Lynne Seagle, Hingsburger Humanitarian Award 2023 Honoree

The Dave Hingsburger Humanitarian Award

Lynne Seagle (2023)

The NADSP is proud to recognize Lynne Seagle with the Hingsburger Humanitarian Award for 2023. In Dave Hingsburger’s honor, the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals created the Hingsburger Humanitarian Award in 2021. The recipients of this prestigious award will be those who are champions and allies with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They are those who have demonstrated excellence in their advocacy with people with disabilities and direct support professionals.

Lynne Seagle began her career at Hope House Foundation in 1978 as director of residential services, and has been their executive director for more than three decades, retiring in 2022. Prior to joining Hope House, she was a special education teacher. Throughout college, she worked as a direct support professional for the Arc of Tidewater, which later merged its services with Hope House.

Under Lynne’s leadership, Hope House has become internationally known for its innovative, person-centered approach. One of her proudest accomplishments was guiding their transition from group homes to supporting people in their own apartments in the early nineties.

In 1986, Lynne was honored as the Virginia Administrator of the Year by the Virginia Community Living Association (CLAMR). She also received an Innovation Award from the same organization. In 1990, Lynne received the Leadership Award from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). Later in the nineties, she received the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation’s International Future Leader Award (1998). In 2011, she was appointed to The Arc of Virginia’s board of directors. Lynne has served on the President’s Commission on Intellectual Disabilities and served on the advisory board of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation.

She has a long-standing relationship with the NADSP and was instrumental in assisting the transition from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration to our current iteration. Since 2011, Lynne has facilitated several strategic planning sessions and led a planning group that positioned the NADSP from the portfolio-based credentialing program to the highly successful NADSP E-Badge Academy. Lastly, she has spoken at nearly every NADSP conference and has always been one of this organization’s fiercest allies and trusted advisor.

Lynne and Dave had a deep bond and shared a Dave’s passion for social justice and equality for all people, particularly those with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Lynne’s humanitarian leadership and impactful career will be recognized in Pittsburgh at the 2023 NADSP Annual Conference on September 8th, 2023. Register now to join us as we celebrate 

The NADSP Awards are sponsored by Direct Support Workforce Solutions.

Learn more about the Hingsburger Humanitarian Award by clicking here.