Tackling Treatment for Substance Use Disorder

Mark has been actively involved in helping families and people in recovery for more than a decade, as a result of his son Marcus’ addiction. His personal experiences have given him insight into navigating issues specific to substance abuse including rehab, sober living facilities, extended and long-term care programs, as well as the financial burden and emotional toll they take.

Robert A. Kent serves as the General Counsel for the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (“OASAS”).  In this role, Mr. Kent provides overall legal support, policy guidance and direction to OASAS Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez, the Executive Office and all divisions of the agency.  Robert is leading the OASAS efforts to implement Governor Cuomo’s Heroin and Opioid Task Force recommendations including the Combat Addiction/Heroin Campaign, the Federal Opioid Targeted Grant program, and Medicaid Redesign Team initiatives including implementation of historic legislation to increase access to treatment.  Robert has co-authored articles on patient confidentiality and sober homes and has presented nationally and throughout New York State on the OASAS system of care.

Mr. Kent previously served as an Assistant Counsel with the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH). Prior to Robert joining OMH, he was engaged in the private practice of law where he focused on regulatory and governmental affairs matters.  In 2011, Robert was recognized by the Caron Foundation with their Legal Professional Public Service Award.  In 2013, Robert was recognized by the Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies with their Leadership Award.  In 2016, Robert was recognized by the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence with their Nyswander/Dole “Marie” award; the Long Island Recovery Association Friend of Recovery Award; and the Northern Tier Providers Coalition Public Service Award.  In 2018, Robert was honored by the Friends of Recovery New York with the Charles Devlin Recovery Advocate Award and by Christopher’s Reason with the Outstanding Leader in the Recovery Community Award.

Mr. Kent lives in Voorheesville, N.Y., with his wife, Elizabeth, his sons, Samuel and Maxwell, and their Golden Retrievers, Madison and Franklin.

Gary Mendell is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Shatterproof. After losing his son Brian to addiction in 2011, Gary founded Shatterproof to spare other families the tragedy his had suffered.

Gary spent decades as an entrepreneur. He founded HEI Hotels & Resorts, a multi-billion-dollar company that oversees a portfolio of 70 hotels. He’s also a former trustee and president of Starwood Lodging Trust. That business-world experience gives him a unique perspective in running a non-profit organization like Shatterproof.

Mr. Mendell received his B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and his MBA with distinction from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, is president and CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF). A board-certified emergency medicine physician who has worked in both academic and community settings, Dr. Agrawal is the former deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and director of one of its largest centers, the Center for Program Integrity (CPI).

At CMS, Dr. Agrawal led an effort to improve the physician experience with Medicare by working to minimize the administrative tasks with which doctors contend. He also was one of the main architects of CMS’s strategy and action plan to address the national opioid misuse epidemic. His main focus at CPI was improving healthcare value by lowering the cost of care through the detection and prevention of waste, abuse, and fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. From 2012 through 2014, CPI’s prevention efforts saved Medicare and Medicaid over $50 billion.

Dr. Agrawal previously served as CPI’s chief medical officer and was instrumental in launching new initiatives in data transparency and analytics, utilization management, assessment of novel payment models, and stewarding a major public-private partnership between CMS and private payers, the Health Care Fraud Prevention Partnership.

In addition to leading NQF, Dr. Agrawal is co-chair of the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretarial Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Prevention Advisory Committee and serves on the board of the Grameen Foundation, the Presidential Advisory Council of Brown University’s School of Public Health, and the editorial board of the journal Population Health Management. He is an adjunct senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and an associate clinical professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University Hospital.

Dr. Agrawal has testified numerous times before Congress and is a frequent national speaker on healthcare and cost. He is a well-published author with articles in Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Emergency Medicine, among others.

Prior to joining CMS, Dr. Agrawal was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, serving the senior management of hospitals, health systems, and biotech and pharmaceutical companies on projects to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery. He also worked for a full-risk, capitated delivery system as its leader for clinical innovation and efficiency.

Dr. Agrawal completed his undergraduate education at Brown University, medical education at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and clinical training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He has a master’s degree in social and political sciences from Cambridge University.

Robert A. Kent serves as the General Counsel for the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (“OASAS”).  In this role, Mr. Kent provides overall legal support, policy guidance and direction to OASAS Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez, the Executive Office and all divisions of the agency.  Robert is leading the OASAS efforts to implement Governor Cuomo’s Heroin and Opioid Task Force recommendations including the Combat Addiction/Heroin Campaign, the Federal Opioid Targeted Grant program, and Medicaid Redesign Team initiatives including implementation of historic legislation to increase access to treatment.  Robert has co-authored articles on patient confidentiality and sober homes and has presented nationally and throughout New York State on the OASAS system of care.

