Paul Auchterlonie, CEO, University Behavioral Health
 
Paul Auchterlonie has over 25 years of experience in the behavioral healthcare and propriety education industries. From his summer job in college working with adolescents in foster care and residential treatment, to managing corporate turnarounds as the CEO of multi-million-dollar behavioral healthcare companies, Auchterlonie has always tried to help individuals and organizations reach their potential. His expertise includes organizational turnaround, leadership, strategy, marketing and program development. He has worked for Harvard University, The Brown Schools, Aspen Education Group and other leaders in the field. In addition to appreciating the challenges of organizational change, Auchterlonie enjoys helping individuals launch new, healthy and engaged lives.
Dexter W. Braff,  MBA,  President, Braff Group
 
Dexter Braff has more than 25 years of experience in health care mergers and acquisitions. Prior to forming The Braff Group in 1998, he was an associate and senior appraiser with Telesis Mergers & Acquisitions. He also served as regional Director of Finance for Foster Medical Corporation. Dexter has written numerous feature articles on merger and acquisitions and finance and has authored the chapter on Home Health Care Valuation in the Handbook of Business Valuation published by John Wiley & Sons. Additionally, Dexter is a frequent speaker at major industry conferences and webinars. Dexter holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and received the Vincent W. Lanfear Award for academic achievement.
Matthew M. Dorman, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer
 
With more than 30 years’ experience in technology management, operations, finance and investment banking and 18 years of political and government understanding and knowledge, Mr. Dorman has driven Credible from a start-up with a Mission to improve the quality of care in behavioral health to a profitable, financially stable company with over 350 Partner Agencies spanning 33 states and D.C., annual revenues exceeding $25,000,000 and more than 150 staff nationwide. Prior to starting Credible and growing Credible to a leadership role in the Behavioral Health Enterprise software market, Mr. Dorman managed a $40 million E-Commerce division for Lockheed Martin. Previously, Mr. Dorman worked in the private sector managing turn-arounds and providing investment banking and management consulting.  Prior to his MBA, Mr. Dorman worked in county and state government in Maryland, as well as on Capitol Hill for US Senator Paul Sarbanes and for Senator Al Gore’s Vice Presidential campaign in 1988.  He earned his MBA in Finance from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Delaware.
Matthew Evans, Managing Director, Monroe Capital LLC
 
Matthew Evans is a Managing Director – Healthcare of Monroe Capital.  He is responsible for co-leading relationship sourcing and the origination of new business opportunities within the healthcare industry. Mr. Evans has over 13 years of experience in healthcare finance.  Prior to Monroe, he was at Principal at Beverly Capital, a healthcare focused private equity firm.  He was formerly a Vice President in the Healthcare Leveraged Finance group at Madison Capital where he originated, structured and underwrote debt financing for private equity sponsored transactions. Prior to Madison Capital, Mr. Evans worked in Merrill Lynch Capital Healthcare Finance's leveraged lending group. He earned his M.B.A. from the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Rebecca Harris, CPA, Chief Financial Officer, New Vista Behavioral Health
 
Rebecca Harris brings nearly a decade of experience in the healthcare industry and currently serves as the chief financial officer of New Vista Behavioral Health, the parent company of Simple Recovery, Infinity Treatment Centers, Avalon Malibu and Malibu Integrative. As a senior leader in finance and accounting, she strives to provide organizations with effective financial and operations strategies. Prior to joining New Vista, Rebecca co-founded Ascend Healthcare Services, LLC, a healthcare physician practice management company that specializes in sell-side due diligence and management service offerings for small to medium-sized healthcare companies.
 
Previously, Rebecca also served as the CFO for Vivere Health, and as vice president of finance at SpecialtyCare, Inc. She earned a B.A. in accounting and computer information systems from James Madison University and holds her Certified Public Accountant license.
Daniel J. Gemp, President, CEO, Dreamscape Marketing
 
Daniel Gemp has been the President and CEO of Dreamscape Marketing since its founding in 2005. While at Dreamscape, Dan has originated custom strategies for the effective implementation of internet and search marketing as well as social/mobile advertising campaigns. He maintains consultative focus on extremely efficient and proprietary search engine optimization techniques focused on Return-On-Investment driven methodologies and metrics.  A graduate of Villanova University’s school of business, Dan applies financial modeling and international experience to Dreamscape’s campaigns to consult partners on a cost-per-action model. Dreamscape engineers and develops custom solutions for small to large treatment centers and recovery service providers with targeted research, products, and content-centric campaigns that result in new revenue streams, increased brand awareness, implementation of new lead development systems, and direct sales activation. With the rise of the burgeoning mobile web/app market, Dan has also positioned Dreamscape as a thought leader on system design and mobile
David C. Guth, Jr., Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Centerstone
 

David Guth is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Centerstone, one of the nation’s largest behavioral healthcare providers. The non-profit organization, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, serves nearly 180,000 individuals in communities in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, and nationwide through its national provider network.

