WASHINGTON, DC – Operation UNITE President/CEO Nancy Hale was been named to the Substance Use Advisory Council (SAAC), a 24-member volunteer advisory group of leaders from law enforcement, recovery services, health, economic development, private industry, education, state government and other sectors.

Hale, who also chairs SOAR’s Healthy Communities committee, was appointed by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).  One of the seven goals outlined in SOAR’s Blueprint for the Future of Appalachia is Healthy Communities.

Other members of the Advisory Council include:

• William M. Babington, Division Chief Law Enforcement and Traffic Safety Division, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA), Montgomery, AL;

• Sarah Newman Boateng, Executive Deputy Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Harrisburg, PA;

• Jenell Brewer, Founder/CEO, SPARK (Special People Advocating Recovery Kentucky), Stanton, KY;

• Craig Clark, PE, PhD, Chairman of the Board, Community Colleges of Appalachia; Vice President of Economic Development, Alfred State, Alfred, NY;

• Olivia Collier, ARC Program Manager, North Carolina Department of Commerce, Raleigh, NC;

• Melanie Dallas, LPC, Chief Executive Officer, Highland Rivers Health, Dalton, GA;

• Nick Erwin, Director of Human Resources, Bellisio Foods, Jackson, OH;

• Mark Farley, Development District of Appalachia Association; Executive Director, Upper Cumberland Development District, Cookeville, TN;

• Sara Goldsby, MSW, MPH, Director, South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, Columbia, SC;

• Robert H. Hansen, Director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Charleston, WV;

• Karen Kelley, Chief Program Officer, TROSA, Durham, NC;

• Kody H. Kinsley, Deputy Secretary for Behavioral Health & Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Raleigh, NC;

• Patricia Lincourt, LCSW, Associate Commissioner, New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Albany, NY;

• Devin A. Lyall, Founder/Director, Wilkes Recovery Revolution, Inc., North Wilkesboro, NC;

• S. Hughes Melton, MD, MBA, Commissioner, Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, Richmond, VA;

• Duane Miller, Executive Director, LENOWISCO Planning District Commission, Duffield, VA;

• Robert Pack, PhD, MPH, Professor, Community and Behavioral Health, Eastern Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN;

• Brittany Pittman, ARC Program Manager, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Atlanta, GA;

• Tammy Reynolds, Captain, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Tupelo, MS;

• Stephanie Muncy Surrett, Executive Director, Southwest Virginia Alliance for Manufacturing Inc. Center of Excellence, Abingdon, VA;

• Sean Terrell, Dean, Workforce Development, Hocking College, Nelsonville, OH;

• Chief Robert Ware, Portsmouth Police Department, Portsmouth, OH;

• Courtney Thomas-Winterberg, Director, Allegany County Department of Social Services, Cumberland, MD.

For more information, view the full press release from Operation UNITE.