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Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Announces 2018 Retirement of President and CEO, Robert Q. Kreider

Villanova, PA – February 27, 2017 Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit providers of behavioral healthcare, announced today that Robert Q. Kreider, President and CEO, will retire in January 2018, following more than 20 years of extraordinary service.

Devereux’s Board of Trustees will conduct a national search to identify the organization’s next chief officer, with the intent of making a fall announcement. The appointment will conclude a thoughtful, four-year executive transition period, supported by Diversified Search, focused on the planned retirement and replacement of several members of the organization’s senior leadership team. To ensure a seamless transition, and the continuance of several key organizational initiatives, Kreider will remain with the organization in a special project capacity through at least mid-2019.

“I announce my retirement with mixed emotion,” said Kreider. “It has been the greatest privilege of my professional life to lead this remarkable organization and its extraordinary staff. I’m proud of the work we’ve done together to ensure Devereux is poised to lead the industry as the strongest, most stable, highest-quality provider of behavioral health services in our nation. I will miss the work, and most especially the interaction with my colleagues and those we serve and their families, but it’s time for the next generation of leadership to take the helm of this great organization.” He continued, “I look forward to remaining involved with Devereux in many ways, and assisting the Trustees with the executive search, which will include several extremely qualified internal candidates.”

Said Devereux Board Chair, Sam Coppersmith, “On behalf of the entire Devereux family, I thank Bob for his steadfast leadership, remarkable skillset and unfailing dedication over the last 23 years. Under Bob’s direction, Devereux advanced significantly in size, scope, stability and vision. All Devereux stakeholders have benefited from his thoughtful and innovative leadership.”

Chris Butler, Devereux Board Vice Chair, will serve as Chair of the search committee. Said Butler, “While Bob’s shoes will be incredibly difficult to fill, the search committee knows we will have a number of excellent internal and external candidates to consider. Thanks to Bob and his team, Devereux is extremely well positioned structurally and financially, and is an unquestioned industry leader. The opportunity to sit at its helm during such a dynamic period in healthcare represents a unique opportunity for the very best in our field.”

Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health operates a national network of clinical, therapeutic, educational and employment programs, which positively impact the lives of tens of thousands of children, adults and their families every year, in the areas of Autism, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Specialty Mental Health, and Foster Care. With an annual operating budget rapidly approaching half a billion dollars, it employs more than 7,000 clinicians, educators, allied health professionals and other staff members who support its programs and services across multiple campuses and community locations in 13 states.

Among many notable accomplishments, Kreider, Devereux’s sixth president since its founding in 1912, designed and implemented a complete restructuring of the organization’s business model and finances, winning the Alexander Hamilton Award for Excellence in Corporate Finance from the National Association of Corporate Treasurers and Treasury and Risk Management magazine. He directed the expansion of Devereux’s footprint into Colorado, Rhode Island and Delaware, oversaw the celebration of the organization’s Centennial Anniversary, led a major organizational rebranding initiative, drove a complete restructuring of the organization’s clinical philosophy and organization-wide quality and risk management systems, using meaningful data use to drive decisions, and positioned Devereux so that it has received recognition from notable groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

About Robert Q. Kreider, Esq.

Bob Kreider joined Devereux in 1994 as senior vice president and chief financial officer. In 2001, he became executive vice president and chief operating officer. He has been a member of the Devereux Board of Trustees since 2003 and has served in the role of president and CEO since 2004.

Prior to joining Devereux, Kreider held the position of managing director and co-chief executive officer of Fairmount Capital Advisors, a financial advisory firm based in Philadelphia. Previously, he served as vice president of public finance for Kidder, Peabody & Company. Early in his career, he practiced law in the public finance department of Saul, Ewing, Remick and Saul, in Philadelphia.

Kreider earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Management Science and Economics from Case Western Reserve University.

He is married to Barbara, a molecular biologist, who, prior to her retirement last year, served as the chair of the science department at Moorestown Friends School for 17 years, following a research career on the faculties of the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers. They have three children, who followed their father into healthcare: Tim, an MD, PhD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in New York, Molly, an PhD, RN healthcare consultant for McKinsey & Company, and Ted, who researches anti-HIV vaccines and received his PhD in Cellular and Molecular biology last year and is now completing medical school, both at the University of Pennsylvania.  Their family also includes Emina Cardamone, who came to the United States from Bosnia to complete high school and was then successfully sponsored by Barb and Bob for U.S. Citizenship, She has since completed a PhD in economics and works as an economic consultant.

About Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations providing services, insight and leadership in the evolving field of behavioral healthcare. Founded in 1912 by Helena Devereux, the non-profit operates a comprehensive national network of clinical, therapeutic, educational, and employment programs and services that positively impact the lives of tens of thousands of children, adults and their families every year. Focused on clinical advances emerging from a new understanding of the brain, its unique approach combines evidence-based interventions with compassionate family engagement. With nearly 7,000 employees working in programs across the nation, it is a recognized partner for families, schools and communities, serving many of our countries most vulnerable populations in the areas of autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, specialty mental health, and foster care.

Programs are offered in hospital, residential, community and school-based settings. They include: Assessments; Interventions and Support; Transition and Independent Life Services: Family and Professional Training; Research and Innovation; and Advocacy and Public Education. For more than a century, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health has been guided by a simple and enduring mission: To change lives by unlocking and nurturing human potential for people with emotional, behavioral or cognitive differences. www.devereux.org.

 

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