ABOUT US: STAFF

Richard H. Dougherty, Ph.D., CEO

Dr. Dougherty has, over the past 24 years, consulted with businesses and government agencies in projects that include strategic planning, change management, and quality improvement. Examples of key projects include: developing a model for consumer directed care in Delaware county PA; preparation of a 2009 paper on options for the redesign of Washington’s Mental Health System; leadership of the 2008 legislative study of Montana’s Mental Health System; preparation of a recent paper on restructuring options for the NY Office of Mental Health; leadership of the first statewide Quality Improvement Collaborative for the Massachusetts (MA) Department of Mental Health; facilitation of the California Learning Collaborative; leadership of a strategic planning initiative for the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services of the MA Department of Public Health; leadership of the 2004 SAMHSA Consumer Directed Services Initiative; the design, development and later expansion of the Massachusetts Medicaid Mental Health and Substance Abuse managed care program; the design and procurement of an Administrative Services contractor in San Diego County; and many other projects of statewide and national impact. Dr. Dougherty also spent two years providing extensive organizational consulting to several divisions of Corporate Finance in the General Electric Company as a part of the nationally recognized Work-Out! Project. Prior to forming DMA in 1987, Dr. Dougherty was a Senior Manager at BDO/Seidman where he helped build a regional non-profit consulting practice. Previous positions include Manager of Finance and member of the Board of Directors of National Mentor, Inc. and Program Manager for the MA Department of Social Services, in charge of residential procurement.

Dr. Dougherty has an A.B. with honors from Colgate University, an A.M. in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from Boston University. He has published extensively and presented at numerous national con¬feren¬ces on procurement, financing and performance measurement. He has recently been Treasurer and a member of the Board of the American College of Mental Health Administration and ACMHA Foundation. Dr. Dougherty is an active member of the national Outcomes Roundtable for Children and Families. He Co-Chairs the Building Bridges Outcome Subcommittee for SAMHSA and serves as a member of the Children in Managed Care Advisory Board for the Center for Health Care Strategies. He is the President of BasicNeeds US, Inc. a charity supporting community mental health services in developing countries, Treasurer at Hancock Church, and Treasurer of the Van Go Project. He is a past-President of the Board of Directors of the Community Music Center of Boston and has extensive allocations experience with the United Way of Mass. Bay.

Wendy Holt, M.P.P., Principal

Ms. Holt has considerable analytical and operational experience in managed mental health, Medicaid managed care for people with disabilities and child welfare services. At DMA, she is responsible for a SAMHSA funded project to develop technical assistance on early identification of behavioral health problems in children and for assessing the mental health and substance abuse needs in the North Central region of Massachusetts. She recently led an analysis of human service providers’ financial health, as indicated by their financial statements, for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services and conducted a sizing study as part of an independent assessment of the New Jersey children’s system of care. She has analyzed trends in the financial condition of members of a MA trade association of mental health and substance abuse providers, and assisted in two successful planning and proposal processes to develop systems of care for youth and young adults with mental health problems. Previous work includes directing the fourth year of DMA’s Children’s Mental Health Benchmarking Project and conducting a study of post-receivership access at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Prior to joining DMA, Ms. Holt served as Manager of Policy and Planning at MHMA, the first statewide Medicaid behavioral health carve out in the nation, with key roles in network development, provider performance profiling, client outcomes measurement, outpatient utilization management, and CQI team leadership. Ms. Holt has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, and a Masters degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

Sylvia B. Perlman, Ph.D., Senior Associate

Sylvia B. Perlman, Ph.D., is a Senior Associate at DMA Health Strategies. Over the past two decades, her experience in behavioral health has been varied; it has included work for a statewide trade association, for a large provider organization and as a consultant. Her projects at DMA Health Strategies have included a study of Massachusetts’s first jail diversion program conducted for the private agency that operates the program; major responsibility for preparing the background narrative in support of a state substance abuse planning initiative; consultation and major writing responsibility for proposals by public agencies and private organizations to public and private funders; a study for The Commonwealth Fund of promising state innovations in behavioral health care; development of a series of brief papers for employers summarizing the literature on treatment for substance use disorders, for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment; and a major role in the Children’s Mental Health Benchmarking Project, funded primarily by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She completed a description and process analysis of a small, privately funded, school based program in Massachusetts and is currently involved in the program's evaluation. She also completed a description of a local drug court program, which subsequently received funding from SAMHSA, and she iscurrently involved in the evaluation of that program. In addition, Dr. Perlman is working with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and the Governor's Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention on implementation of an update to the Commonwealth's Strategic Plan for Substance Abuse.

