Meet our Leadership
Dr. Peggy Terhune has been the Executive Director/CEO of The Arc of Stanly County, Inc., and Arc Services, Inc. now renamed Monarch, since June 1995. Monarch provides residential, vocational, community, and behavioral health services people of all ages with intellectual disabilities, mental illness, and substance abuse issues.
Peggy received a BS degree in Occupational Therapy from Indiana University, a Masters in Business Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology, and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has worked with people with disabilities for over 35 years. Her competencies include a wide range of clinical and administrative skills and she is culturally competent. Under her leadership, the Monarch has moved towards evidence based and best practice in all areas, successful added services, enhanced community integration, improved customer satisfaction, reduced turnover and successfully developed programs to serve consumers with multiple disabilities. She has grown the agency significantly, in part due to the excellence of the supports offered. She continues to work towards evidence based and best practice as continuous improvement is always possible. Through her leadership role in The Arc of Stanly County, 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 within her agency.
Peggy was awarded the 1998 Outstanding Professional Achievement Award, presented by the National Council of Executives of the Arc, and the 2002 Carey S. Fendley Award for Executive Excellence presented by The Arc of North Carolina. In 2007 she received the National Conference of Executives Award for Executive Excellence, which is the highest honor The Arc can confer on an Executive Director of a chapter of The Arc.
Peggy is a founding board member of North Carolina Providers Council and past president of NCE. She also serves on the National Board of Directors for the Council on Quality and Leadership as the representative from The Arc of the United States, the Mecklenburg Provider Council, and the PBH Network Council.
In addition to her career, Peggy is mother to seven grown children and wife to Bob. Peggy and her husband fostered children with disabilities for six years, and she continues to provide community service in a number of ways. For fun, Peggy is an adjunct professor for Strayer University in the MBA program. In her spare time, she enjoys needlepoint, knitting, reading, and travel.
Chief Operating Officer
Jim was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education from The State University Of New York at Cortland followed by twenty three years of direct and administrative experience in human services. As Director of Day Services in New York, Jim’s programs received New York’s highest accreditation and recognition award, the Special Targeted Agency Review. As Vice President of Operations for a large faith based organization Jim’s programs again received the most elite level of accreditation in the state, the Compass Award. The quality standard was awarded to only 9 of 865 human service organizations. Currently serving as Chief Operating Officer of the central and western regions, Jim has been instrumental with Monarch’s two National Accreditations, The Commission on Quality Leadership and The Commission of Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities.
Medical Director
Dr. Robert James McHale M.D., M.Sc. has been Medical Director of Monarch since July 2011. He provides supervision and oversight for the behavioral health services of Monarch. In addition, he works with people of all ages dealing with mental illness and substance abuse concerns. He has a special interest in intellectual disabilities and general medical conditions of the people we serve.
Dr. McHale received his Bachelors of Science Degree in Biology at Saint Louis University, a Masters of Science Degree in Biology at University of Missouri - St. Louis, and his Medical Degree from Saint George's University School of Medicine. He completed his residency training in Psychiatry at the University of Kansas - Wichita, School of Medicine. He was named Chief Resident during his training. He has been Study Physician and Sub-Investigator at the Clinical Research Institute in Kansas, involved with research concerning Depression, Psychotropic medications and drug - drug interactions of medications. Prior to entering into medical school, Dr. McHale worked as a biochemist at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and has been a co-author of over 30 scientific publications and abstracts. He was also involved in research and study of Sleep Disorders at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry - Sleep Disorders Center. He has given numerous lectures and presentations on mental illness and believes education is a hallmark for quality of care for all the people with serve in our communities.
Dr. McHale was awarded Excellence In Service Award from NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), The Laurie Coyner Award: Excellence For Psychiatric Inpatient Care at University of Kansas, Saint Louis University Undergraduate Research Award. He is a Member of several Professional Associations; American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, North Carolina Psychiatric Association, North Carolina Medical Society, Kansas Psychiatric Society, Collaborative Family Health Care Association. Dr. McHale recently has been recognized as a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, a member Board of the American Board of Medical Specialties.
