Arc of Onondaga CEO Ellen Gutmaker to retire in August
Ellen Gutmaker will retire in August, raising continuity questions for Arc of Onondaga's more than 1,000 clients and families. The agency employs over 425 people at 30-plus sites.
Arc of Onondaga's longtime CEO, Ellen Gutmaker, will retire in August, putting one of Onondaga County's largest disability-service providers through a leadership transition that will be watched closely by the families who rely on it every day. The agency says more than 1,000 people and their families depend on its services, and more than 425 employees work across more than 30 sites in Central New York.
Gutmaker has been with the Syracuse nonprofit since 1999 and has served as executive director since 2013. Her departure closes a run that has stretched across decades in local developmental-disability services, a field she has previously described as facing persistent staffing problems and the demands of round-the-clock care.
The stakes are especially high because Arc of Onondaga is not a narrow program or a single facility. Its headquarters is at 600 South Wilbur Ave. in Syracuse, and its operations reach families throughout the county and surrounding region. The organization traces its roots to 1951, when a group of concerned parents came together to make sure their children received the best educational and social services possible.
The next leader will inherit an executive team that already includes Chief Operating Officer Sonja Gottbrecht, CCO Joanna Jewett, Chief Financial Officer Kyle Lyskawa and Chief Human Resources Officer Allison Zmarthie. For parents and caregivers, that internal bench matters: the immediate concern is whether staffing levels, daily routines and service coordination can stay steady while the board manages the handoff.
Arc of Onondaga is also part of The Arc New York, one of 35 local chapters in a statewide network serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That wider connection gives the agency a larger policy and advocacy platform, but the local test remains the same in Syracuse and across Onondaga County: keeping supports reliable for people who depend on them and for the families who organize their lives around them.
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