California behavioral provider names CEO

Sacramento, California-based Community Psychiatry, an outpatient behavioral health provider, has named Christopher Brengard as its CEO. He replaces outgoing CEO Ken Kelly.

Community Psychiatry has more than 40 locations across the state of California, where it provides mental health services.

Before joining the company, Brengard most recently served as chairman and CEO of Plano, Texas-based U.S. Renal Care, a dialysis provider he founded in 2000 that has more than 350 locations nationwide.

In addition to adding Brengard, Community Psychiatry has appointed two new board members: Chris Hocevar and Patrick J. Kennedy, who is a former US Representative from Rhode Island. Hocevar will also serve as board chairman.

Quit Genius fills new VP position

Quit Genius — a San Francisco-based digital clinic that treats nicotine, alcohol and opioid addictions — has named Suzette Glassner as vice president of clinical services, a newly created position. 

Glasner is a licensed clinical psychologist and scientist who specializes in digital treatments for addictions and related psychiatric and medical conditions. She’s also an associate professor at the University of California-Los Angeles and an award winning writer on addiction.

The new hire comes after Quit Genius recently scored a partnership with Cigna Corporation’s (NYSE: CI) new health services segment Evernorth in October. The company has raised $13.6 million in funding to date, according to fundraising tracking website Crunchbase.

BehaVR fills new C-suite position

BehaVR — an Elizabethtown, Kentucky-based developer of VR experiences for behavioral health patients — has named Rory Channer as the company’s first chief commercial officer.

He arrives at the company from the international law firm McDermott Will & Emery, where he had been the chief business and client development officer for its Washington, DC-area office. In his new position, Channer will oversee growth initiatives for BehaVR, where he’s served as an advisor for the past four years, according to the Nashville Post.

BehaVR was launched in 2016, with founding partners including big names such as Bill Frist, the former US Senator from Tennessee. Today, the company employs around 20 people, and its six-member advisory board includes Acadia Healthcare Chief Medical Officer Michael Genovese and Walmart Health & Wellness President Sean Slovenski.

BehaVR has raised $8.2 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

Newport Healthcare hires COO

Nashville, Tennessee-based Newport Healthcare — a behavioral health provider for teenagers, young adults and their families — has named Jameson Norton as its chief operating officer.

Norton comes to Newport from Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospitals and Clinics in Nashville, where he was CEO. There, Norton oversaw behavioral health services for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network, as well as school-based mental health programs administered by Vanderbilt. He was also previously a hospital CEO for Acadia Healthcare in Tampa, Florida.

Newport Healthcare operates two centers, Newport Academy and Newport Institute, with locations in six states on the East and West Coasts.

Kentucky behavioral provider names nursing chief

Lincoln Trail Behavioral Health System — a 140-bed inpatient psychiatric care and substance use disorder (SUD) facility in Radcliff, Kentucky — has named Kyle Fortune as its chief nursing officer.

Fortune comes to Lincoln Trail from Norton Healthcare – Norton Audubon Hospital in nearby Louisville, where he had held the position of nurse manager since 2017.

Meadows Behavioral Healthcare adds author as fellow

Phoenix-based Meadows Behavioral Healthcare, which operates a network of trauma and SUD facilities nationwide, has named trauma specialist and bestselling author Resmaa Menakam as its Meadows Senior Fellow.

A leadership coach and expert on race and trauma, Menakam is the author of the New York Times bestseller, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. He is also a current consultant to the National Football League as well as several major police departments and cities.