Posted on July 17, 2025
Focus on tech, growth and support opportunities
Gregory Miller
President/CEO Penn-Mar Human Services
Our mission at Penn-Mar is to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live courageously in pursuit of their best life.
Our success in fulfilling this promise relies on thoughtful strategic planning that evaluates best practices and areas of improvement, aligned with a bold vision for future opportunities.
In our current Strategic Plan, we have identified four priorities that will build upon the many innovative initiatives already established within the organization.
Empowering Technology
We envision amazing opportunities in the tech space that will give the people we support the independence to live the life of their choosing and allow our team members to devote their time and energies to person-centered supports. We are piloting 25 tech-enabled community homes that will provide everything from voice activation systems to Smart equipment, safety, and energy enhancements. To help us adapt these life-changing technologies, the Aegon Transamerica Foundation has awarded us $25,000 for innovative Smart Home Technology for an additional 30 residences. The Arc Maryland’s SpArc Tank Initiative provided $6,500 to fund Smart Home technology for 10 additional houses.
Mission Based Growth Opportunities
I am passionate about how we take care of our team members. It’s imperative that we create an environment where they feel they have everything they need to be successful at their job. Our “Belonging” initiative was developed to use their input to explore and develop ways to make them feel more connected to our mission. We are highly motivated to retain and attract good talent. To become the employer of choice, we have supported our Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) with growth opportunities such as the Career Ladders credentialling program, made possible thanks to the Michael James Pitts Endowment for the Advancement of DSPs, and have expanded that training to include a program designed for Frontline Supervisors. In addition to the Michael James Pitts Endowment supporters, we are also indebted to the generosity of Mike and Dawn Zgorski, who created the Zgorski Family Endowment for the Staff Training and Aid Fund. Part of that $1 million gift supports this essential new staff training. For the second year, Northrop Grumman has contributed funds to continue expanding our SHIFT Training to include additional DSPs, Community Job Developers, and team members within our organization to attain a credential that encompasses knowledge of technology integration, best practices, and person-centered assessment.
Exploring External Growth Opportunities
This strategy basically says that our leadership will continue to keep our eyes open for other organizations who may want to partner with us for all the right reasons. It’s not about getting to a certain size by a certain time through mergers and acquisitions. Rather, we want to have a good understanding of what is on the landscape. If there are opportunities for partnerships, we need to consider having those conversations. There are a lot of folks out there who do what we do. Could Penn-Mar be part of their succession plan for the benefit of both organizations? That’s what we will be exploring.
New Models of Support
As a learning organization, one of Penn-Mar’s core values is innovation. And while we continue to innovate our processes, we have enough humility to know that other providers are doing some incredible, cutting-edge things from which we could learn. This is not about doing something different just to do it. It’s about embracing the entire environment out there with an open mind for any thoughts or ideas that will help improve the lives of the people we support.
I am grateful to our Board of Directors for their dedication to our mission and their tireless efforts in helping to develop our Strategic Plan. I would like to pay tribute to Joy Keller-Brown, a former Penn-Mar Board Member, who died unexpectedly on June 16. With her husband Jeff, she spent over 40 years growing Keller-Brown Insurance Services in Shrewsbury. Joy served her community in leadership roles too numerous to mention and we were privileged to have had her support over these many years. Rest in peace, Joy.