UNIFI Autism Care reshuffled two C-Suite roles while its CEO seeks new employment.
The applied behavior analysis (ABA) provider has named its chief clinical officer, Breanne Hartley, its president. It also appointed Dr. Steven Merahn, a former strategic advisor to the company, its chief medical officer. The company has not yet announced a new CEO.
Meanwhile, Mark Reddinger, who served as the UNIFI’s CEO since November 2023, posted that he was seeking a new role on LinkedIn. He specified that he was looking for CEO, chief operating officer, chief growth officer and chief strategy officer roles.
“Mark Reddinger is no longer the CEO of UNIFI Autism Care,” Hartley told Autism Business News in a statement. “The shift in leadership aligns with UNIFI’s core focus on clinically-led care, and the company’s four co-founders — Dr. Breanne Hartley, Dr. Steven Merahn, Dorron Ferris and Erica Outlaw — are a united leadership team with deep behavioral health expertise.”
Carmel, Indiana-based UNIFI plans to provide diagnostic testing and family interaction training as well as ABA services. It is slated to open three Indiana locations in early 2025, as well as more in Iowa during the course of the year. The company also told ABN it plans to formally collaborate with health care systems in 2025.
The provider partners with other health care organizations, including pediatricians, neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists as part of its integrated approach.
“With extensive experience and thought leadership within the behavior analytic community, I am uniquely positioned to guide our efforts in elevating clinical excellence and prioritizing meaningful patient outcomes,” Hartley told ABN in an email. “My priorities for the upcoming year center on further advancing UNIFI’s integrated model of care and [providing] much-needed well-child advocacy and developmental support for children with autism and their families.”
Hartley, who was elected to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s (BACB) board of directors president in August, will maintain her position as chief clinical officer while performing her duties as president.
She previously worked as chief operations officer at LittleStar ABA Therapy before joining UNIFI Autism Care and is a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), according to her LinkedIn.
UNIFI’s new chief medical officer is a trained pediatrician who most recently worked as the president of LTC Provider Care, a primary care medical practice he founded, according to his LinkedIn. Merahn has worked as an executive for several other health care organizations, including ABA provider Centria Autism.
Merahn is tasked with implementing UNIFI’s clinical model, serving as a liaison to the pediatric and payer communities, supporting clinical policy and program development and collaborating with the company’s behavior analysts.
“My top priority is to ensure our capacity to deliver care that is consistent with our aspirational goals for quality and outcomes to as many children and families as possible,” Merahn told ABN in an email.
According to Hartley, UNIFI built its leadership team on the premise of interdisciplinary expertise, and selecting two founders and clinicians – a BCBA and an MD – aligns with that principle.
