Lisa Lepine, Executive Director
Lisa Lepine earned her Bachelor of Arts from Wayne State University and her law degree from University of Detroit. Prior to becoming the Executive Director, Lisa served as the Deputy Director of the Arc for twelve years, tripling the size of the company during that time. Lisa established the guardianship, representative payee, and fiscal intermediary departments, eventually spinning off the fiscal intermediary department into its own non-profit company, LifeLong. Lisa established the Shared Parenting program with Community Mental Health in Macomb County, the only program of its kind in the county, serving more than 80 families. Prior to joining the Arc, Lisa practiced in Trusts and Estates and Probate, specializing in Special Needs Trusts for Protected Individuals. Lisa is one of the leaders in disability law in the State, speaking at seminars and teaching continuing legal education to other lawyers. Lisa continues to prepare Wills and Trusts and Estate Plans for both members and non-members of the Arc. Lisa also worked as a hearing officer for Oakland County Community Mental Health until this summer, and continues as the president of the Provider Alliance in Macomb County.
Kelly Harrington, Support Services Director
Kelly Harrington has worked at the Arc for almost 30 years and was instrumental in establishing the Arc’s Support Services Department 25 years ago. Beginning with only two cases and a small handful of employees, Kelly has built the department to include approximately 30 clients and more than 40 employees, including an administrative supervisor, several site supervisors, and approximately 35 direct care workers. Kelly continues to grow the Support Services Department within Macomb County and continues to make inroads into Oakland and Wayne Counties. Kelly uses her experience in business, employment training, and payroll along with her innate personal skills to build a dedicated work force and to maintain her sterling reputation as one of the best staffing providers in the county.
Christy Jane Courtney, Director of Operations
Christy Jane has a long history of working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She worked in group homes providing direct care before taking on the role of Supports Coordinator for more than 20 years. She honed her advocacy skills while working as the Systems Navigator for The Arc of Western Wayne County helping people get the support they need to live a self-determined and inclusive life. Christy Jane lives with her fiancé Dicky and her dog Bo’Nesto. Bo is quickly becoming the office mascot and you can often seem him greeting guests, sitting in on meetings, and providing canine therapy.
As the Director of Operations, Christy Jane will be helping The Arc to grow existing services and take on new projects while maintaining focus on our goals of inclusion and self-determination.
Susan Lind, Quality Director
Sue Lind began working at The Arc of Macomb County in September of 2007. She started off as a Special Education Advocate and is now the Director of Quality. As a director, Sue oversees Special Education Advocacy, Shared Parenting, and the rights of all recipients of the individuals we collaborate with through our service provision. Ms. Lind has a master’s degree in Clinical Teaching with a minor in Early Childhood Special Education and specializes in interpreting, analyzing, and applying the results of educational and psychological evaluations in the least restrictive environment. Sue was a special education teacher in both Kalamazoo and Van Dyke Public Schools for more than a decade and taught with a primary focus of using functional behavioral assessments to develop and implement behavioral intervention plans utilizing positive behavior intervention supports. Sue Lind also sits on the MISD Transition Council for Post-Secondary Education.
Michelle Taras, CWIC, Representative Payee Director
Shelly Taras has been with the Arc for more than 15 years, initially as a Representative Payee and currently as a Certified Work Incentive Counselor. Shelly supervises several employees, provides Representative Payee services to more than 300 clients, assists people with receiving benefits from Social Security, understanding how employment affects Medicare, Medicaid and SSDI, takes referrals from Social Security Administration for Work Incentive Counseling, manages several Special Needs Trusts, and works closely with The Arc’s guardianship clients to maintain benefits eligibility and prepare paperwork for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Shelly has built such a strong reputation for herself and The Arc that the Social Security Administration refers clients to The Arc.
Mary Scarsella, LMSW, Community & Advocacy Director
Mary Scarsella earned her Bachelor of Social Work and her Master’s in Social Work from Wayne State University. Mary is a Licensed Master Social Worker and also serves as a mediator for the Resolution Center. Mary has worked with individuals with developmental disabilities for more than 30 years. She has been with the Arc for more than 10 years and works primarily as a guardian for individuals with developmental disabilities. Mary has built and maintains the Arc’s reputation that the Arc is one of the premier third-party guardians in Macomb County. Mary supervises three other guardian representatives, which combined represent more than 200 guardianship clients. Mary has taught at Oakland University, and previously worked as a writing tutor at Macomb Community college. Mary continues to provide internship experiences to students pursuing degrees in social work.