Peggy DeCarlis, MSSA, brings over 35 years of extensive senior leadership in behavioral healthcare to the OPEN MINDS team. Ms. DeCarlis currently serves as a Senior Associate, a position allowing her to flex her expertise for OPEN MINDS. Her areas of expertise include helping organizations integrate behavioral health services into primary and specialty care to improve system performance through increased access, enhanced satisfaction of patients and providers, reduced total medical expense, increased health-related quality of life through evidence-based practices. She also has successful experience in leadership and team development, building high-performance organizations, change leadership, including mergers & acquisitions and clinical and network program and product development to meet the rapidly evolving needs of healthcare payers and providers.

Before joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. DeCarlis served for eight years with New Directions Behavioral Health. She filled the roles of the Chief Operations Officer (COO) and the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO). Here, Ms. DeCarlis was responsible for contributing to the profit growth efforts as well as the continual strengthening of organizations’ infrastructure, resulting in a 1000% plus growth trajectory over six years. Ms. DeCarlis was the architect for innovative operational initiatives that propelled revenue growth, expanded market share, and increased New Directions’ competitive advantage.

Prior to this, Ms. DeCarlis was the Deputy Secretary for the Maryland Department of Human Resources, now known as the Department of Human Services, providing leadership and oversight for both programs and the planning for state public welfare and social services systems. She managed six different divisions with a combined budget of $1.7 billion and over 5000 associates.

Before her time as Deputy Secretary, Ms. DeCarlis was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for HopeRidge Centers for Behavioral Health, a large multi-county CMHC in North Carolina during the early days of transformation. She served as the Senior Vice President of Operations for Magellan Health during six years of a major merger and financial challenges, and the Regional Vice President of Operations for MCC, now CIGNA Behavioral Health.

Ms. DeCarlis has also operated her private consulting firm for 12 years, working specifically with executive and organizational consulting projects.

Ms. DeCarlis earned her Master of Science in social administration, with a focus on mental health and administration from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She earned her Bachelor in political science from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.