Guth has served in the capacity of chief executive for Centerstone since 1991. With over 40 years of behavioral healthcare experience, 33 in executive leadership, his experience and expertise comprise a vast number of areas, both business and clinical. He has presented extensively before national and international audiences on the adoption of information technology in the healthcare industry, the integration of behavioral and primary healthcare, and the importance of improving the field of behavioral health through research-driven protocols. His insights on these topics and others have been featured in numerous professional journals. Under his leadership, the organization has grown from $6M in revenues and 300 staff serving 2,000 individuals to revenues of $327M and 5,200 staff serving nearly 180,000 people each year through 1,250 partnership locations and 211 facilities. In addition, Centerstone contracts with over 700 specialty credentialed clinicians nationwide.

The National Council for Behavioral Health publishes Guth’s first book on mergers entitled, “Strategic Unions: A Marriage Guide to Healthy Not-for-Profit Mergers. He has provided merger presentations through both the National Council and state trade associations and has consulted extensively with not-for-profits exploring mergers and with both for-profits and not-for profits in the areas of managing growth and business development. He is currently working on his second book on non-profit mergers.

Under Mr. Guth’s guidance, in 2013 Centerstone announced a joint venture with Unity Physician Partners to improve patient care and enhance the quality of healthcare across the U.S., by creating an environment in which primary care and mental health providers operate within a collaborative and co-located clinical model. Unity Medical Clinics are embedded within select Centerstone facilities today offering coordinated, whole-health care.

He is the recipient of numerous recognitions including the National Council 2010 Visionary Leadership award, and is recognized as one of Health Care’s Power Leaders in the March 2013 Nashville Business Journal. As well, David recently received the 2016 Douglas Henry Award for Service to Children and Families at Risk from the University of Tennessee’s College of Social Work. 

 

Barry W. Karlin, PhD, Former Chairman and  CEO, CRC Health Group, Inc
 
Dr. Karlin currently serves as a private investor in real estate, high technology, and healthcare. He regularly consults to private equity firms investing in healthcare services as well as to public and privately held wealth management companies, primarily in the healthcare services sector.
 
Dr. Karlin was the founder, Chairman & CEO of Prospira PainCare, a physician-based rollup of pain management practices, from August 2012 to May, 2014 [~$65M revenues with practices in five States]. Dr. Karlin was the founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of CRC Health Group from 1995 to 2010. CRC, with 2010 revenues of  ~$444M and EBITDA of  ~$102M, was the largest specialized behavioral healthcare treatment provider in the nation with 140 inpatient & outpatient facilities in 28 States, Canada & the UK (~5,000 employees) treating over 30,000 people per day.
 
After cofounding CRC in 1995 he executed a roll-up completing 28 acquisitions & establishing CRC as the market leader in the treatment of substance abuse, troubled youth, and eating disorders. CRC was sold in a private equity auction for $720M (EBITDA multiple of ~11.5X) in 2006 delivering a ROI to the exiting PE investors in excess of 50%. In 2000, Dr. Karlin founded eGetgoing which offered treatment through live, audio/video based online technology. He served as Chairman & CEO before eGetgoing was acquired by CRC in 2002.
 
Dr. Karlin has a diverse background in general management, venture capital and strategic management consulting. He previously cofounded and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navigation Technologies (1984 – 1988), the global leader providing comprehensive digital location content to power automotive navigation systems, portable & wireless devices, & internet based mapping applications. Dr Karlin formerly served as a general partner at a venture firm specializing in the wireless communications industry (1989 – 1990), and as a strategy management consultant; first with Strategic Decisions Group (1981 – 1984) and subsequently with Decision & Risk Analysis, Inc. (1991 – 1995) both of which provided strategy consulting services to Fortune 500 companies.  As a consultant, Dr. Karlin regularly facilitated senior executive retreats and conducted seminars on strategy development.
 
