Rhonda Moore, Executive Director of Pro Seniors, Announces Retirement
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October 29, 2018
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By Mary Day
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Rhonda Moore, executive director of Pro Seniors, has announced that she will retire in February 2019 after leading Pro Seniors for 18 years. Moore assumed the top leadership role at Pro Seniors in 2001 and has grown Pro Seniors into a nationally recognized advocate for older Ohioans with one of the most efficient and productive legal hotlines in the country.
Pro Seniors’ legal program offers free legal advice to any senior who is 60 or older at no cost and its long-term care ombudsman program offers client-focused advocacy to protect the rights of seniors in long-term care facilities.
With Moore at the helm, Pro Seniors expanded its services. In 2001, Moore partnered with Elder Law of Michigan to offer the Pension Rights Program, which now has two attorneys dedicated to pension rights and to date, has recovered over $49,000,000 in retirement benefits. In 2014, the Pro Seniors’ hotline was recognized by the Center for Elder Rights Advocacy as the most efficient hotline in the country, and continues as one of the most productive, handling 6,503 clients for just $41.19 a call. In 2002, Moore secured another federal grant to fund Senior Medicare Patrol, a statewide program that teaches seniors how to avoid Medicare fraud and identity theft.
It is Moore’s ambitious dedication to all of Ohio’s seniors that has had the most lasting effect. Moore convened top leaders in Ohio aging organizations and legal aids to collaborate to strengthened legal services for seniors. Under Moore’s leadership, Pro Seniors pursued justice in two federal class actions that improved the financial security of Ohio veterans and low-income seniors.
In typical modesty, Moore says, “I’ve been very privileged to be a part of Pro Seniors for the last seventeen years and play a role in securing access to justice for Ohio seniors. My role is a supporting role, however, and it’s really the fine advocates on Pro Seniors’ staff who carry out our mission. Our lawyers – as well as our ombudsman, SMP advocates and administrative staff – really do change lives.”
Moore spent 14 years in private practice, first at Frost & Jacobs and then at Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP, concentrating in the areas of estate planning and estate administration. She has been honored by the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation with the 2015 Denis J. Murphy Award for her outstanding leadership and advocacy for Ohio’s seniors and by the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio with the 2017 Outstanding Professional in Aging Award.
Christine Buttress, who worked with Moore at Graydon Head and has been a long-time board member at Pro Seniors, says, “I know Moore as a person of the highest integrity and commitment to her values. She is an established leader in the aging network in Southwestern Ohio and contributes daily to helping seniors resolve their legal and long-term care issues.”
In addition to her leadership at Pro Seniors, Moore has further shown her commitment to seniors and nonprofits through her community involvement on numerous boards and committees. She equally loves traveling with her husband, Tom, caring for her rescue dog, Latte, and parrot, Jackie.
Joshua Goode, president of the Pro Seniors’ board of trustees, says, “Rhonda Moore has been an outstanding leader at Pro Seniors, and I know she will be hard to replace. She has given Pro Seniors a strong foundation with quality programs. We’re excited to build on her exceptional work.”
Jim Yunker of The Yunker Group, an executive search firm based in Cincinnati, will conduct the search for Pro Seniors’ next executive director.
