The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) has elected Breanne Hartley, its new board of directors president.
She will replace outgoing president SungWoo Kahng, who served on the board for the past seven years, according to LinkedIn.
Founded in 1988, BACB is an organization dedicated to autism professionals. It offers certification programs for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBAs), and Registered Behavior Technician (RBTs) and is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.
Hartley currently serves as the chief clinical officer at UNIFI Autism Care, a Carmel, Indiana-based autism therapy provider, seeks to provide care and better coordinate care with other specialists. UNIFI was launched in mid-2023 and is backed by the Mitchell Family Office.
“It is a gift to be surrounded by the incredibly dedicated professionals on this Board, who are all committed to the advancement of behavior analysis,” Hartley said in a LinkedIn post. “I eagerly look forward to helping the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) fulfill its mission to protect consumers of behavior-analytic services by systematically establishing, promoting, and disseminating professional standards.”
Before joining UNIFI, Hartley served as the chief operations officer at LittleStar ABA Therapy.
This new appointment comes as the ABA field is quickly growing and the BCBA field is gaining in popularity. In fact, about 44% of BCBAs have had their certifications for five years or less. The demand is also growing. In 2023, there were a total of 65,300 BCBAs, according to a recent report by the BACB and Lightcast.
