Past Award Recipients
2025 NABWIS Award Recipients:1st Annual Mary Ridgely Award
Created in 2025 to honor an exceptional certified benefits planner who demonstrates excellence in the direct provision of benefits counseling services.
Winner: Latosha Olinger
Latosha has worked for Warren County Board of Developmental Disabilities for 23 years, serving individuals with developmental disabilities in many capacities. She has devoted her career to being an advocate, friend, and mentor to those she serves, their families, and her co-workers. For the past 9.5 years, Latosha has been a devoted work incentive coordinator, obtaining her CWIC from Virginia Commonwealth University. She provides benefit consultations and analysis for those enrolled in services. She also assists with the application process for various benefits, overpayment issues, Medicaid errors and discrepancies, along with a gamut of other benefit related needs that may arise. Not only is she the only Work Incentive Coordinator for this agency, serving over 2,000 children and adults with developmental disabilities, she is actively involved in many initiatives across the state. Since obtaining her certification, she has become a common name throughout the state. In addition to providing direct benefit services, Latosha is involved with developing and presenting cross agency public benefit education in many facets. She has presented at state conferences providing education to benefit recipients and professionals. She regularly trains new Service and Support Administrators through the Southwest Council of Governments as part of their new hire orientation to provide them with an introduction to public benefit systems. She is also an integral part of developing F.E.A.R. Factor training's, online training's breaking down the fears and stigma associated with working and receiving benefits, so recipients and professionals can build a foundational knowledge and make informed decisions. This series is in collaboration with other county boards of developmental disabilities, the Ohio Association of County Boards, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD)- the state vocational rehabilitation agency, and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities. The training's are available to professionals, families, and individuals with disabilities. Additionally, Latosha presents information on public benefits and working each year at S.A.L.T.S (Student to Adult Life Transition Series) in collaboration with OOD and other county boards of developmental disabilities. This educational series is aimed at providing students who are receiving services, and their parents’, education on the next steps after leaving high school. Latosha is well known for her positive, calm, and welcoming demeanor. She has been a long-time champion of promoting education so those receiving benefits can make informed decisions about work, benefit management, and maximizing their full potential. She has built great relationships with the local Job and Family Services office as well as multiple Social Security offices in Warren and surrounding counties. Prior to becoming a Work Incentives Coordinatorfull ti me, Latosha worked as an Employment Developer, assisting individuals with developmental disabilities in obtaining gainful employment. Through her experience with state vocational rehabilitation, employment knowledge,and understanding how various public benefit systems work together she has helped countless individuals feel empowered to make educated decisions in their best interest.
Susan M Daniels Award
Created in 2021 to recognize outstanding government service in support of the profession of benefits counseling by a state, federal, or legislative partner.
Winner: Jolene Wyler
I am not sure if Jolene ever sleeps! Jolene is the Program Director for the Utah WIPA Project and is also the Program Coordinator for the state ABLE program. As the NABWIS Vice President, Jolene has taken the lead on both membership and organizational website. She is also a vital part of every conference planning committee, leading registration and awards for many years. Jolene encourages work incentive planners across the country to integrate ABLE into their work. She shares stories from the state of Utah to help NABWIS in policy advocacy work to support the field of work incentives planning. In many ways, Jolene is the heart of NABWIS. As she prepares for retirement, I wonder how NABWIS will survive without her ceaseless commitment and energy. Jolene's contributions reflect the highest standards of service and professionalism.
2025 Thomas P Golden Distinguished Service Award
Created in 2021 to recognize outstanding service to the benefits and work incentive counseling community and furtherance of the work incentives counseling profession
Winner: Marlene Ulisky
I first met Marlene when I worked for a Benefits Planning, Outreach and Assistance (BPAO) grantee in the early 2000’s. At the time, Marlene worked for the Social Security Administration (SSA) in Florida as an Area Work Incentive Coordinator (AWIC). Marlene’s dedication to people with disabilities was evident based on her behavior across multiple domains: 1) her responsiveness to questions from Beneficiaries and Recipients, benefits planners, service providers, families and supports; 2) her willingness to show up and provide training in community settings to increase the knowledge of stakeholders across Florida; 3) the extra effort she took to work within and across SSA offices to address practices that created confusion and barriers to work. I recruited Marlene to join National Disability Institute to bring her passion, commitment and expertise to move forward our work and mission which focuses on improving the employment and economic empowerment of people with disabilities. At NDI, Marlene operates as an in-house expert on Social Security disability benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, ABLE accounts and other public benefits. She is uniquely equipped to support people who want to go to work and/or increase their hours, wages, savings and other goals. Marlene’s drive for understanding and relaying high quality, comprehensive information to individuals and to the field makes Marlene an incredible asset to this field. Marlene researches, connects with people within and outside of SSA and other systems, brings together partnerships like NDI with James R. Sheldon, former Supervising Attorney of the Disability Law Unit of Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) and a host of other technical experts to ensure that guidance to the field on new opportunities like ABLE accounts is robust, comprehensive, accurate and accessible. Marlene contributes to all of NDI’s programmatic work on public benefits, all of our policy work on social policy solutions and creates and reviews content that raises the level of expertise of NDI staff and partners. As a result, NDI has trained more than 365 trainers who have informed more than 18,000 people, about SSA work supports in the states of Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. In addition, Marlene supported training to more than 125 financial counselors and coaches in the states of California, Kentucky, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Texas, ensuring that people with disabilities who are experiencing financial hardships are informed of SSA work supports, and ways to address overpayments.
