Donald Barrick, Life’s WORC Board Chairman announced that Janet Koch has been hired as the new Executive Director of Life’s WORC, a Garden City-based 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Koch assumes this leadership responsibility as Peter Smergut retires after 20 years in this position. After a thorough and extensive executive search process, the Life’s WORC Board is confident Koch has the vision and skills consistent with the needs of the organization. She will assume her position as executive director on Monday, Nov. 3.
Since 2009, the 44-year-old executive director in-waiting has been the chief financial officer of Life’s WORC, overseeing a $45 million annual budget. Her introduction to the developmental disabilities field began more than two decades ago at Family Residences and Essential Enterprises (FREE) in Bethpage. She is a native of Queens who graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School, then earned a BBA in Business Administration from Dowling College, and an MS in Accounting from C.W. Post College/Long Island University.
Koch stated one of her primary goals is to evaluate the continuum of services, supports and programs offered through Life’s WORC in line with the significant challenges providers need to address in the coming years. “Life’s WORC has earned recognition and success for what it has accomplished,” she explains. “However, the paradigms it has been using are changing as dictated by new government mandates. Government’s role is shifting from a traditional fee for service funding partnership and moving towards a business model using the principles of a managed care environment. My concern lies in being able to effectively synthesize human needs with corporate efficiency and reduced funding.”
Life’s WORC (www.lifesworc.org) was founded in 1971. The agency currently manages 36 homes and 12 non-residential programs throughout Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties providing programs and services to over 1,500 individuals with developmental disabilities and autism. Life’s WORC has established an excellent reputation in the provision of quality services and supports to people with developmental disabilities and autism. The organization has also ensured for its fiscal responsibility with 91 percent of the funds received by Life’s WORC being spent directly on the individuals supported in the agency homes and programs.
Koch will also oversee the Family Center for Autism, www.FCAutsim.org, an affiliate corporation of Life’s WORC. This new center, (located next door to Life’s WORC), is set to open in January 2015, and will offer a unique environment supporting individuals with autism and their families. This family-centric model has been created to address a significant unmet need within our community.
