Mary Lee has more than 35 years of working in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Mary Lee joined NASDDDS in 2012 as the Director of National Core Indicators and the NASDDDS coordinator for the Community of Practice project on Supporting Families. Her main focus is working with states to create sustainable systems that will fully engage people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in their communities and honor the families and relationships that support those outcomes.
She worked for the state of Oregon Developmental Disabilities Office from 1987 to 2012. Mary Lee was the state administrator for the program from 2001 until 2012. The I/DD program had a $1.5 Billion, biennial budget and supported 22,000 children and adults with I/DD. Highlights of her work in Oregon include: closure of all private and public ICF/IDs, implementation of a self-directed waiver using independent brokerages, and re-design of services to focus on person centered thinking.
Earlier in her career Mary Lee was the executive director of Oregon Technical Assistance Corporation, a technical assistance non-profit directed at supporting people with I/DD to live fully in their communities. She also worked at Teaching Research, Western Oregon University, as policy analyst and director of two children's group homes.