Lynn Noren, long-time Rise CEO, has been awarded the 2025 MOHR Legacy Leader Award. The Legacy Leader Award honors individuals who have recently retired and left a lasting mark on their communities through outstanding service and leadership in the field of disability services. Having retired last December after a remarkable 46-year career, Noren’s legacy is deeply rooted in the Rise community and in the broader evolution of disability services across Minnesota. Her work has not only helped shape Rise into what it is today but has also played a key role in guiding the MOHR Association through decades of growth and transformation.
Noren’s path into the field began early. As a high school student, she noticed how students with disabilities were often left out of classrooms and conversations. Those early observations, along with time spent at St. Mary’s Junior College and Hospital and in the special education associates program, sparked a lifelong dedication to inclusive, person-centered care. In 1979, at just 19 years old, Noren began her career at Rise as an intern through the St. Mary’s special education program, joining a small team of six staff members and a handful of volunteers, eight years after the organization was founded. At the time, Minnesota was beginning to shift from institutional care to community-based services. Noren quickly became part of a small but visionary group committed to finding new and better ways to support people with disabilities, not apart from society, but as valued members within it.
“It was person-centered support before the term was coined,” Noren recalls. “We were all in it together, trying to learn what to do.” In that first role, she was encouraged to continue her education and bring back new ideas to strengthen the organization and better support the people it served. When asked what fueled her passion for learning and growth, Noren points to the people themselves, “Every single person - we were always amazed. People live far beyond the expectations you set for them.”
A decade into her career, Noren was called to help chart a new direction for Rise during a pivotal moment in Minnesota’s history. In the 1990s, the state made the landmark decision to close its institutional centers for people with disabilities. As responsibilities shifted to community providers, Rise rose to the occasion, opening three programs to assist individuals transitioning out of institutions and into residential and community living. “There were challenging days,” Noren recalls. Many of the individuals had never been given the opportunity to make their own choices. But watching them grow, find independence, and become part of a community left a lasting impression. “You can’t not be changed,” she says.
In 2013, Noren was named President and CEO of Rise, stepping into a leadership role during a period of both great opportunity and significant challenge. Her steady, compassionate leadership helped guide the organization through major transitions, including the 2018 merger between Rise and ESR. The complex integration required thoughtful alignment of staff, services, and organizational cultures, all while keeping person-centered care at the heart of every decision. Just two years later, she would face one of the most unprecedented challenges in recent history: the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her leadership, Rise adapted quickly to protect the health and well-being of both staff and the people they support. Over a career of nearly five decades, from intern to CEO, Noren helped transform Rise into a dynamic, innovative organization of more than 400 employees, now serving nearly 3,000 people annually.
Speaking on her role in shaping MOHR, Noren reflected on the collaborative spirit of the association and the challenges of working closely with state systems. “Every single thing we do is impacted by the actions of the legislature whether it’s policy, licensing rules, or funding,” she explained. Noren served as chair of the MOHR Government Affairs Committee and sat on the Disability Waiver Rate System Advisory Committee. In these roles, she worked to bring day services providers into legislative and funding conversations, fought for improved rates for waiver services, testified before the Minnesota Senate and House, coordinated with lobbyists, and spent countless hours advocating for disability service providers across the state.
Reflecting on her 46-year career, Noren is proud of the positive impact she helped bring about. “Our work is to create the best life for the people that we support. Along the way, I got to live my best life too.” For emerging leaders, Noren has simple but powerful advice: “Be curious.” She encourages professionals in disability services to keep learning, to understand the details of the systems they work within, and to stay closely connected to the lives of the people they serve. She challenges leaders to question the status quo, experiment with new approaches, and embrace mistakes as part of meaningful change. “The only way things really change is by trying new ideas,” she says. “Do what’s best for the people you support, and always be open to learning.”
Even after such an impactful and trailblazing career, Noren remains humble. “I’m very honored by the award. Anything I ever accomplished, I accomplished with other people.” MOHR proudly recognizes Lynn Noren with the 2025 MOHR Legacy Leader Award and honors the lasting legacy she leaves in the field of disability services.