Thomas P Golden Distinguished Service Award
Created in 2021 to recognize outstanding service to the benefits and work incentive counseling community and furtherance of the work incentives counseling profession
Winner: Ray Cebula
Ray worked as an attorney for 23 years prior to joining Cornell University Work Incentive Support Center in 2000. Ray has dedicated his career to helping people with disabilities manage their public benefits and supporting return to work programs through policy advocacy, litigation, national education, and leadership at NABWIS. Ray currently serves as President of NABWIS. He has been actively involved in litigation and to improve SSA programs, and in legislative and administrative policy advocacy. He provided input in the drafting of the TTWWIA and help with BPAO, WIPA, and WIP-C education and technical assistance from Day One. Ray inspires students daily in his education and technical assistance roles. He shares stories of success and strategies to overcome barriers. He has helped several states create statewide networks of work incentive planners, including New York and North Carolina. Under Ray's leadership, the membership of NABWIS has grown significantly. He has actively served on the continuing education and policy committees while on the NABWIS Board. Ray leaves a legacy of work incentives planners that are truly instilled with his lifelong belief that people can be lifted and guided out of poverty. His efforts have had a meaningful impact on the continued future of work incentives planning.
2022 NABWIS Award Recipients:
Susan M. Daniels Award
Winner: Charles Killen
Charles was recently selected for a Management Analyst position with the Office of Research, Demonstration, and Employment Support (ORDES) after serving as part of the Area 2 Area Work Incentives Coordinator (AWIC) team. Prior to realignment, Charles was the AWIC for former Area 8. He has held the AWIC position since it was created in 2003, is the recipient of an ACOSS Team Award for his work on the Work Smart Programming team, and served on both the ORDES and OEST teams through the skills connect program. As an Area 2 AWIC, Charles assisted and provided e-Work training throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. Mr. Killen also collaborated at the national level as part of the e-Work Replacement Product team. As an AWIC, Charles worked directly with the Agency’s community partners supporting return-to-work initiatives. Prior to his service as an AWIC, he served as a generalist Customer Service Representative in the Pekin and Peoria IL, and Southwest Suburban IL, offices. While in Peoria, he was awarded a Regional Commissioners Communications award.
Since expanding our coverage area from all 99 counties of Iowa to include 34 counties in northwest Illinois starting July 2021, the DRI WIPA team has had the pleasure of working with Charles in support of beneficiaries. Charles understands the time sensitive nature of benefits planning for the clients we serve and is dedicated to an efficient turnaround time for not only Benefits Planning Querys (BPQYs) but clarifications on complex and at times confusing situations. Charles often sends us BPQYs and other necessary information within the same day as our requests - sometimes even within the hour! Through his years of experience, Charles has amassed vast knowledge and understanding of Social Security Administration (SSA) systems and regulations. He will take the time to clearly explain complicated situations and provide us with guidance to help the beneficiaries with their next and best courses of action. Charles also is quick to update the WIPA team on system-wide issues in advance of us experiencing them. For example, Charles notified us of the country-wide problem with Trial Work Period information on BPQYs to ensure we were providing accurate benefits support to our clients.
Charles understands the importance of benefits planning services for SSA beneficiaries and the partnership between AWICs and Community Work Incentives Coordinators (CWICs). Due to his commitment to benefits planning and work incentives, Charles has made a difference in the lives of countless beneficiaries. While the DRI WIPA team is sad to lose a valuable resource and collaborator, we are excited to know that he will be helping to improve SSA policies and procedures within the organization on a system-wide scale. Please accept our nomination for Charles Killen due to the outstanding service he has provided throughout the course of his career.
Thomas P. Golden Award
Winner: Connie Ferrell
Connie spent the last 5 years of her career as the Master trainer for the National Training Center run by Virginia Commonwealth University. She personally trained and supported hundreds of individuals who worked as benefits planners or work incentives specialists over a 30+ period of time. She was regularly called upon to assist with demonstration projects such as BOND or POD, providing training and supporting the work incentives counselors who provided direct service to Social Security beneficiaries.
Connie presented to the Ticket to Work committee as an expert in developing the field of work incentives specialists. She was a member of the Social Security Region V Work Incentives Advisory Committee as a representative from her state of Indiana. She advocated within her state for changes in policy to support community employment for people with disabilities.
Connie has for many years educated state vocational rehabilitation counselors on the benefits of community employment for individuals with severe disabilities, and trained on Social Security benefits and work incentives as incentive to work. Prior to her work in benefits and work incentives counseling, Connie worked in the Supported Employment arena.
I am writing this letter of support for the nomination of Ms. Connie Ferrell for the Thomas P. Golden Distinguished Service Award for 2022. I have known and worked with Connie since 2000, when the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act was signed, the BPAO/WIPA initiative was created by Social Security, and Connie and I were both hired on as Technical Assistance Specialists for the Regional Training Center run by Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute, and then later worked together for VCU’s National Training and Data Center until her retirement in 2021. It is not possible to describe all of Connie’s work and accomplishments over the past 45+ years. I can say, having worked closely with her, that she was the premier trainer for work incentives specialists. All other trainers were inspired by her passion for educating people on benefits and work incentives, and we marveled at the ease with which she shared her knowledge and made people feel comfortable with the fact that it would take time to learn the policies, rules and regulations that govern the programs.
Please know that the information I put on the nomination form about Connie’s leadership and advocacy activities is likely a small percentage of what she was actually involved in over the years. If you need more information, I can get her resume/vitae for more detail.
Thank you for your consideration of my friend and colleague, Connie Ferrell, for this award. I think it would mean a great deal to Connie, who was not only a colleague, but a very close friend of Thomas Golden’s.