The Catalyst Lab is a new 2.5-day, in-person, workshop-style event, thoughtfully designed to help leaders develop solutions to our field's greatest challenges together. The Catalyst Lab offers a collaborative space where leaders can envision, test, and develop plans for new strategies that solve longstanding challenges - faster and more effectively than they could on their own.
We’re excited to partner with The National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals and Alvarez & Marsal to bring you the inaugural Catalyst Lab: Workforce Edition. Learn more about the organizations and faculty here.
Now, more than ever, stabilizing the workforce is critical to ensuring the sustainability and quality of services for people with disabilities.
The Catalyst Lab, Workforce Edition, is designed for leaders at the provider and systems level who are ready to scale up effective practices, discover new solutions, and collaborate on innovation to foster a consistent, engaged, informed, and rights-driven workforce.
Open to Leadership Institute graduates and their colleagues (must work at the same organization) the 2026 Catalyst Lab: The Workforce We Need will bring together a network of workforce champions committed to doing differently in our organizations and systems.
Please note: Registration closes January 26th and will be open to the first 40 people who register.
Location
San Diego Regional Center, San Diego, CA
Dates
The Catalyst Lab will take place from February 24-26, 2026 at the San Diego Regional Center. We will have a welcome dinner for anyone traveling in on 2/23 (but not required).
2/24/26: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm
2/25/26: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm
2/26/26: 8:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cost
The 2026 Catalyst Lab will cost $1,250 per person. The cost will include most meals, all materials, and access to a range of curated resources and experts in supporting a sustainable workforce. The NLCDD team will also schedule a virtual meeting with you and others from your organization ahead of the Catalyst Lab to help you get the most out of the experience. Up to four people from one organization may register; one attendee from each organization must be a Leadership Institute graduate.
The Catalyst Lab: Workforce Edition is presented by the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities, in partnership with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals & Alvarez & Marsal. These renowned leaders from our partner organizations will join the Catalyst Lab to share their expertise, insights, and real-world strategies for strengthening and sustaining the direct support workforce.
Joseph M. Macbeth is the Chief Executive Officer and President of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and has worked in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities for 42 years – beginning as a direct support professional.
Macbeth is recognized as an international leader in the advocacy & movement to recognize direct support as a profession and has been a highly sought-after contributor on the workforce challenges that affects our service system.
In the early 2000s, while working for a New York trade association, Macbeth helped the state lead the nation in direct support workforce initiatives. The impact of his work in New York led to Macbeth being hired as the first employee at the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals as a part time Executive Director in 2011. During the ensuing 15 years, NADSP has built a robust membership of more than 250 service provider organizations representing nearly 60,000 direct support professionals, partnered with other national organizations to influence public policy reform and created the first national certification program using a digital badge platform called the E-Badge Academy where tens of thousands of direct support professionals are receiving recognition for the demonstration of their skills. Today, the NADSP employs twelve fulltime employees and dozens of contractors working across North America.
Macbeth was appointed as a Member of the Advisory Council for the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs and appointed by President Biden to serve two terms on the President's Committee for Intellectual Disabilities where he co-chaired the sub-committee for workforce shortages. He lives in North Bennington, VT. Learn more about NADSP here.
John Raffaele is the Director of Educational Services for the NADSP. John is a Master Social Worker and a highly experienced professional adult educator and facilitator.
John’s graduate education is from Yeshiva University in New York City and State University of New York at New Paltz, NY. His career spans three decades and those years have been spent teaching direct support professionals and the people they support. Most of the people with whom he has worked and supported over the last 30 years are people with intellectual/developmental disabilities and at-risk youth, and people with chronic and terminal illnesses in home-care settings. Between 2001 and 2012 John worked as a Director of Training and Education for a developmental disabilities service provider in New York and gained notoriety consulting and teaching throughout the United States. John founded his own international direct support professional consulting company in 2012 and over the last several years, in contract with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals and in close partnership with NADSP Executive Director Joseph Macbeth, has developed many exciting and informative training programs and helped propel the NADSP into national prominence. John became NADSP’s Director of Educational Services in December of 2016. John has educated tens of thousands of people in the NADSP Code of Ethics and Competencies and most recently, our Informed Decision Making curriculum and Frontline Supervisor Train the Trainer Curriculum. Learn more about NADSP here.
Drew Smith is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Public Sector Services in Seattle. He specializes in Medicaid financing and policy, stakeholder engagement and health and human services systems transformation.
His primary areas of concentration include assessment-informed resource allocation methodology, policy implementation and planning, data mapping and analysis, and performance monitoring and planning.
With nearly 20 years of Medicaid experience, Mr. Smith has worked nationally with health and human services entities to measure, evaluate and implement systemic changes in Medicaid policy and practices.
Mr. Smith’s notable assignments include assessing a state’s developmental disabilities program and developing a multi-year plan to support transformation of the system to focus on efficiency, person-centered services and systemic effectiveness. Additionally, his past work includes conducting statewide I/DD Medicaid gap analyses and strategic plans in North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New Mexico; assisting in the development and implementation of assessment-informed resource allocation systems in numerous jurisdictions; and developing tools for state systems and service providers to collect, analyze and evaluate service and performance data.
Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Smith co-founded Community Bridges Consulting Group, where he consulted to service agencies and government bodies on Medicaid policy and services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Before that, he served as Chief Operating Officer at the Council on Quality and Leadership, an international human services accreditation and consulting firm.
Previously, Mr. Smith served as a Policy Analyst at the Human Services Research Institute, working on assessment-informed resource allocation methodology and I/DD service system planning, as well as assisting in large-scale system transformation activities across states.
Mr. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and human resources management from Portland State University and an MBA in healthcare administration from Marylhurst University. He has served on the board of directors for the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, as well as state provider agencies. Learn more about A&M here.
