Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health features Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Executive Director Reginald Lewis as conference keynote speaker

Devereux recently featured Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Executive Director Reginald “Reggie” Lewis as its keynote speaker during the organization’s 2021 Servant Leadership Champions Conference.

Villanova, PA – June 1, 2021 – Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit providers of behavioral healthcare, recently featured Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Executive Director Reginald “Reggie” Lewis as its keynote speaker during the organization’s 2021 Servant Leadership Champions Conference.

The virtual conference brought together more than 50 emerging leaders – Devereux’s Servant Leadership Champions and Champions-in-Training – for three days of intensive training to continue driving Servant Leadership best practices and behaviors across the organization’s 13 centers and 7,500+ team members. Note: Servant Leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world

Commenting on the conference themes of compassion and quality, Lewis noted, “Both Greenleaf and Devereux are on a journey of excellence and continuous improvement, with a shared quest to leave the world better than the way we found it. The themes of compassion and quality builds on Devereux’s impressive history of unlocking human potential for those challenged by emotional, behavioral and cognitive differences.”

He also expounded on Devereux’s achievements to instill Servant Leadership best practices across the organization for the benefit of the individuals and families served, as well as its team members.

“Since Devereux launched this work in 2018, it has managed to ensure that Servant Leadership is embedded throughout its entire culture,” said Lewis. “All individuals served across Devereux’s network can observe a culture where servant-led behaviors are real, and part of every employee’s experience.” He also put a call to action to conference attendees to “continue to raise the standard of care through daily acts of responding with compassion and quality.”

The conference also featured Roseann Kobialka, RN, MBA, retired AtlantiCare assistant vice president for organizational development, along with parents, foster parents, students and clients served by Devereux – all of whom shared inspirational and heartwarming stories related to the care they or their loved ones received from the organization, as well as ideas to continue improving programs and services.

“I want to thank Reggie, Roseann and our wonderful Devereux family members who took the time to share their perspectives, experiences and wisdom with our conference attendees,” said Devereux President and CEO Carl E. Clark II, who also serves as a Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership board member. “As part of its mission, Devereux will always seek out input and innovations to advance our services, our industry and the lives of those we serve. This conference provided the opportunity to hear directly from those who can help us further enhance Devereux’s programs and services – and our individuals’ experiences with our organization.”

About Reginald Lewis

Reginald Lewis serves as the executive director of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University. Lewis brings an extensive background in the philanthropic, nonprofit, state and municipal government, and higher education sectors to his roles. He recently served as the executive director of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC), a citywide effort to build Newark’s college-going culture and increase the number of Newark residents earning degrees and other credentials. He also served as an assistant professor of professional practice in the Rutgers University-Newark School of Public Affairs and Administration, where he taught Servant Leadership in the public sector.

Prior to the NCLC, Lewis was executive director of The Chad School Foundation, Inc., a Newark-based education policy and advocacy organization that seeks to improve conditions in public school systems serving disadvantaged students. In addition, he has served as executive vice president of the United Way of Essex and West Hudson; special assistant to commissioners in the New Jersey Departments of Education and Human Services; and city administrator for the City of East Orange, N.J. His stints in philanthropy include positions with the Ford Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Victoria Foundation and The Fund for New Jersey. While at The Fund, he co-edited Better Schools, an issue report outlining strategies for improving New Jersey’s K-12 public schools.

In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Lewis to the U.S. Commission on Presidential Scholars, a position he held until December 2016. In 2019, Governor Phil Murphy appointed him to serve as co-chair of one of five working groups for the implementation of the New Jersey Higher Education Plan. A cum laude graduate of Morehouse College, Lewis holds a master’s in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago.

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 special education pioneer Helena Devereux, the organization 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 more than 7,500 employees working in programs across the nation, Devereux is a recognized partner for families, schools and communities, serving many of our country’s most vulnerable populations in the areas of autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, specialty mental health, education and child welfare. 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 living with emotional, behavioral or cognitive differences. www.devereux.org.

About The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the awareness, understanding and practice of Servant Leadership by individuals and organizations. Servant Leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. While Servant Leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “Servant Leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay he published in 1970. https://www.greenleaf.org/

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