Workforce Solutions Jam | Aligning Across Levers of Change (June 2024)

Peter Delia is a Federal Policy Manager for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Peter manages a number of federal policy portfolios for the National Council, including issues related to workforce, telehealth, equity, 988/crisis, and social determinants of health. Prior to coming to the National Council, Peter worked as a senior attorney for the Florida Senate, where he drafted and analyzed legislation related to behavioral health, Medicaid, child welfare, and elder care issues. Peter has also worked as a senior attorney for the Florida Department of Health, where he practiced administrative litigation and prosecuted disciplinary matters concerning physicians, optometrists, chiropractors, psychologists, and dentists. Peter is a South Florida native and currently lives in Tallahassee, FL with his wife, Eliza.

Beth Kuhn, MILR has over 30 years of experience creating and implementing innovative workforce, human service and health programs, leading collaborations among business, government, and nonprofit partners.  

Beth currently serves as Workforce Consultant with the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities, and as Principal at Stonegate Strategies, a consultancy focused on futuristic workforce development strategies across sectors and organizations.  Beth’s focus is on the workforce of the future – including a special interest and expertise in the behavioral health workforce – and the human and digital transformation of organizations, people practices, and public services needed to support the next generation of customers. 

Beth previously served as Chief Engagement Officer at the Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Family Services, leading workforce policy and operational efforts to better serve customers and offer them multiple pathways to employment and stability.  She served in both Democratic and Republican administrations as Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Workforce Investment and as Director of Workforce Development for the Vermont Department of Labor, collaborating across systems to provide employment, vocational rehabilitation, veterans, unemployment insurance, and other workforce services.   

Beth has a BA in Public Policy from the James Madison College of Michigan State University, and a MILR in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky and in Vergennes, Vermont. 

Dr. Gina Lasky, PhD, MAPL, is a Managing Director for Behavioral Health at Health Management Associates (HMA). Dr. Lasky is a national expert in behavioral health strategy, policy, clinical design and operations and partnership development. Her career combines experience as a licensed psychologist with decades of experience in the public sector with a depth of system and policy design as well as expertise in cross- sector leadership. Working with states, counties, managed care plans and large providers across the country, her work focuses on behavioral health system design, payment and quality, program innovation and operations including workforce. She is passionate about effective implementation of behavioral health integration and supporting providers on quality improvement such as enhancing measurement- based care; bringing behavioral health services into the community; partnership development; and leveraging human centered design in behavioral health. Dr. Lasky earned her master’s and doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in public leadership with a specialization in multi-sector management from George Washington University.

Dr. Katie Marks serves as the Commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities. As a behavioral scientist, Dr. Marks supports the departmental mission of promoting health and well-being by facilitating recovery for people whose lives have been affected by mental illness and substance use; supporting people with intellectual or other developmental disabilities; and building resilience for all. Dr. Marks previously served as the project director for the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE); bringing expertise focused on state, community, and organizational-level strategies as well as policies that support recovery from the overdose epidemic. Dr. Marks received a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Kentucky and a graduate certificate in Clinical and Translational Science. 

Dr. Vestena Robbins is the Senior Executive Advisor for Innovation and Implementation Support in the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities within the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In this role, Dr. Robbins leads behavioral health innovation, implementation, and system transformation efforts. She has over 30 years experience in the behavioral health services field as a behavioral health services researcher, program evaluator, and program administrator and has direct care experience in early care and education and as an elementary school counselor.  

Currently, Dr. Robbins serves as the Principal Investigator of Kentucky’s System of Care Implementation and Expansion grant for child welfare and juvenile justice-involved families; Co-Coordinator for two 988 Workforce Transformation Transfer Initiatives; and leads the Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities Workforce Innovation and Development Collaborative. She serves as the department’s designee for the Kentucky Center for School Safety Board of Directors; Kentucky’s CCBHC Demonstration Project; Kentucky State Interagency Council for Services to Children and Transition-Age Youth; Kentucky Healthcare Workforce Collaborative Advisory Group; Kentucky Healthcare Workforce Investment Fund Steering Committee; Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Students; Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Subcommittee of the Kentucky Board of Education; Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ State University Partnership Advisory Board; Kentucky Juvenile Justice Oversight Council; and the Juvenile Justice Workgroup of the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health. Dr. Robbins staffs the Social and Emotional Health and Wellbeing and Service Array Standing Committees of the State Interagency Council for Services to Children and Transition-Age Youth. She is a long-standing board member of the Kentucky Council for Children with Behavior Disorders; Red Bird Mission, Inc.; Camp Beacon; and a founding board member of GLSEN Bluegrass. Dr. Robbins is Co-Chair of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Institutional Review Board. 

Dr. Robbins received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Berea College, a Master’s Degree in Community and School Counseling from the University of South Florida, and a doctorate in Child and Family Research and Policy from the University of South Florida. She completed a Graduate Certificate in Children’s Mental Health through the University of South Florida in 2008. 

Holly Salazar, MPH, is Chief Executive Officer of The College for Behavioral Health Leadership (CBHL), a leadership organization supporting current and emerging cross-sector leaders with learned and lived experience to collectively advance behavioral health in North America. Holly has worked for more than 15 years in public and community health roles in community-based, non-profit, health care, and local government organizations. An experienced systems leader, Holly engages with cross-sector leaders to form strong partnerships and create transformative change. Holly believes in the power of true collaboration and leveraging collective talents to solve problems.