Movers & Shakers: Centerstone’s New CEO Hire; C-Suite Additions at Spring Health, Hurdle

Hurdle fills VP, C-suite positions

Digital mental health provider Hurdle has hired Krystle Herbert as its vice president of clinical affairs.

In the role, Herbert will be responsible for overseeing and supporting clinical operations, clinical policy development and compliance, as well as clinical quality care and organizational scaling efforts.

Herbert was most recently the COO for an acute inpatient behavioral health hospital and community mental health center. She has previously been on the faculty of the University of Southern California and is currently an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate-level psychology, marriage/family therapy and child development courses.

Based in Washington, DC, Hurdle specializes in culturally-sensitive mental health services to people of color and underserved communities. The company raised $5 million in seed funding in January in a round led by Seae Ventures and 406 Ventures, with additional participation from F-Prime Capital Partners.

Along with Herbert, Hurdle also announced the following new additions:

• Norma Day Vines as clinical advisor
• Lauren Wolfe as chief strategy officer
• Eugene Saskonov as chief technology officer
• Martha Temple and Jim Stallings as advisors

Centerstone fills CEO position

Community behavioral health system Centerstone has hired Ben Middleton as CEO for its Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina operations.

Middleton succeeds Robert Vero, who recently retired from Centerstone after 40 years. Middleton assumed the post May 3.

A SUD treatment provider by training, Middleton has been with Centerstone since 1985. Since then, he has served in a variety of roles.

Most recently, he served as Centerstone’s COO. Before that, he also served as a vice president for core services and a director of substance use programming.

Matthew Hardy, who has been with Centerstone since 2000, has been tapped to fill Centerstone’s COO position.

Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Centerstone is the largest community behavioral health care provider in the nation, with over 170 locations and two full-scale treatment centers across multiple states. Centerstone also has a research institute, a foundation and number of specialized programs.

Spring Health hires new HR head

Behavioral health benefits provider Spring Health has named Brad Lande-Shannon as its chief people and marketing officer.

In the role, Lande-Shannon will help the company build on its culture initiatives, team growth and talent development. One of his top responsibilities will be leading the development of a proprietary program designed to support each employee’s growth, goals and well-being.

He will also be charged with implementing ongoing programs to increase data-driven cultural literacy through engagement assessments, action planning, focus groups and internal communications, according to a press release announcing the move.

Lande-Shannon comes to Spring Health from the employee resource platform Culture Amp, where he was senior vice president of global brand and marketing.

Based in New York, Spring Health helps employers connect their workers to behavioral health resources such as coaching, therapy and medication services. The company scored $76 million in a September Series B round led by Tiger Global Management, bringing its total amount of funding to over $105 million, according to the fundraising tracking website Crunchbase.

Community Psychiatry appoints new board member

Sacramento, California-based outpatient behavioral health provider Community Psychiatry has announced the appointment of Scott Rauch to its board of directors.

Rauch will be charged with overseeing the provider’s mental health services across various delivery channels, driving improved outcomes and clinical pathways, tracking quality data and increasing opportunities for mental health clinicians to integrate with primary health care providers, according to a press release announcing the news.

An expert in neuroimaging and neurobiology of anxiety and depression disorders, Rauch is the current president and psychiatrist-in-chief for Belmont, Massachusetts-based McLean Hospital. He is also a professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and the chair of system behavioral and mental health for Mass General Brigham in Boston, as well as the current secretary for the Society of Biological Psychiatry.

Community Psychiatry provides in-person and telehealth services to individuals at over 40 locations throughout California. It is owned by the private equity firms Centerbridge Partners and Leonard Green & Partners.

SUD facility announces leadership promotion

Oxford Treatment Center — an Oxford, Mississippi-based facility that provides substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services, as well as treatment for individuals struggling with co-occurring mental health issues — has promoted COO Mark Stovall to CEO.

Stovall, who has been in recovery for almost 20 years, is the former director of the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Services for the Mississippi Department of Public Health, where his duties included managing treatment, clinical and adolescent services.

He has also held other SUD treatment and mental health assistance posts in Mississippi, which include having previously been the director of the Cleveland Crisis Intervention Center; the director of adolescent treatment at Region I Mental Health Center – Sunflower Landing; and the director for the Mississippi School for Addiction Professionals.