ROI Executive Director's Career Comes Full Circle

Jenelle Stoner, Richland Opportunities Inc. (ROI) executive director, has fulfilled her career goal at ROI. 

Her love for helping individuals with developmental disabilities started over 20 years when she started working for ROI in the summertime during her college break. "I would come home from college in the summertime and work at ROI in the houses. That was really where my start was for taking care of individuals with developmental disabilities." 

ROI is a community-based corporation that provides residential and vocational support for individuals with developmental disabilities. They provide them with evaluation, training, education, placement, and support services.

Stoner's responsibility as the executive director includes managing the day-to-day operation of ROI. She also evaluates the progress of ROI to see where it is going and where it wants to be, to ensure that ROI is following all of the state rules. 

Stoner obtained the executive director position in March and since then she has implemented two new scholarships and reorganized a new management structure at ROI. "For the new year I am looking to fine-tune the management structure that I created because I think it will provide an even better level of support for our clients than we have had before," added Stoner.  

Stoner explained that she "absolutely loves" her job. "The managers that I work with are great. They make my job overall fairly easy."

She loves working with developmental disability individuals. She said, "They put a smile on my face. We just got done with something called Walk the Shop, and this is where we crank up the music and we walk and dance around the shop. They have so much fun, and it is hard to put into words, but it just makes my job so enjoyable. It is so easy coming into work every day when they are so excited to see you and want to tell you stuff."

Stoner is looking forward to spending many more years at ROI. She explained, "I never imagined this is where I would be but it is really amazing knowing that my career has totally come full circle - it is where I started and it is where I have reached my life employment goal. "