Michael Foust brings over 20 years of experience in the health and human services industry to the OPEN MINDS team. During his professional career, he has served in diverse and complex state, and local health and human service programs with a focus on behavioral health. His areas of expertise include strategic planning and project management, leadership development, program design and quality management, and community engagement.

In Addition to his work with OPEN MINDS, Mr. Foust serves as the Area Director of the Western Montana Mental Health Center (WMMHC) in Missoula, Montana. While at the Western Montana Mental Health Center, Mr. Foust has provided leadership change during reorganization and restructuring, improved the impact and value of a $15 million budget, and utilized lean management practices to ensure WMMHC as an accessible non-profit. Mr. Foust also manages county and hospital contracts for mental health consultation and enhances the impact and productivity of over 200 employees across 4 services lines and 21 outpatient services.

Prior to his role as Area Director, Mr. Foust served as the Executive Director for Western Montana Mental Health Center. In this role, Mr. Foust conducted oversight of administrative operations, was responsible for strategic planning, and managed over 85 professionals across 9 adult, child, and family programs. Mr. Foust fostered over $400,000 in new revenue over the course of 24 months, while managing an annual budget of more than $7 million. During his tenure, Mr. Foust also helped to create Montana’s first co-responder crisis response team through community engagement.

Prior to his role with Western Montana Mental Health Center, Mr. Foust served as the Make it Click Program Manager and Training Program Manager for Families First in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Foust created and developed the “Make it Click” program, a unique network of supportive community members for youth aging out of foster care. Mr. Foust also designed, created, and managed the Families First training program, which educated senior leadership, managers, and clinical staff on organizational ownership. Under Mr. Foust’s leadership, the “Make it Click” program and Families First training program both received the highest standard of accreditation award from the Council on Accreditation.

Prior to his work with Families First Training Program and Make it Click Program, Mr. Foust served as the Permanency Cooperative Program Manager for Families First. In this role, Mr. Foust re-engineered group homes as permanency cooperatives for community collaboration.

Mr. Foust earned a Masters of Social Work from East Carolina University and a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from North Carolina Central University.