Mr. Kent previously served as an Assistant Counsel with the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH). Prior to Robert joining OMH, he was engaged in the private practice of law where he focused on regulatory and governmental affairs matters.  In 2011, Robert was recognized by the Caron Foundation with their Legal Professional Public Service Award.  In 2013, Robert was recognized by the Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies with their Leadership Award.  In 2016, Robert was recognized by the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence with their Nyswander/Dole “Marie” award; the Long Island Recovery Association Friend of Recovery Award; and the Northern Tier Providers Coalition Public Service Award.  In 2018, Robert was honored by the Friends of Recovery New York with the Charles Devlin Recovery Advocate Award and by Christopher’s Reason with the Outstanding Leader in the Recovery Community Award.

Mr. Kent lives in Voorheesville, N.Y., with his wife, Elizabeth, his sons, Samuel and Maxwell, and their Golden Retrievers, Madison and Franklin.

Gary Mendell is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Shatterproof. After losing his son Brian to addiction in 2011, Gary founded Shatterproof to spare other families the tragedy his had suffered.

Gary spent decades as an entrepreneur. He founded HEI Hotels & Resorts, a multi-billion-dollar company that oversees a portfolio of 70 hotels. He’s also a former trustee and president of Starwood Lodging Trust. That business-world experience gives him a unique perspective in running a non-profit organization like Shatterproof.

Mr. Mendell received his B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and his MBA with distinction from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michelle Martin is senior vice president of total reward experience at ViacomCBS and is responsible for the strategy, design and performance of the company’s health and welfare plans, employee engagement and development of HR policies.

Michelle is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist with a certification in global benefits management. As a human resources professional with broad experience, Michelle taught a CEBS course at Hofstra University that emphasized key economic, accounting and financial concepts essential in the administration of employee benefit plans.

She holds an MBA from Adelphi University. Michelle is an active member of the human resources community and is on the board of directors of the Northeast Business Group on Health, HealthPass

New York and The Leapfrog Group. She also sits on an advisory board for Covenant House Mother Child Center in New York City.

Debra Nussbaum is the Senior Director, Behavioral Health Product at Optum and the leader of Optum’s Substance Use Disorder initiatives and strategies. She holds a PhD in organizational psychology and a Master Degree in Social Work.  Deb is an expert in the field of addiction treatment with over 20 years of experience in a board range of roles from addictions therapy to leadership roles in inpatient and residential treatment settings.  More recently Deb has held various roles in the insurance and health services industry from network recruiting, to development of behavioral health clinical guidelines.

David Wright is the Director of Sales & Account Management for Anthem’s Behavioral Health and EAP programs.  After overseeing the BH and EAP clinical teams for his first 8 years at Anthem, David has been in a client facing role the past two years. He currently manages a team of twenty Client Executives, and is responsible for new & existing client relationships, market strategy, product direction, and technological advancement of Anthem’s emotional health products.

David holds a Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology, and has worked in the behavioral health and EAP field since 1996.  David initially worked as a psychotherapist in outpatient, inpatient, and emergency settings for seven years before moving into management.  Prior to joining the Anthem team in 2009, David managed an outpatient behavioral health clinic for a large national insurer, and led a hospital psychiatric team within a Denver-area hospital group.

David lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and 3 kids. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, skiing, golfing, photography, and coaching soccer.

Darcy Gruttadaro is the director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health. As director, she works with her team in developing and implementing the Center’s strategic direction in providing employers high impact tools and programs to support the mental health of employees and their families. The Center works with organizations of all sizes from Fortune 100 companies to small family owned businesses in creating effective approaches to improving the mental health and well-being of the workforce.   

Before joining the Center, Ms. Gruttadaro served in senior level positions with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Ms. Gruttadaro has expertise in expanding evidence-based practices, improving early intervention, designing insurance coverage for mental health services and building an array of effective services and supports that promote resiliency and recovery.  Ms. Gruttadaro has also worked with national organizations representing managed care organizations and practiced law with the Harris Beach law firm, concentrating her legal practice on health care and mental health issues.  She served as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of NY. Ms. Gruttadaro earned a BS degree from Clarkson University and a JD from Western New England University School of Law.