Emily Ross

Program Manager

Emily Ross is the Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) Program Manager for Disability Rights Oregon's Plan for Work program. Emily joined the WIPA Program in 2017 as WIPA Intake Specialist and, within a year, decided to become a Community Work Incentive Coordinator (CWIC). In 2022, Emily was promoted into her current role as Program Manager where she oversees a team of talented CWICs and continues to provide benefits planning and assistance to Social Security disability-based beneficiaries.

As a former recipient of SSDI and benefits from other state programs herself, Emily uses her own personal experiences to fuel her team’s mission to get Social Security recipients on their own paths to financial independence.

Emily was born with a genetic eye condition, Aniridia, which caused statutory blindness. Throughout her lifetime, Emily has found solutions to obstacles and barriers she’s encountered and worked through them with encouragement and empowerment from her family. Emily holds a bachelor's degree from Willamette University.

Emily joined the National Association of Benefits and Work Incentive Specialists (NABWIS) Board of Directors in December 2024.  In her free time, Emily enjoys spending time with family and friends, baking in the fall, playing with her dogs, Cooper and Maeve, and finding creative ways to decorate her new home (a great excuse to buy more LEGOs!).