Marie Dionne graduated from UMASS Amherst with a BS in Wildlife Conservation, but decided that wasn’t the route for her. She began working with the disability population as a therapeutic horseback riding volunteer in 2007, where she quickly fell in love with supporting her riders. In 2008 she became an employer for an Arc of Orange County participant at a coffee shop, and was introduced to the joys of DSP work by the job coach who worked there. In 2012 Marie became a full-time DSP with The Arc of Orange County, and then moved into an Exceptional Children’s Teacher Assistant role, while continuing as a part-time DSP. Then in 2016 she was hired full-time as an Individual Services Supervisor (QP) with The Arc of the Triangle. She loved it. After a couple of years she was promoted to Assistant Director of Individual Services, and then to Individual Services Director after a few more years. 12 years spent in Service Delivery with The Arc/Triangle Disability & Autism Services. And then, in the fall of 2023, Marie embarked on a new journey; moving over into Human Resources, where she found that her years of experience in the disability field, and also her in-depth knowledge of the agency, were valuable assets to her new role of supporting the entire workforce. Since then Marie has met with new challenges and new rewards; she’s discovered her love of supporting employees in whatever ways they need. In an effort to seek out more HR knowledge, Marie took a Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional exam prep course and, in early July 2024, passed with her SHRM-CP credentials. Marie looks forward to furthering her knowledge of this new-to-her field, and to finding new ways to support both participants and employees at Triangle Disability & Autism Services. When she’s not at work, Marie can be found watching Netflix with her two cats, Winter and Finn, and caring for a small herd of horses on the farm where she rents.