Dr. Karlin has received numerous awards including; Ernst & Young 2008 Northern California Regional Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences, Silicon Valley Business Journal 2002 award for Fastest Growing Private Company, Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition in 2005, 2005 CEO of the Year award, and the California Association of Drug Abuse Counselors award for exceptional contribution to the addiction community. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. from Stanford University in the Department of Engineering-Economic-Systems in 1981 (specialty in Decision Sciences) and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1976 from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. 
 
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Geoffrey Lieberthal, Partner, Lee Equity Partners
 
Geoffrey Lieberthal is a Partner at Lee Equity Partners. Prior to joining Lee Equity, Mr. Lieberthal was a Principal at Texas Pacific Group. Prior to Texas Pacific Group, he was a Vice President at Bain Capital Partners and prior to this he was a Consultant at Bain & Company. His transaction background includes retail, healthcare and generalist transactions. Mr. Lieberthal serves on the board of directors of Paragon Industries. From 2008-2010 he served on the board of directors of Axcan Pharma (now known as Aptalis Pharma), a Texas Pacific Group portfolio company. Mr. Lieberthal received an M.B.A from Stanford Business School and a B.A. from Dartmouth College with cum laude honors.
Cory Mertz, M&AMI, Managing Partner, Mertz Taggart
 
Cory began his career at a Fortune 500 electronics manufacturing services provider, holding several operational and business development leadership positions, including managing the transition of multiple international acquisitions across Europe, South America and Mexico.  In 2006, Cory started his M&A career focusing solely on healthcare services businesses.  Since then, Cory has had the opportunity to forge relationships with industry leaders and private equity groups throughout the country, having closed over 50 healthcare transactions, nationally.
John A. Mills, Partner, Nelson Hardiman
 
John A. Mills is a partner at Nelson Hardiman and has years of experience representing and advising health care providers in a wide range of regulatory compliance issues and litigation proceedings. John’s practice focuses on managed care and ERISA compliance and litigation, medical staff and peer review, civil False Claims Act and fraud lawsuits, commercial litigation, healthcare fraud investigations, and a wide range of regulatory compliance issues, including corporate internal investigations and voluntary disclosures of possible Medicare over-payments, analysis of business arrangements to ensure compliance with the anti-kickback and Stark laws, and providing transactional and regulatory guidance to covered entities and contract pharmacies in connection with the federal 340B program. John has jury trial experience and has handled numerous arbitrations and administrative hearings.  
 
John’s clients include hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities, physicians, medical groups and IPAs, Knox-Keene licensees, pharmacies and pharmacists, ambulance providers, and a variety of other businesses and individuals in the healthcare industry. John’s diversity of clients has provided him with a rare understanding of the unique business objectives and compliance risks facing different segments of the healthcare provider community. John’s litigation successes include obtaining numerous pre-trial dismissals of lawsuits brought against his clients, including a summary judgment in favor of hospital in a civil False Claims Act lawsuit, obtaining favorable settlements for healthcare providers clients in reimbursement disputes with commercial insurance payors and ERISA plans, obtaining a reversal of a finding of ERISA preemption on appeal, and obtaining favorable results for clients following arbitrations and administrative proceedings.
 
Before joining Nelson Hardiman, John was an associate at the Los Angeles office of Hooper, Lundy, and Bookman, a firm dedicated solely to the representation of healthcare providers and suppliers, where he specialized in managed care litigation, medical staff and peer review compliance and litigation, and commercial litigation. John also served as a Law Clerk to the Presiding Justice of the Texas Third District Court of Appeals.
 
John was nominated a Rising Star by Super Lawyers 6 times in the last 7 years, and was named a Best Lawyer in America for 2016.
Jessica Hulsey Nickel, President and CEO, Addiction Policy Forum
 

Jessica Hulsey Nickel is the President and CEO of the Addiction Policy Forum, a diverse partnership of organizations, policymakers and stakeholders committed to working together to elevate awareness around addiction and to improve national policy through a comprehensive response. Jessica has a reputation for getting things done and working with both sides of the aisle on complicated policy issues, including recent work on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and the House Opioid package.

