Move United, Rockville, Maryland, a community-based sports and recreation organization for individuals with disabilities, has named Kari Miller-Ortiz as its director of people and culture.
Miller-Ortiz will lead Move United’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and programs by overseeing a variety of internal and external DEI programs. She will also lead the organization’s DEI leadership committee, on which she previously served as a member.
“Participation in adaptive sports has been a driving force in navigating my life onto a positive and empowering path. I am beyond proud to be joining Move United and look forward to paying forward all that I have learned and gained as part of the adaptive sports community to those I will have the honor to serve through my work here,” said Miller-Ortiz.
Miller-Ortiz, a retired US Army sergeant, lost her legs when a car she was in was hit by a drunk driver while she was on leave from military duty in 1999. After playing a variety of adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, she discovered the sport of sitting volleyball. In 2008, Miller-Ortiz helped Team USA win a silver medal in sitting volleyball at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. She was named Paralympian of the Year in 2009.
“Kari brings perspective and focus to how Move United’s adaptive sports movement intersects with every subset of the American people,” said Glenn Merry, Move United’s executive director. “As we demand equity and inclusion for people with disabilities in sport and beyond, Move United holds itself to that inclusion standard itself. I am beyond excited to welcome Kari to the team and look forward to the change she will incite.”
