Carlotta McCleary has been with the North Dakota Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health since 1994. Her first 10 years she was the Region VII Parent Coordinator before becoming the organization's executive director in 2004. Carlotta became the Executive Director for Mental Health America of North Dakota in September of 2014.  Carlotta has been a parent representative on numerous local, regional and state boards and committees, as well as testifying at the state legislature to advocate for children with mental health needs and their families. Carlotta and her husband, Mike, are parents to three adult children Matt, Garrett and Katie.

Chastity is the Clinical Quality Care Director of Coal Country Community Health Centers. She has over 20 years of combined nursing experience in the areas of long term care; home-health and hospice; acute care; and community health centers. Chastity is currently the Director of Nursing and project director for the EMR implementation including PCMH and Meaningful Use at Coal Country Community Health Centers.

Chastity received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Minnesota.

Currently, she serves on the ND Rural Behavioral Health Network governance committee (RBHN) and chairs the ND RBHN Education committee.

Darrold Bertsch has been employed in healthcare management for over 18 years. He was named Chief Executive Officer for Sakakawea Medical Center, Hazen, North Dakota in September 2009 and contracted as the CEO of Coal Country Community Health Center, Beulah, North Dakota in March 2011. Prior to joining Sakakawea Medical Center, Mr. Bertsch served as the administrator/CEO of Southwest Healthcare Services in Bowman, North Dakota and Central Arizona Medical Center in Florence, Arizona. Mr. Bertsch has over 38 years of experience in the healthcare industry.

AFFILIATIONS

• Chairman of the North Dakota Hospital Association Board of Directors
• President of the North Dakota Rural Health Association
• North Dakota AHEC and Western AHEC Advisory Boards
• Northland Healthcare Alliance Board of Directors
• CHAD Community Healthcare Association of the Dakotas Board of Directors
• Mercer County Economic Development Corporation
• Mercer County Ambulance Board of Directors
• Licensed Nursing Home Administrator
• Selected as a 2008 NRHA Fellow

Denise Andress, RN - Governance Committee

Denise is a Registered Nurse of 22 years. She is currently the Director for the Western Area Health Education Center for North Dakota. A native of Hettinger, North Dakota, Denise has an extensive background in rural health care delivery. In her position, she develops programs to recruit and retain health care providers in underserved rural areas, as well as address workforce shortages and educate students about health care options. Denise received her Bachelor's degree in Nursing in 1992 at Grandview College in Des Moines, IA. 

"Having lived and worked in rural communities, survival of our communities is dependent on programs such as AHEC. Programs such as these improve the human infrastructure of our communities through education and resources that keep our rural communities viable. 

Dovie Borth is the Finance Director at Coal Country Community Health Centers (CCCHC) and handles the financial reporting for the network. She holds a B.S. in Accounting, a Masters of Business Administration, and is a Certified Public Accountant. She has worked for CCCHC since 2010. Prior to her current position, she held various positions in accounting management for a Fortune 500 company for many years. She resides with her husband in Beulah, ND. Other interests include computers, music, piano, reading and religious activities.

Coal Country Community Health Center
Beulah, ND

Melissa has lived in rural North Dakota for 36 years and worked in rural mental healthcare for the past 14 years. The first 10 years were as a social services provider at Sakakawea Medical Center in Hazen ND as well as the Home Health and Hospice social worker. Since 2009 Melissa has been the program coordinator for mental health and substance abuse services and a practicing clinical social worker at Coal Country Community Health Center, a federal qualified health clinic in Beulah ND. She added licensed addiction counselor to her resume in the fall of 2011 which enables her to provide chemical dependency evaluations, addiction treatment services and DUI seminars at the clinic. She has been a Mental Health First Aid Trainer for 3 years and has worked with state licensing boards to get MHFA approved for Social Work CEU's, Nursing CE's and Emergency Medical Technicians CE'S in our state. She has provided MHFA in rural areas in both North Dakota and Montana.

Senior Research Scientist at the Essentia Institute of Rural Health and conducts research and program evaluation with health and behavioral health related programs, including: The North Dakota Rural Behavioral Health Network; The Wiconi Ohitika (Strong Life) Youth Suicide Prevention Project; The Ely Community Care Team; The North Dakota Department of Health; the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's Men's and Women's Health Screening Days; the Barnes County ON THE MOVE Chronic Disease Prevention Program; and The North Dakota IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence.

She is the editor of the Journal of Family Social Work. Dr. Conway has published and presented in the areas of behavioral health, especially with Native Americans; pregnancy prevention; grandparent caregivers; rural health; orphan train riders; and health and behavioral health prevention.

She has worked as a social worker in the fields of child welfare, family violence, mental health, AIDS, health, gerontology, loss and grief, and disabilities. She has been a social work educator since the mid 1980's and has conducted training, research, and program evaluations for private non-profit and public agencies throughout that period.

Dr. Conway has a BA in Social Work and a Master of Social Work from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin. She enjoys her family, pets, gardening, reading, knitting, and traveling.

Tom Regan has 40 years of experience in broadcasting, public relations, marketing, recruiting, writing and fund raising.

Regan served as executive director of Missouri Slope Areawide United Way in Bismarck from 1994 to 2009. During his tenure, annual donations to the charity increased from $750,000 to $1.4 million.

Prior to United Way, Regan was employed by Q & R Clinic as chief marketing officer and physician recruiter. Before that, he managed the radio division for Prairie Public.

As an instructor, Regan has taught college-level classes in interpersonal communication, broadcast announcing and audio production. He has also served as a consultant to business in customer service, critical thinking, writing and speaking skills and telephone etiquette. Regan's "10 Steps to Telephone Excellence" DVD sells worldwide.

As a freelance writer, Regan has written over 300 video scripts, as well as stories for magazines and newspapers. Tom is a former editor of Bismarck-Mandan's "City Magazine" for which he is now a contributing writer and editorial board member.

Regan earned a bachelor's degree in mass communication and a master's degree in communication from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addition to graduating with honors, he was a two-time recipient of the Milwaukee Journal Company's Harry J. Grant Scholarship.

Regan is a 1997 graduate of the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber Leadership program. In 2001, he was honored with the program's Distinguished Alumni Award for his contributions to the community.

Regan's current employer is KAT Communications. KAT, founded in Bismarck in 1989, offers a full range of services in marketing, public relations, media production and business consulting.