After 20 years in Washington, Jessica has substantial experience in designing and implementing legislative and appropriations strategies. Her experience includes criminal justice policy and health policy, as well as developing national issue-based campaigns and grassroots initiatives. She works closely with officials on the Hill, in the White House, the Justice Department, the Department of Labor, and state and local governments.

In addition to founding the Addiction Policy Forum, Jessica is the President of Brimley Group, and previously served as the Director of Government Affairs for the Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG). Jessica has worked to pass and fund the Second Chance Act, increase funding and reauthorize the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act, and other legislative measures such as Drug-Free Communities, Access to Recovery initiative, and other criminal justice and addiction policy priorities.

Previously, Jessica worked as a legislative aide for Senator Rob Portman while he was in the House, developing policy strategies in several issue areas including substance abuse and crime.

In 1998, Jessica was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on the Drug-Free Communities Commission that helped guide the implementation of the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, where she also went on to serve as co-chair.​

Kerry Paulson, CEO of Hanbleceya Treatment Center
 
A native of San Diego, Kerry graduated from San Diego State University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science. After 6 years working in corporate America, Kerry co-founded Fitness For Her, a small chain of women's health clubs in the San Diego area. For one decade his health clubs provided a safe and upscale environment for women to stay fit and enjoy exercise. Kerry's extensive business background along with his own 12-step recovery experience has played a significant role in helping him guide the growth of Hanbleceya. 
 
Kerry sold Hanblaceya in March 2017 to Constellation Behavioral Health, a portfolio company of New Mainstream Capital, a private equity group based in New York.  He remains active in the company, serving as its CEO.
 
Mitch Prager, Founder, Soberman’s Estate​
 
Mitch Prager founded Soberman’s Estate in 1998. Soberman’s Estate is a non- profit, private, very successful 12 step based men’s recovery group which includes a 13-week cycle that repeats 4 times a year. The success rate of this group has led to many requests to open Soberman’s Estate to a larger population. Prior to creating Soberman’s Estate, Mr. Prager founded Hospitality Career Services. HCS is a Hotel Consulting and Executive Search Recruiting firm that exclusively serves the Hospitality Industry. As Principle and COO of HCS, Mitch Prager consults for the most respected Hotel Management companies in the world and now offers similar expertise to residential treatment centers. Additionally, The Society of American Magicians presented the Alliance of Harry Houdini award to Mitch Prager in 2011. During the 1980’s, Mitch performed professionally in Las Vegas while earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Today, Mitch utilizes magical affects as visual aids in nearly all his presentations. 
 Kim Rabago, CPA, Director of Finance, The Last Resort Recovery Center
 
Kim Rabago's relationship with The Last Resort Recovery Center began in 2013, when she started providing finance services as a consultant. She officially joined The Last Resort as The Director of Finance in early 2017, as the need for a more professional financial presence became necessary to keep up with the center's growth. Since coming on board, The Last Resort has added detox services and plans to open their first stand-alone IOP center by the end of 2017. Kim looks forward to providing financial leadership during future growth, and is honored to be part of an organization that changes lives everyday.
 
Kim obtained a Masters in Professional Accounting from The University of Texas in 2006. After graduation, Kim worked as an auditor for Novogradac & Company and Ernst & Young for a combined total of six years. She then switched from public accounting to industry, working as Controller for a start-up toxicology laboratory that was acquired by Alere in 2011. Her position as Controller for a mid-sized vending company, Accent Food Services, took her through another large corporate transaction in 2016. Kim also has experience in the non-profit, hospitality, and advertising sectors.
Todd Seder, Vice President, SAS Group, LLC
 
Todd Seder is the Vice President of SAS Group LLC, a laboratory management company that builds, staffs and manages laboratories for clients in the addiction treatment industry. He has more than 20 years of experience in Healthcare, and 6 years working with addiction recovery providers, focusing on business development and sales strategy. Todd has a passion for helping companies create operational solutions that help them achieve their business and financial goals. Todd currently lives in Atlanta with his wife and two children.
Tom Schramski, PhD, CMAA, President/Managing Partner, Vertess
 
Dr. Schramski is a Certified Merger and Acquisition Advisor (CMAA), consultant, and Licensed Psychologist with over 35 years of very successful national experience in the healthcare marketplace, including co-founding and building a $25 million behavioral health/disabilities services company.  His M&A background has incorporated national seller and buyer representation across the healthcare spectrum and he was recognized for his executive leadership in the 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year issue of Inc., as well as the Harvard Business School Press publication, Equity.  As the Founder of Vertess, Mr. Schramski’s focus is on helping behavioral healthcare business owners build remarkable value in their companies and maximizing value in the transaction process.  In addition, Mr. Schramski is the Editor of the Vertess bi-weekly publication, Salient Value, and the author of Selling Your Baby (2nd Edition).
 