Dr. McHale and his wife (Amy) are new to the North Carolina area and are pleased with the generosity and hospitality of the North Carolinians. Robert and Amy are the proud parents of a young son named Thomas.
Chief Financial Officer
Cindy has been employed with Monarch since November of 1984. She received her B.S. Degree in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, May 1983. She is a member of Beta Alpha Psi, Accounting Honorary Fraternity. Currently serving as the treasurer for Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, she Is an active member in her community, and has also held the office of treasurer with the PTO organizations and Optimist Club. She lives in Albemarle with her husband Richard and her two children.
Chief Administrative Officer
As the Chief Administrative Officer of Monarch, Terri oversees the Human Resources and Information Technology operations. She is a 1993 graduate of Appalachian State University, and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications Media with a Minor in Management. In 1999, Terri was also awarded her National Society of Human Resource Management Certification. This was accomplished by showing competencies in all areas of human resource management including employee relations, risk management, strategic planning and workforce planning. Terri has been employed with Monarch since 1993. She and her husband, Matt, live in Salisbury, NC.
MSW, LCSW, Chief Clinical Officer
Daniel earned a Bachelors’ degree in Psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill, and a Masters degree in Social Work from UNC-Charlotte. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of North Carolina and has been working in the field of mental health, substance abuse, and developmental disabilities his entire career. He has worked in various capacities at different levels of the service delivery system including a group home, inpatient hospital setting, area program, and community based provider organization. Daniel is very involved with other community and social service organizations including Stanly Community College Human Services Advisory Board, Group Homes for the Autistic Human Rights Committee, New Hope Optimist Club, UNC Charlotte Social Work Field Advisory Board, and the Butterfly House Child Advocacy Center Advisory Council. He also serves as a Board member for the North Carolina Child Advocacy Centers and the North Carolina Providers Council. Daniel lives in Albemarle with his wife Christy and his two children.
Director of Quality Management
Caroline Fisher received her Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education from Western Carolina University, May 1988. She received her Master’s Degree in Leadership and Organizational Change from Pfeiffer University in May, 2009. Caroline holds certifications in quality improvement, personal outcome instructor, and outcome interviewer with The Council on Quality (CQL), and was named The Arc of NC’s Professional of the Year in 2009.
Caroline has been involved in the disability field since high school when a career track program offered the opportunity to be a student volunteer in an elementary school for 3 hours a day. She requested to be placed with children with special needs and quickly realized then that she had found her career!
Caroline came to Monarch in 2005 with strong experience in management of multiple types of service systems for people with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and Mental Illness. In addition to experience in the delivery and management of services, Caroline also brought many years of quality management experience to the agency. Caroline worked as a Regional Director for Monarch until 2006 when she accepted her current position. In this position Caroline has led the quality management unit in the development of Monarch’s current quality assurance and quality improvement systems, to include Monarch’s national accreditation with The Council on Leadership (CQL).
A North Carolina native, Caroline currently lives in Concord with her husband Michael and son Carter.
Chief Development Officer
As Chief Development Officer, Blake is responsible for the creation and execution of broad-based development and fundraising efforts to secure financial support from individual donors, community partners, corporate partners and foundations.
Prior to his position at Monarch, Martin served as Director for Annual Giving at Wingate University and as Associate Director for Major Gifts at Pfeiffer University. A resident native of Albemarle, Martin received his BA at Pfeiffer University where he met his wife, Jamie. He holds board positions with the Albemarle Downtown Development Corporation (ADDC), and the Stanly County Arts Council as well as multiple leadership positions within the Stanly County Chamber of Commerce.
Region 1, Clinical Regional Director
Region 2 Director
Region 3 Director
Region 4 Director
Region 5 Director
Region 6 Director