Gov. Maura Healey has reappointed Swampscott resident Jo Ann Simons to the Massachusetts Commission on Intellectual Disabilities.

The Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disabilities is a 13-member oversight body that evaluates the quality and scope of Massachusetts’ services for people with intellectual disabilities. The commission includes 13 members. Simons, president and CEO of Northeast Arc, has served on the commission since her 2016 appointment by former Gov. Charlie Baker.

Each year, Northeast Arc supports thousands of individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families across nearly 200 Massachusetts communities.

Simons previously chaired the board of LIFE, a nonprofit in southeastern Massachusetts that provides residential and community services for adults with learning and intellectual disabilities. She also served as president and CEO of Cardinal Cushing Centers, which supports children and adults with intellectual disabilities and autism.

Simons has said in past interviews that her career path shifted after the birth of her son, Jonathan, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome and heart defects. She redirected her life’s work toward advocating for the rights of her son and others with disabilities. 

“The world that I envisioned for him didn’t exist,” Simons said on an episode of ITCO with the New England Council. “The only way that I was going to make Jonathan’s life the one that I envisioned, where he would be included and welcomed, was to make it a priority for everybody because we rise together. It wasn’t going to make any sense if I could create a meaningful life for Jonathan if nobody else had a meaningful life.”

In 2022, the Boston Business Journal named Simons one of its Women Who Mean Business.

Simons’ current term on the Massachusetts Commission on Intellectual Disabilities runs through April 2027.