Hazelden Betty Ford CEO Mishek to Retire in 2021

Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation this week announced that president and CEO Mark Mishek will retire in 2021. Mishek will officially depart when a successor is chosen, a move the company expects to make in the first half of next year, it said in a news release.

Mishek has been at the helm of the not-for-profit organization that provides addiction treatment and mental healthcare for 12 years. During that tenure, Mishek played a key role in the merger of the Hazelden Foundation and the Betty Ford Center in 2014. When Mishek was named CEO of Hazelden in 2008, the organization operated six sites. The company now has 17 locations and is in the process of making virtual care available in all 50 states through its RecoveryGo behavioral health service, and has more than doubled the number of patients it serves per year to more than 25,000.

Construction is also underway on expansions of Hazelden Betty Ford’s two largest campuses, in Center City, Minnesota, and Rancho Mirage, California.

“Mark is a rare combination of vision, management dexterity, and rigorous honesty,” Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Board of Trustees chair Lester Munson said in a news release. “He sees the possibilities, he transforms them into realities, and he does it all with empathy and respect for those who suffer addiction. Mark not only brought two storied institutions together and significantly expanded our presence, but he also made our lifesaving care accessible to millions more people. His steady hand has guided the organization through a remarkable transformation into an efficiently run, national system of care that provides quality treatment and services, demonstrates strong outcomes, and is valued and trusted by patients, families, partners and payers alike.”

In 2012, Mishek signed off on Hazelden Betty Ford becoming the first major addiction provider in the U.S. to integrate the use of medications for addiction treatment. The organization’s Comprehensive Opioid Response with 12 Steps program (COR-12) has become a model for addiction treatment providers across the nation.

During his remaining time as CEO, Mishek plans to focus on efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as a $500 million fundraising campaign, and the expansion of virtual services, prevention, professional education and consultation, and outpatient services in New York, he said in the release.

“Having planned for several years to retire in 2021, it is gratifying to approach this pending personal milestone knowing Hazelden Betty Ford is as fundamentally strong and healthy as it has ever been, and it’s exciting to continue pursuing so many important priorities. Even amid the challenges of the pandemic, we are growing, innovating and diversifying,” Mishek said in a statement. “The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is on a positive strategic course and is now poised for a new leader to step in, build upon our substantial foundation and usher in the next exciting era in the organization’s rich and meaningful history. Until that time, I intend to keep working as passionately and ambitiously as ever.”