Andrew Spanswick, Chairman and CEO, KLEAN Treatment Centers

A 20-year veteran manager and owner of behavioral health hospitals and services, Andrew Spanswick began his career in New Orleans, Louisiana. After receiving his MSW in Clinical Mental Health from Tulane University in Louisiana and working for five years in multiple inpatient psychiatric settings as a Director of Social Services, Mr. Spanswick entered the Master of Hospital Administration Program at Tulane while simultaneously founding Paradym Health Systems, Inc., a psychiatric hospital management company, with Dr. Alan Jason Coe as partner.

PHS engaged in the development, operation and oversight of “distinct part” inpatient and outpatient psychiatric units placed in community and private hospitals throughout the Gulf South. Andrew Spanswick managed the operations of the company and all of the business development. In five years, PHS grew from two to nine psychiatric units and over 200 managed beds. As CEO, Mr. Spanswick designed the company’s operation and managed its growth, adding key personnel to ensure clinical, fiscal and regulatory oversight. Systems were set up to work directly with the billing Fiscal Intermediaries, JCAHO and the Federal and State’s regulatory bodies. Each hospital unit passed all JCAHO and State surveys with 100% compliance.

Andrew Spanswick also has extensive experience in finance. He has participated in several major technology and entertainment projects, arranging over $500 million in equity and senior debt through private equity and institutional financing entities. Mr. Spanswick is 42, and proud to call West Hollywood, California his home for the last ten years.
Kevin Taggart, Principal, Mertz Taggart
 
Kevin started his career working for large enterprise software companies selling multi-million dollar software applications to midsize organizations and large multi-national firms. After ten years of working in the technology industry, Kevin founded a land development and home building company. He gained invaluable experience running all aspects of the business; including raising money, negotiating and purchasing land, planning & rezoning, permitting and building infrastructure (roads, sewers, water, pool, clubhouse, etc.), building houses, and putting together and executing a marketing plan.
 
After successfully selling that company to a large publicly traded company in 2010, Kevin has been selling healthcare companies. Kevin has been invited to speak at several national and regional healthcare conferences with topics ranging from the process of selling a healthcare company to maximizing value prior to a sale.
Nathaniel ‘Tani’ Weiner, Counsel, Shartsis Friese, LLP
 
Nathaniel “Tani” Weiner is a seasoned corporate lawyer with extensive experience structuring, negotiating and completing complex transactions in the behavioral health field. Tani has successfully closed more than 40 behavioral health M&A transactions, ranging from PE and strategic acquisitions in the $5-75M range to corporate sale transactions, including CRC Health Group’s $1.2B sale to Acadia Healthcare Company and Aspen Education Group’s $350M sale to CRC Health Group. 
In his roles as VP and Deputy General Counsel for Acadia and CRC, and Chief Legal Counsel for Aspen,
 
Tani has partnered with senior management teams and equity sponsors to successfully execute corporate growth strategies. Tani’s practice focuses on corporate transactions in the behavioral health space and serving as outside general counsel to providers who benefit from his 14 years of experience representing leading behavioral health companies in all facets of their legal affairs
 
Moises Worthalter, CFO, Serenity House Detox LLC
 

Moises Worthalter currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Serenity House Detox.
As a founder and the CFO of Serenity House Detox, Moises is constantly involved in developing the agency and ensuring that all financial protocols and statutory rules and regulations are adhered to.

In his 20 years of professional experience, Moises has had the opportunity to work in a number of sectors including distribution, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, professional placement, and real estate. Within these entities, Moises has held the position of Director of Marketing, National Sales Manager, VP of Sales & Marketing, and CFO. With his wide breadth of knowledge and skill, Moises is a guiding light and visionary in shaping the direction of the agency.

Moises enjoys developing the home-like relaxing atmosphere of our facilities and feels that this sets us apart from the larger more hospital-like agencies. Moises believes in fostering a home and family like atmosphere so that our clients feel more at ease during their stay with us. “Their road to recovery is tough enough. We try to make that first step all the more comfortable.”