For the trade association, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corporations of Massachusetts (originally Mental Health Corporations of Massachusetts), Dr. Perlman was responsible for offering technical assistance to executive directors regarding regulations, billing and managed care. She planned training sessions, meetings and conferences; prepared written analyses of policies; staffed committees on children’s clinical issues, Medicaid policy, quality management, and corporate compliance (including HIPAA compliance); and initiated and managed an association-wide project on outcome measurement.

Dr. Perlman received her A.B. from Smith College, Magna cum Laude, and her Ph.D. from Brandeis University. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Perlman serves as a board member of Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Boston where she chairs the Board Quality Improvement Committee. She has also served on and chaired the Board of Directors of Consumer Quality Initiatives, a consumer-directed organization based in Boston. She has published on a variety of topics in numerous journals, and has presented at many local and national conferences.

D. Russell Lyman, Ph.D., Senior Associate

Dr. Lyman is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience in mental health and developmental services. He has consulted to community-based mental health programs, child care settings, shelters, after school programs, K-12 school systems and federal, state and human service agencies. Prior to joining DMA Health Strategies, Dr. Lyman worked in senior management as a clinical director, chief operating officer and vice president for research and strategic initiatives at a major child and family developmental and mental health service agency in the Boston area. He has authored and won many service contracts and federal grants with the federal Administration for Children, Youth and Families; the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); and state mental health, mental retardation, child welfare and public health agencies.

At DMA Dr. Lyman has written briefs on mental health and substance abuse screening for SAMHSA and on adolescent substance abuse services for the MA Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS). He has worked with BSAS on strategic planning for substance abuse service workforce development, and is currently conducting financial mapping and strategic planning for youth services. He has consulted to the Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families on the integration of juvenile justice, child welfare and mental health programs. Recently he has worked with the MA Department of Public Health and the MA Executive Office of Health and Human Services on two SAMHSA systems grants for mental health services for young children. Current projects include development of a pilot implementation and research program in self directed care for adult mental health consumers in Delaware County, Pennsylvania and a Commonwealth fund state case study of early childhood mental health systems.

Dr. Lyman is a B.A. graduate of Yale University and earned an M.Ed. in Counseling from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Boston University Graduate School. In 2006-2008 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Tufts University Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development and was also a 2005-2006 ZERO TO THREE Harris Mid-Career Leaders of the 21st Century Fellow. Dr. Lyman has presented nationally on early identification of the mental health needs of young children and on program development and outcomes measurement in children’s mental health systems of care. He has published internationally on intensive community-based intervention and the development of local systems of care.

Deborah C. Strod, M.S.W., Associate

Deborah Strod’s work at DMA has concentrated on the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, designing and implementing their Independent Peer Review process using NIATx principles, and supporting a Workforce Development strategic planning initiative. She has also supported DMA’s extensive work on the national Building Bridges Initiative, conducting focus groups and incorporating stakeholder feedback into the design of a self-assessment tool for residential providers and their community partners evaluating their implementation of system of care principles. In addition, Ms. Strod has supported the quality improvement, report-writing and analytic activities of the firm. Active in town politics, Ms. Strod and Dr. Dougherty co-chaired the Town of Lexington Health Benefits Committee that prepared a landmark report reviewing health insurance costs for Lexington and approximately 20 neighboring communities and outlining the strategic options for the town.

Prior to DMA, Ms. Strod’ work experience involves ten years of progressive responsibility at Massachusetts General Hospital in their Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology and the Office of Technology Affairs. In various positions from 1991 to 2001, she was responsible for conducting scientific forums, facilitating development of innovative technologies, managing intellectual property, participating in continuous quality improvement and negotiating industry-sponsored research agreements including clinical trials. She has a Masters in Social Work concentrating in Group Work and Community Organization and Planning from the Boston University School of Social Work and a B.A. Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College in History and Science.

Diane Salley, B.A., Office Manager/Assistant

Ms. Salley is responsible for monitoring, tracking, invoicing and reporting on the financial aspects of contracts and subcontracts to ensure adherence to budgets and contract requirements. She also maintains the functions of our office including accounting and time reporting systems, proposal coordination, and human resource functions. Ms. Salley supports the analytic functions of the team with her mastery of word processing, data collection, data base management, financial spreadsheets, flow charting software, and project management programs.

Her prior experience includes 14 years with the defense contractor Loral Infrared Imaging Systems (formerly Honeywell) where she performed time studies, program planning activities, coordination of proposal efforts, and evaluation of program management and proposal software tools.

Caroline Cutter, B.A., Assistant

Ms. Cutter provides additional support in word processing and spreadsheet development. Her prior experience involves twenty years in the fields of biological research and quality control at Genzyme Corporation, Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis, and the University of Michigan Medical School.