Author: Melissa Davey

Melissa Davey, 68, retired at the end of 2015 to pursue her second act and dream of becoming a filmmaker. She just recently completed her first Documentary film about the resilience and continued relevance of women over the age of sixty. After a short tenure in education, she moved into Legal Services, as a paralegal, to pursue Chapter 766 compliance and advocacy for disabled children. It was there, in the late 70’s, that Melissa became connected to and passionate about Social Security disability law. In her time with Legal Services, Melissa represented more than one thousand individuals before the Social Security Administration and was a national substantive law trainer for the Legal Services Corporation. In addition to more than 12 years of direct representation and program management experience, Melissa worked closely with national organizations on various projects to improve the Social Security Disability process for claimants. After Legal Services, Melissa worked with Community Workshops, Inc., America’s oldest sheltered workshop for individuals with severe disabilities, as their Vice President of Development, and with Community Connections of Cape Cod, a job placement agency for disabled adults. Melissa led the development of business expansion and onsite job operations in the greater Boston and Cape Cod areas. Melissa was recruited to Genex in 1994 to build their Social Security advocacy program and develop a consistent national program for disability case management and return-to-work programs for the disabled. Genex is the largest Managed Care organization in North America. As the Vice President of Social Security and Managed Disability for 22 years, Melissa sat on the company’s executive team and worked throughout the United States to create services for individuals and the disability insurance marketplace. Inspired by a day on the set with M. Night Shyamalan, Melissa took a calculated risk and set out on a new path to become a filmmaker. Please check out Melissa's Beyond Sixty Project website. You can also reach Melissa via email.