Harriet Markell, MA

Harriet Markell, MA, brings to OPEN MINDS over 25 years of experience in the field of mental and behavioral health in California, Oregon, and Washington State. Her areas of expertise include facilitating managed care readiness assessments for provider agencies, strategic planning, implementation and business development, and compliance readiness for Medicaid External Quality Reviews.

Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Markell was the Interim Executive Director for the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies, providing operational and policy oversight for this advocacy organization comprised of community-based, the county contracted mental health and substance use disorder agencies.  She supported the activities of all organizational committees and operations, and educated members and promoted awareness of current policy issues. She was also responsible for collaborating with other behavioral health advocacy organization regarding a wide range of policy and budget issues.

Previously, Ms. Markell served as Vice President of Business Development for EMQ FamiliesFirst (now Uplift Family Services), a statewide non-profit behavioral health/foster care agency that serves children and families. In her role as Vice President, she designed and managed processes for defining business development strategies, implemented new services, payers, and populations per strategic planning results, and provided leadership for both short and long-term planning within the enterprise and business units. She was also responsible for ensuring the agency’s readiness for health care reform.

Prior to her position at Uplift Family Services, Ms. Markell served as Associate Director for the CA Council of Community Mental (now Behavioral) Health Agencies, where she is currently working on an interim basis.

Additionally, Ms. Markell has experience and understanding of case rate, capitation, and P4P models gained in various leadership roles with United Behavioral Health (now Optum), including as Director of their King County (Seattle) Medicaid contract.

Ms. Markell received her master’s degree in psychology from California State University and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Case Western Reserve University. She is a graduate of the Mental Research Institute’s Externship in Family Therapy and currently serves on their Board of Directors.  She also received certification from the Academy for Coaching Excellence.