Melwood Chief of Staff & General Counsel Larysa Kautz Appointed by Gov. McAuliffe to Key Council

UPPER MARLBORO, MD., May 17, 2017 — Cari DeSantis, President & CEO of Melwood, is proud to announce the appointment of Chief of Staff & General Counsel Larysa Kautz by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) to serve on his State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind and Vision Impaired.

“Appointment to this Council feels like home to me. I’ve spent the better part of my career advocating for public policies that improve services and equal access for people with differing abilities,” said Kautz. “I believe that, in order to address their unmet needs, it takes leadership Councils such as this one to identify the critical issues, do the research, and then find ways to empower service providers. It’s my hope that the work we do on the Council will help to create an inclusive society that values everyone’s ability to work, serve, and prosper in their community.” 

Kautz also was recently named a 2017 Leadership in Law honoree in her position as General Counsel to Melwood. She has more than 15 years of experience in law, corporate governance, risk management, government relations, and communications. She holds a JD from Yale Law School and an LLM in taxation from the Georgetown University Law Center. Kautz has been admitted to practice law in New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

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About Melwood: 

Melwood is a nonprofit organization that advocates for and empowers people of differing abilities to transform their own lives through unique opportunities to work and play in the community. Since 1963, Melwood has envisioned a world in which people with differing abilities are fully included. Using an innovative and effective social entrepreneurial model, Melwood offers job training, employment, life skill improvement, community support, and recreation opportunities to more than 2000 people each year in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and throughout the State of Maryland. Melwood operates a training program graduating approximately 100 workers with differing abilities each year and employs more than 1,600 workers seasonal and annual, including over 900 persons with differing abilities. For more information visit www.melwood.org.