FARMINGTON – Rick Dorian, executive director of Life Enrichment Advancing People, or LEAP, will leave the organization at the end of April to become a full-time theology student and minister.

LEAP Inc. is a private nonprofit agency that serves people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities in Androscoggin Franklin, Oxford and Somerset  counties through a variety of home and residential supports in the community. Its mission is to help people with disabilities lead joyful lives with dignity, independence and autonomy.

“Rick has provided nearly 16 years of dedicated service and leadership at LEAP,” board President Sherry Walrath said. “We will all miss his vision and caring for the people served, their families and staff members. LEAP has experienced significant growth, change and development since 1995 when Rick arrived. It is clear that it is his guidance and support that has been at the heart of these changes.”

Dorian has helped the organization focus its services on smaller and more inclusive opportunities where people served could be closer to their families. LEAP’s staff has grown from 64 to more than 165, making it one of the major employers in the area. The organization has become a technology innovator by  supporting every staff member to use computers to gather service programming information and record-keeping, to do timekeeping for staff hours and payroll and to facilitate internal communications and training.

Dorian has served on many state and regional committees to improve services. He is a past president of the Maine Association for Community Service Providers and is president of the Maine chapter of the American Association on Individuals with Developmental Disabilities and serves on its regional board.