With more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit agencies serving deaf, deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing and late-deafened people, Sharon L. Applegate AAS ’79 is an accomplished non-profit executive and a major contributor to the civic life of the deaf community in Massachusetts and beyond. Since 2003, Ms. Applegate has been the executive director of DEAF, Inc. (Developmental Evaluation and Adjustment Facilities, Incorporated), based in Boston, Mass. Since its founding in 1977, DEAF, Inc. has remained Massachusetts' only community-based, multi-service agency operated by and for Deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing and late-deafened people. Under her leadership, DEAF, Inc. has expanded health support services and outreach; implemented youth and elder services; improved standards for service delivery that have been recognized as best practices in the field; increased visibility through strategic public relations; established a development department and has kept the agency fiscally stable in changing economic times.  
 
Before joining DEAF, Inc., Ms. Applegate was the assistant executive director of the New York Society for the Deaf (NYSD), and managed city-wide comprehensive behavioral, social and rehabilitative services, including New York City's Ryan White HIV-AIDS Case Management program; an OMH-licensed Mental Health Clinic and Psychiatric Treatment Apartment program; an OSAS-licensed Substance Abuse program; and the OMRDD-licensed Individual Residential Alternative. A graduate of RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf with an associate degree in Medical Laboratory Technology, Ms. Applegate also holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Columbia University and master's degrees from Columbia University in social work and public health. Reflecting on the part NTID played in her personal and professional development, Ms. Applegate says, It was at NTID where I was empowered by language, culture and the network of my peers, but most importantly, also, through NTID's support and belief that deaf students can succeed in a hearing world.... [NTID] was the stepping stone for me to higher education and bigger dreams. Her passion for leadership was sparked while still a student: My new-found sense of self as a student at NTID enabled me to run for and win a seat on the school's Student Congress. There I developed the leadership skills that provided the foundation for my ongoing development as a leader in my community and the agencies that serve our communities.