Paralympic Gold Medalist Kari Miller Ortiz Joins Move United Staff
Move United, the national leader in community-based sports and recreation for individuals with disabilities, is excited to name Kari Miller-Ortiz as the organization’s Director of People and Culture.
In this role, Miller-Ortiz will lead the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and programs of Move United by overseeing a variety of internal and external DEI programs. She will also lead the organization’s DEI Leadership Committee, of which she previously served as a member.
“Participation in adaptive sports has been a driving force in navigating my life onto a positive and empowering path. I am beyond proud to be joining Move United and look forward to paying forward all that I have learned and gained as part of the adaptive sports community to those I will have the honor to serve through my work here,” said Miller Ortiz.
For more than 60 years, Move United’s commitment to inclusion has led to expanding opportunities for people with disability so no one is left on the sidelines. As the organization harnesses the power of sport to push what is possible for people with disabilities and incites action that leads to a world where everyone is included, it is expanding its commitment to ensuring an inclusive sports environment that fully serves diverse stakeholders by focusing on the intersection of disability with other diverse populations, especially among Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
“Kari brings perspective and focus to how Move United’s adaptive sports movement intersects with every subset of the American people,” said Move United Executive Director Glenn Merry. “As we demand equity and inclusion for people with disabilities in sport and beyond, Move United holds itself to that inclusion standard itself. I am beyond excited to welcome Kari to the team and look forward to the change she will incite.”
Throughout her career, Miller-Ortiz has worked to create adaptive programing and events. She began working for the US Paralympic Military program and was responsible for setting up the program for newly injured service members at Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval, and Fort Belvoir facilities. She also created and ran similar activities for the U.S. Air Force wounded ill and injured program.
Miller-Ortiz, a retired U.S. Army Sergeant, lost both her legs when a car she was in was hit by a drunk driver while she was on leave from military duty in 1999. After playing a variety of adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, she discovered the sport of sitting volleyball. In 2008, Miller-Ortiz would help Team USA win a silver medal at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. The following year, she would be named Paralympian of the Year.
She would subsequently compete in two more Paralympic Games, as a part of the U.S. team that would earn the silver medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and then the gold medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. For the 2020 Paralympics, Miller-Ortiz served as an NBC commentator.
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