Gerald Provencal has been MORC’s executive director since 1978. Mr. Provencal began work at MORC in 1972 as an administrative assistant to the director, then as director of programs, before becoming executive director.

At the same time as serving as executive director of MORC, from 1983 to 1986, Mr. Provencal was also executive director of Wayne Community Living Services, another agency assisting people with developmental disabilities.

Mr. Provencal has come a long way since he began his mental health career as an attendant in 1966 at Kalamazoo State Hospital. He also was a live-in houseparent from 1968 to 1969 at Provencal Group Home in Ann Arbor and a clinical social worker at Plymouth Center for Human Development from 1969 to 1972.

Throughout his years with MORC, Mr. Provencal has remained the social worker activist he was when he began his career in mental health in the mid 1960s. He likes to talk about embracing life existentially, about urgency, and about each of us owning the moment.

As it turned out, Mr. Provencal’s personality and life philosophy were perfectly suited to the tumultuous times that were a part of the deinstitutionalization movement in the 1970s and 1980s. During that time, some of MORC’s group homes were shot at, burned down, and were sued over 30 times over the right of people with developmental disabilities to live in the community.

While many other agencies would have given up under so much negative pressure, Mr. Provencal urged his agency on, insisting that people with developmental disabilities have the same rights to live in the community as any citizen. He likened the community placement movement to the Civil Rights movement. All people, according to Mr. Provencal, including those with developmental disabilities, deserve to be full citizens and take advantage of what we all have. This includes the freedom to live where you want to live.

Ultimately, Mr. Provencal’s strong convictions ruled the day. The violence against group homes went away and the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in Mr. Provencal’s favor for the rights of people with developmental disabilities to live in the community.

Mr. Provencal is a past recipient of the American Association On Mental Deficiency National Leadership Award for “outstanding contributions in the field of mental retardation.”

Mr. Provencal has worked as a consultant on the matter of the rights of people with developmental disabilities in 47 states and 14 countries. He has served as an expert witness in 16 class action lawsuits in the United States regarding closing institutions. Mr. Provencal has also testified before a committee of the United States Congress.

Under Mr. Provencal’s leadership, MORC has received visitors from around the world to learn more about its programs, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Mr. Provencal’s efforts played an important role in the closing of all institutions for people with developmental disabilities in Puerto Rico.

In 2006, Crain’s Detroit Business chose Mr. Provencal as a Who’s Who in metro Detroit, a listing of business and nonprofit leaders who are at the top of their industries, who stand out among their peers, or who are at the top of their game.

Mr. Provencal has authored numerous publications, articles, and book chapters. Over the years, he has served on the Board of Directors of many human services agencies.