Movers & Shakers: Hazelden Betty Ford’s CMO to Retire; Talkspace Names New CFO

Hazelden Betty Ford CMO retiring

Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Chief Medical Officer Marvin Seppala will be retiring at the end of this year, the nonprofit substance use disorder (SUD) treatment provider has announced.

A psychiatrist by training, Seppala originally joined Hazelden in 1995 as its first full-time physician. During his time at the organization, he helped create a program that integrates medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with clinical therapies, 12-step practices and other peer support services to treat opioid use disorder (OUD). The program — known as Comprehensive Opioid Response with the Twelve Steps (COR-12) — has since been used in correctional facilities, hospital emergency rooms and other treatment centers.

Hazelden Betty Ford is the largest nonprofit SUD provider in the country. It has 17 locations, a virtual care offering and a slew of other business arms focused on topics such as addiction education, research and publishing.

In addition to working at Hazelden Betty Ford professionally, Seppala was also its first adolescent patient, when he sought treatment there 48 years ago at the age of 17.

Hazelden Betty Ford will soon start a national search for Seppala’s successor.

SUD treatment clinic appoints new CEO

Pavilion Treatment Center, a SUD treatment clinic in Mill Spring, North Carolina, has appointed Barbara Benett as its CEO.

Bennett has been with Pavilion since 2012, serving as its COO. Bennett is also a licensed clinical addictions specialist and registered nurse.

Located east of Asheville along the South Carolina border, Pavilion has 50 residential beds, along with 24 beds for extended care. The clinic provides individualized, gender-specific residential treatment built around the 12-step model, as well as health, wellness and spirituality programs.

Pavilion also operates an outpatient services and sober living facility in Greenville, South Carolina.

Talkspace names new CFO

The virtual behavioral health provider Talkspace (Nasdaq: TALK) has hired Jennifer Fulk as its chief financial officer. She will assume her role on July 26.

Fulk comes to Talkspace from the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), where she has served as the CFO of its U.S. biomedicines division since 2019. Previously, she also served as CFO for the company’s Elanco North America division, as well as for its operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Fulk will take over the CFO position from Mark Hirschhorn, who will remain with Talkspace as its president and chief operating officer.

Founded in 2001, New York-based Talkspace provides virtual counseling, therapy and psychiatry services. In June, the company went public, months after agreeing to a $1.3 billion merger with the Hudson Executive Investment Corporation, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Caravel Autism Health adds new board member

Caravel Autism Health has announced the appointment of Michelle Wright to its board of directors.

A long-time HR executive, Wright is currently the president of Baltimore-based Cerus Consulting, as well as a member of the Governor’s Workforce Development Board for the state of Maryland.

Wright was previously the chief human resources officer for the Baltimore-based insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. Before joining CareFirst in 1991, she was an actuarial analyst and systems specialist for aerospace and security company Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT).

Based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Caravel provides applied behavior analysis (ABA) services to children with autism at more than 40 locations across Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, Iowa and Idaho. It is owned by the private equity firm Frazier Healthcare Partners.