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Melanie Stretchbery ‘81, has turned a 25-year career of helping people with special needs into a county leadership position. In September 2008, she was named superintendent for the Wood County (Ohio) Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

Her professional career has been solely in the field of working with individuals with disabilities. Prior to the new appointment, Stretchbery served as director of adult services at Wood Lane Industries, a position she held since 1998; however, her involvement with the county MRDD program dates to 1983.  She also was support services supervisor, director of case management. Before joining the Wood County program, she was a case management specialist with the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

In her role as Wood Lane’s director of adult services, she helped provide employment, vocational and habilitation services to people with developmental disabilities.

Stretchbery, an Eastlake, Ohio native, is a 1981 graduate from Bowling Green State University and holds a master’s degree in social administration from Case Western Reserve University. Stretchbery is also a program surveyor for CARF, a national rehabilitation organization that accredits disability service organizations across the United States.

In spring 2008, Stretchbery was named to the BGSU College of Health and Human Services Advocates Board.  She also serves on the Behavior Support Advisory Committee of the Ohio Department of MRDD.  She's president of the Ohio Association of Adult Services Board of Directors as well as the Children's Resource Center Board of Directors in Bowling Green.