Meet the CARF leadership

Brian J. Boon, Ph.D., joined CARF in 2001 as president/CEO after serving as an at-large trustee on the CARF Board of Trustees between 1998 and 2000 and chairing the board's planning and governance committees. He also was a CARF surveyor for six years and participated in many CARF advisory committees and leadership panels dating back to 1990.

Brian had been vice president of Claimant and Health Care Services for the Workers Compensation Board of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, since 1996, where he was responsible for all claims and medical benefit expenses -- $750 million annually. His portfolio included adjudication, case management services, and oversight of a 24,000-member healthcare provider network. He joined the WCB in 1989 and served in various management capacities -- chief psychologist and director of health care and rehabilitation services -- before becoming a vice president.

Brian holds a doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Alberta and maintains his professional licenses and affiliations in the psychology profession. Brian's broad professional experiences as a payer, provider, and regulator have contributed to his "systems solution" executive leadership approach.

Paul Andrew, managing director of the Employment and Community Services customer service unit, brings more than 35 years of personal and professional experience with individuals who have disabilities -- including 15 years in management, coordination, and administration of publicly and privately funded vocational rehabilitation programs. Having represented CARF's ECS unit since 1989, he facilitates the development, training, and use of market-driven accreditation standards and approaches to help continuously improve services to consumers, enhance organizational design, and improve organizations' responsiveness to community stakeholders. He is a former provider of services and trainer for the McLaren College of Business at the University of San Francisco.

Amanda E. Birch, administrator of operations at CARF-CCAC, has worked in the long term health care management arena for the past 15 years. Amanda was previously director of support services for Westminster Canterbury of Lynchburg, Inc. and an administrator for Sunrise Assisted Living. While with Westminster Canterbury, Amanda served as a volunteer evaluator for CCAC and member of the board of directors for the Alzheimer's Association (Central Virginia Chapter). She is a licensed nursing home administrator and holds an M.B.A. from Lynchburg College.

Leslie Ellis-Lang, managing director of the Child and Youth Services customer service unit, joined CARF in 2009. Leslie's career spans more than 20 years in the behavioral health field with an emphasis on services for children and adolescents. Most recently, she was the behavioral health services administrator for an organization providing services in 32 Florida counties. A licensed marriage and family therapist, Leslie holds a master of science degree in counselor education from Northern Illinois University.

Mary Jo Fitzgerald, account manager of the Medical Rehabilitation customer service unit, joined CARF in 1999. Prior to coming to CARF, Mary Jo worked in a variety of settings across the healthcare continuum including acute care and freestanding rehabilitation hospitals, subacute care, and long-term care facilities. During her thirty-year career in medical rehabilitation, she has worked in both not-for-profit and for-profit environments. Mary Jo has professional experience in clinical and rehabilitation program management, risk management, quality improvement and outcomes management, program development, and direct service provision. Mary Jo has a master's degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Iowa and maintains her certification as a speech-language pathologist.

Bettye Harrison, grant administrator for Opioid Treatment Program accreditation, has more than 20 years of social work experience in the areas of behavioral health, corrections, and adoptions. She has expertise in program development, consultation and technical assistance, clinical supervision, individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, psychosocial assessment, and field instruction. Before joining the CARF staff in 2000, Bettye was the coordinator of adult services with the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services and had been a CARF surveyor for seven years. Bettye earned a master's degree in social work from the University of South Carolina.

Cindy L. Johnson, CPA, chief resource and strategic development officer since 2006, oversees the company's finance, information technology, research and quality improvement, document production, communications, promotions task force, human resource, and education and training functions. Johnson previously served as CARF's chief financial officer and director of finance and administration from 1999 to 2005. In her 20 years of experience in the accounting and general business fields, Johnson also has worked at BHP Copper, Inc.; Honeywell Inc.; and Phelps Dodge Corporation.

Darren M. Lehrfeld, chief accreditation officer and general counsel, oversees CARF's accreditation operations, including surveyor management, technical assistance to service providers, survey processing and logistics, and publications. Darren also oversees CARF's legal affairs and compliance matters. Before joining CARF in 2003, Darren was the president of a law firm that provided legal services and representation to CARF for 10 years, where his practice emphasized business, corporate, employment, and labor matters. He earned his juris doctor and business administration degree from the University of Arizona and is an active member of the State Bar of Arizona and Pima County Bar Association.

