THE GEORGIA COUNCIL ON DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES WELCOMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR D’ARCY ROBB
Written by Tianna Faulkner on .
(August 1, 2022, Atlanta, Ga.) – The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) welcomes new executive director D’Arcy Robb after a thorough search. Robb comes to GCDD with several years of experience working in the intellectual developmental disability (IDD) community. She served as the Public Policy Director for GCDD in 2013 for almost two years. Prior to that role, she served as the Public Policy Coordinator for the Commonwealth Council on Developmental Disabilities, GCDD’s equivalent in Kentucky, which she loved.
As the new executive director, Robb will focus on GCDD’s relationships, its network, and focus on how the agency is using its talents and resources. She said she will work with the staff to analyze their environment and current activities and ensure that they are getting their five-year plan goals underway. Robb also wants the staff with her help to be sure to get information on voting out to the IDD community in the upcoming election and prepare for the 2023 session of the Georgia General Assembly.
“I love the creativity that is part of the DNA of DD councils, and I would argue, part of the DNA of the disability community. I love how GCDD has such a history of being forward thinking and bringing innovative ideas and approaches forward that really improve peoples’ lives and make our communities more inclusive and livable for everyone. Self-advocates and family members will always be at the heart of GCDD,” Robb said. “My approach as the ED will be collaborative and relationship based. I want to keep GCDD grounded in values, ethics, resiliency, support, and growth. As an organization, we need to have a constant focus on connection, vision, strategy and action. Some of the actions I’m particularly interested in are ending the waiting list for NOW and COMP waivers and replacing the lifelong systems of segregation, that all too often surround folks with disabilities, with innovative, inclusive supports that let people move through the world living their best lives.”
DRG was the talent agency that helped GCDD with the selection process for its new executive director. Sarah Raful Whinston, the Senior Principal at DRG who co-led the search with Jessica Hammerman, said Robb went through three stages of interviews with DRG and two stages of interviews with GCDD’s search committee, saying that Robb had a personal and professional connection with the IDD community and felt that she was a great fit.
“We interviewed and vetted numerous candidates and presented ten candidates to the GCDD search committee,” Whinston said. “D’Arcy has administrative and executive functions as well as relationship building that is needed for this role. She has a deep passion and is connected with the position. These are the things we vetted for in the search, someone to run the agency who could work with the staff and GCDD’s partners.”
“I’m honored to welcome D’Arcy back to GCDD as the new Executive Director,” said Nicholaus Perry, GCDD’s Council Chairman. “We’re fortunate to have her, and excited for the future of the organization.”
Robb has a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Kentucky. Past roles that she has held include being a part-time consultant for Employment First Georgia for GCDD, a Special Projects Coordinator for the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA), and most recently the Program Manager and Interim Family First Program Director for DFCS (formally known as the Georgia Department of Human Services’ Division of Family & Children Services).
What she is most proud of in her career includes leading Employment First Georgia and the inaugural year of Take Your Legislator to Work Day, an effort that ultimately led to the passage of Georgia’s Employment First legislation. Robb is also proud to have begun GCDD’s Advocacy Days, to have spearheaded the Georgia Evolution Conference during her time at GVRA, and to have been part of the team that successfully advocated for the first-ever regulations on restraint and seclusion in Kentucky public schools.
“I am thrilled and humbled to be joining GCDD as the new executive director,” Robb said. “I am a family member to multiple people with developmental disabilities and am so excited to come into this role and work as a part of this community.”
Robb is happily married to her husband Todd, has an eight-year-old daughter named Annika, and has three cats. In her free time, she is a competitive adult ice skater who loves to write, travel, and relax by the water. Robb begins work with GCDD September 1, 2022. For more information, visit www.gcdd.org.
About the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities: The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is the State's leader in advancing public policy on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities. Its mission is to bring about social and policy changes that promote opportunities for the wide spectrum of diverse people/persons with developmental disabilities and their families to live, learn, work, play, and worship in their communities. For more information, visit at www.gcdd.org.