Betty Ford Center Names New Administrator

Hazelden Betty Ford has announced the appointment of Tessa Voss as the new administrator to lead the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Voss becomes the center’s fourth administrator and the first female to hold the role.

Voss, who has served as the facility’s executive director since 2019, succeeds Christopher Yadron, PhD, who moved on from Hazelden Betty Ford earlier this year. Voss will also serve as vice president of Hazelden Betty Ford’s California Region, which includes treatment centers in San Diego and Los Angeles.

Voss earned a master’s degree in addiction studies from Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies, and spent 5 years as a counselor at Hazelden Betty Ford in Center City, Minnesota, the largest facility in the organization’s network. She went on to become an addiction program manager at the Hazelden Betty Ford location in Newberg, Oregon, and was promoted to director of clinical services in 2017. Two years later, she joined the Betty Ford Center in California.

“Tessa has achieved a lot in our organization and embodies the spirit of humility, empathy and grace that is so important to the work we do with patients, families and children,” Hazelden Betty Ford President and CEO Joseph Lee, MD, said in a news release.

“As the first woman to direct operations at the Betty Ford Center, Tessa broadens the banner of our leadership team nationally and extends the legacy and pioneering spirit of our co-founder and namesake Mrs. Ford, who—though not its operational leader—was the Betty Ford Center's face and voice for almost 30 years. With Tessa as our ambassador and leader in California, I am very excited about the future and the many lives and families our teams there will be able to impact in the years ahead.”

The Betty Ford Center has a staff of 230 employees and a capacity of 184 treatment beds. The facility is in the midst of a $30 million expansion that will expand its capacity to 240 beds. Betty Ford Center offers all levels of care from residential to outpatient, with mental health services, virtual services, sober living residences, professional education experiences, and programming in English and Spanish for young children and others affected by addiction in their family.