Staff Directory

Teja Stokes is the Deputy Executive Director for the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS). In addition to serving in a leadership capacity for the organization, she provides a broad range of technical assistance (TA) to states on issues related to Medicaid structure and quality, organizational success strategies, and effective service modalities.

Ms. Stokes began her career as a direct support professional and has more than 30 years of experience in home and community-based services (HCBS) program development, implementation, quality, and policy. Before joining NASDDDS, Ms. Stokes served as a Director in the Government Health and Human Services division at IBM Watson Health, managing state and federally funded projects to advance long term services and supports. She has held various leadership positions within Virginia state government, where she supported Medicaid policy development, community-based behavioral health supports, and provision of developmental disabilities services.

She has 30 years of experience in change management, including quality improvement, process mapping, strategic planning, process improvement, and group facilitation. Ms. Stokes holds a Master’s Degree in Business Leadership/Quality Management from Upper Iowa University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Mary Washington College.