEO
UCP of Los Angeles

Rabbi Erwin Freidman
Former Executive Director (awarded posthumously)
National Children’s Foundation

Diane McComb
State Association Liaison
ANCOR

Kathy Meath
President & CEO
St. Louis Arc

Regis Obijiski
Executive Director
New Horizons Resources

Bill Tapp
Vice President, DirectCourse
Elsevier

Dave Toeniskoetter
President & CEO
Dungarvin

Shirley Walker
President & CEO
PAR

2014
  • Jim Blume
  • Christine Collins
  • Jim Hammond
  • Patrick Johnson
  • Bob Laux
  • Costa Miller (posthumously)
  • Wendy Swager
2013
  • Cecil Fox
  • Jeff Gardner
  • Wayne Larson
  • John McGee
  • Timothy Nelson
  • William Repicci
  • Aase Righter
  • David Ruppell
  • Thomas Wilds
2012
  • Gale Bohling
  • Richard Farnsworth
  • Suellen Galbraith
  • David Ray Kiely
  • Kathy LeMay
  • Dennis Popp
  • Tim Quinn
  • Terry Rogers
2011
  • Dan Berkowicz
  • Dennis Felty
  • Amy Gerowitz
  • Than Johnson
  • Peter Kowalski
  • J. Gary Mattson
  • Renee Pietrangelo
  • John Rose
  • Julian Streett
  • Larry Weishaar
2010
  • Bonnie-Jean Brooks
  • Frank Capone
  • Richard Carman
  • Tom Daniels
  • Emily Ennis
  • Joni Fritz
  • Ann Hardiman
  • Charles Hooker
  • Diane Iagulli
  • Charlene Kinnelly
  • Steve Lesko
  • Thomas Lewins
  • Ken Lovan
  • Cindy Mahan
  • Patti Manus
  • Lynne Megan
  • Carol Mitchell
  • Gary Mrosko
  • Terry Perl
  • James Pierce
  • Jim Richardson
  • Fred Romkema
  • Peggy Schneider
  • Thomas Scheinhost
  • Nancy Silver Hargreaves
  • Rita Taunton