On April 5, 2004, ACDS was privileged to have Michael join the agency as Executive Director, and now CEO. During the past twenty years, Michael has helped ACDS grow from a struggling agency to one of the foremost experts on Down syndrome, also having expanded to meet the needs of children and adults with a diversity of developmental and learning challenges. He grew ACDS from employing 155 staff to 900 employees, and from a budget of just a few million to more than $47 million. Michael follows his own philosophy that if there are people who need a service and it’s consistent with ACDS’s mission and we know how to do it, we do it. Over the past 20 years, Michael changed from ‘hands on’ to visionary and everything flourished – the scale, geographic reach, and scope of ACDS’s programs. From new housing opportunities through ISH grants to a new summer adventure respite camp, from expanding into Westchester to seeing the future of OPW being fiscal intermediary services, and everything in between. On April 4, 2024, Michael Smith celebrated 20 years of service and received a leaf on ACDS’s Tree of Life. Congratulations, Michael, and thank you, from ACDS!