Christine M. MacDonell, managing dDirector of the Medical Rehabilitation customer service unit, has more than 35 years of experience as a provider, administrator, and trainer in the human services field. Beginning her career as an occupational therapist, Chris has held a variety of positions in human service delivery systems as a therapist and administrator. Since 1991, Chris has represented CARF at international and national meetings introducing and promoting the concepts of quality oversight and enhancement of human services through the CARF accreditation process in both medical rehabilitation and aging services. In 2003 Chris became responsible for the transition of the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission, which CARF acquired in February 2003.

Susanne Matthiesen, managing director of the Aging Services customer service unit (which includes CARF-CCAC), supervises the unit's operations and staff and provides leadership for developing standards and improvements in the accreditation processes. Susanne joined CCAC in 2001, two years before CARF acquired the nation's only accreditor of continuing care retirement communities. Before her work with CCAC and CARF, Susanne consulted on federal government contracts, provided graduate education on long-term care administration in an academic medical center, and developed long-term care education for a professional association. She earned an M.B.A. focused on long-term care administration from The George Washington University.

Margaret McHenry joined CARF in 1996 and is the account manager of the Employment and Community Services customer service unit. She has more than thirty years of personal and professional experience with individuals who have disabilities, including ten years in the administration of public and privately funded vocational programs with a private, not-for-profit service provider. She has a master's degree in educational psychology from Duquesne University.

Nikki Migas, managing director of the Behavioral Health and the Child and Youth Services customer service units, has more than 35 years of experience developing and administering behavioral health and other human services programs. Nikki has a background in social work and earned a master's degree in public administration. She has worked in a small, rural county in northeastern Wisconsin and, just prior to joining CARF, was executive director of a $33 million, 190-employee, integrated county human services agency. Nikki was also a CARF surveyor for 10 years, and she served on several CARF National Advisory Committees.

Lisa Palmer, account mnager, has been with the Behavioral Health customer service unit of CARF since 1999. Before joining CARF, she was the director of HIV prevention for substance abusers at a community service program funded by the New York State Department of Health. She has a background in research and holds a master's degree in public health from the University of Rochester.

Keri Sanders, marketing manager, joined CARF in 2007 after successfully working for more than 25 years with a variety of industries in marketing and sales. Most recently, she was the person responsible for branding, media and public relations, advertising, and a variety of business development activities at a major financial services provider. She earned her M.B.A. from Arizona State University and is an adjunct faculty member at Mesa Community College.

Di Shen, Ph.D., chief research officer, spearheads CARF's Research and Quality Improvement unit and performance indicator work and oversees CARF's internal performance improvement systems and research data infrastructure. Earlier he served as the executive director of Research and Planning for Pima Community College and worked as a Senior Researcher for CARF. Prior to coming to the United States, Di was a faculty member at Yangzhou University in China. He has taught courses in psychological measurements and statistics, research methods, and cognitive psychology at the University of Arizona. He also has published in areas of psycholinguistics, psychological measurement, linguistics and applied linguistics, and teaching methodology.

Daniel Stavert, chief advisor, Accreditation Standards, CARF Canada, has more than 20 years of management experience in the human services profession, including the areas of child welfare, foster care, adoption, persons with developmental disabilities, public guardianship, correctional services, legislation, protocol and policy making, and accreditation standards. Prior to joining CARF Canada when the organization was incorporated in 2002, Daniel managed the development of provincial standards for children's services in the Province of Alberta. In this position, he earned certification as a surveyor with an accreditation organization based in that province. He earned a master's degree in social work from the University of Windsor in Ontario.

Annette C. Watson, managing director of Emerging Markets, brought close to three decades of senior leadership and operational experience in both the for-profit and not-for-profit healthcare quality and managed care sectors. Her appointment to CARF in 2008 followed her six-year tenure at URAC, an accreditor of healthcare organizations. A board-certified registered nurse and a certified case manager, she holds an M.B.A. from Franklin Pierce College.

Al Whitehurst, corporate communications, brought 25 years of public relations and communications experience when he joined CARF in 1997. Al's work oversees CARF's communications efforts to both its external and internal audiences. Before joining CARF, his career had centered on the healthcare industry. Al moved to Tucson twenty years ago from Los Angeles, where he practiced public relations for a convention and visitors bureau and headed the publications department for a university museum.

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