Joe Macbeth
Joseph M. Macbeth is the Chief Executive Officer and President of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and has worked in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities for 40 years – beginning as a Direct Support Professional. Macbeth is recognized as an international leader in the advocacy & movement to recognize direct support as a profession and for the past decade, has been a highly sought-after speaker and contributor on the workforce challenges that affected the intellectual and developmental disability service system.
After working for a New York trade association for more than a decade where he helped the state lead the nation in direct support workforce initiatives. The impact of his work in New York led to Macbeth being hired as the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals first employee. During the ensuing 11 years he has built a membership of more than 150 service provider organizations representing nearly 60,000 direct support professionals, partnered with other national organizations to influence public policy reform and created the first national certification program using a digital badge platform called the E-Badge Academy where thousands of direct support professionals currently receive recognition for the demonstration and objective review of their skills. Today, the NADSP employs ten fulltime employees working across North America and an annual budget more than $2 million.
Macbeth co-authored the Report to the President, “America’s Direct Support Workforce Crisis: Effects on People with Intellectual Disabilities, Families, Communities and the U.S. Economy” for the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID, 2017), he was the Issue Editor for Impact: “The Direct Support Workforce and People with Intellectual, Developmental, and Other Disabilities” (University of Minnesota, 2018) and produced an award winning Realistic Job Preview titled “Working as a Direct Support Professional: We Get It Done” (NYSACRA 2011). While working in New York, Macbeth partnered with the State University of New York (SUNY) by assisting more than 500 direct support professionals to advance their college education through the “Disability Studies Certificate”.
