Peggy Terhune, Ph.D., MBA, OTR/L

Dr. Peggy Terhune has been CEO of Monarch since June 1995. Under Peggy’s leadership as, Monarch has implemented evidence-based and best practices in all areas, has successfully added numerous services, enhanced community integration, improved customer satisfaction, reduced turnover, and has effectively developed programs to serve consumers with multiple disabilities. She has grown the company significantly and diligently pursues her methodology to incorporate continuous improvement within the organization. Peggy is a strong advocate for people with disabilities and has presented often at conferences and technical workshops, particularly on emerging practices that are used at Monarch.

Peggy has served as an advocate for people with disabilities for more than 40 years and has presented often at conferences and technical workshops, particularly on emerging practices that are used at Monarch. She is a founding board member of the North Carolina Providers Council and past president of the National Conference of Executives of the Arc. Additionally, Peggy was appointed to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Waiver Advisory Committee (DWAC) and has been appointed twice to the N.C. Commission on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services. She is also a board member of the N.C. Council of Developmental Disabilities, also appointed twice by the Governor. Peggy is a past member and officer of the Board of Directors for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) North Carolina and former member of the Benchmarks’ Board of Trustees.

Peggy is the recipient of numerous regional and national leadership awards. In 2016, she was the first-ever recipient of the Distinguished Professional Award in Diversity and Cultural Competency by the National Conference of Executives (NCE) of The Arc. In 2017, she was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Excellence Award from i2i, a health care leadership organization in North Carolina. In 2020, she was awarded the Champion award by the National Conference of Addiction Disorders. In 2020, she was also awarded the highest honor a North Carolina citizen can receive when she received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award, recognizing her outstanding contributions to the state and its people.

Peggy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Indiana University, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has worked with and advocated for people with disabilities for more than 40 years. Her competencies include a wide range of clinical and administrative skills and she is culturally competent. 

In addition to her career, Peggy is mother to seven adult children, grandmother to ten and wife to Bob. For more than twenty years, the couple has fostered children with and without disabilities.  A servant leader, Peggy continues to provide community service in many ways. For fun, she serves as an adjunct faculty member at Wingate University in the doctoral program for Occupational Therapy and at Pfeiffer University in the masters’ program for Occupational Therapy. In her spare time, she enjoys needlepoint, knitting, reading and traveling.