Ingersoll Takes Reins at Mental Health Assoc.

SPRINGFIELD — The board of directors of the Mental Health Assoc. Inc. recently announced the appointment of Joan Ingersoll as the organization’s new executive director. She succeeds Linda Williams, who recently retired from MHA.

Ingersoll, formerly president and CEO of Allied Community Services in Enfield, Conn., was selected by MHA’s executive search committee. As president and CEO of Allied Community Services, Ingersoll led a $10 million organization that provided services to individuals with intellectual disabilities. She previously served for seven years as vice president at the Corporation for Independent Living in Hartford, a nonprofit developer of housing for people with disabilities.

Her background includes leadership positions at disability agencies in Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania, as well as direct service experience. Ingersoll began her career at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., where she served as special assistant to the commissioner of the Administration on Developmental Disabilities.