Aspire Leadership Bios
C. Richard DeHaven, President and Chief Executive Officer
Rich DeHaven is president and chief executive officer of Aspire Indiana, which was created through
the merger of BehaviorCorp and The Center for Mental Health, where DeHaven had been president and CEO since 1975.
An Indianapolis native, DeHaven began his career in Fort Wayne working in mental health and community services and
planning. As a graduate student at Indiana University, he developed the Office of Career Counseling and Placement at
Franklin College.
Throughout his career, Mr. DeHaven has focused on creating new services and improved opportunities for individuals with mental
and substance abuse disorders as well as other disadvantaged populations. He believed that by combining the resources, staff
competencies, and community partnerships of BehaviorCorp and The Center for Mental Health into the newly created Aspire Indiana,
the organization would be better positioned to offer clients the services and support needed now and in the future.
DeHaven has been a leader in advancing the care and treatment of mental illness throughout the state. In addition to being
certified, he is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He became one of Indiana’s first certified Mental
Health Administrators, when the Association of Mental Health Administrators initiated certification. He was one of the original
members and for many years served on the Indiana Mental Health Planning Council, is past-president of the Indiana Council of
Community Mental Health Centers, has served on the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Corporations of America and is past
treasurer of its subsidiary, Mental Healthcare America.
A graduate of Evangel College in Springfield, Mo., DeHaven earned graduate degrees from Indiana University and Ball State
University. He completed post-graduate work and training at Northern Illinois Center for Governmental Studies, Harvard
University’s School of Public Health, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and the Menninger Foundation.
Other memberships and affiliates include:
Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives
• Member of the American Management Association and it’s Presidents Association
• A U.S. delegate to the World Mental Health Congress
• Founding member of the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership
• Past chairman of the United Way of Madison County, where he’s also served in numerous leadership roles
• Member and Chair of the Madison County Chamber of Commerce's Washington Direct Committee
• Member and former President of the Anderson Noon Kiwanis
• Community Corrections Advisory Board member
• Board member of the Private Industry Council (which piloted the nation’s first one-stop-shop career services)
and it's successor, the Workforce Investment Board
• HUD funded housing corporations
• Anderson High School booster activities
DeHaven has lived in Anderson for more than 35 years. He and his wife, Marilyn, have two grown children.
Barbara Scott, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
A licensed clinical social worker, Barbara Scott, LCSW, MBA, joined The Center for Mental Health in
1986, first as a van driver and then as a full-time outpatient clinician in Elwood, working with patients of all ages and
clients with addictions.
What started as a part-time job turned into a full-time career and passion for helping those with severe mental illness
and addictions. Scott, who earned a Master of Social Work in 1997, has worked in community support services and
inpatient services, both in clinic and administrative positions, before being promoted to The Center for Mental Health’s
Chief Operating Officer in 1997. Scott earned a Master of Business Administration in 2002. After the merger of The Center
for Mental Health and BehaviorCorp in 2009, she became executive vice president and COO of Aspire Indiana.
Scott didn’t necessarily plan a career path in social work, but came to learn later in life how she was unknowingly influenced
by her parents’ experiences. Victims of child abuse and molestation and the children of parents with mental illness and
addiction, Scott’s parents worked quietly to end the cycle of abuse with their own children. Scott believes their examples
guided her personal mission.
“I’m a social worker because that’s what my parents were innately. I am indebted that they chose to give me a social
work heritage rather than one filled with the very atrocities it attempts to stamp out.”
Scott and her husband, Dennis, live on a farm in Markleville, a rural community in East Central Indiana. There Scott
enjoys tending to her gardens and numerous farm animals, including horses, donkeys, cows, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs
and cats.
Dr. Jerry Sheward, M.D., Vice President, Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Jerry Sheward specializes in seriously and persistent psychiatric disorders among adults.
This expertise, combined with his special interest in behavioral healthcare service delivery systems, has made him an
invaluable part of Aspire Indiana’s team of experts.
Born and raised in Central Indiana, Dr. Sheward is a graduate of Wabash College with a degree in chemistry and Indiana
University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in psychiatry at Indiana University Medical Center in 1987. He
is a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, specializing in psychiatry and is a member of the American
Board of Physician Executives.
After completing residency, Dr. Sheward accepted a position as staff psychiatrist at Gallahue Mental Health Center in
Indianapolis and quickly became its associate medical director. Dr. Sheward joined BehaviorCorp (then known as Tri-County)
as medical director in 1990, and later served as the center’s director of clinical services and quality improvement. He is
now Aspire Indiana’s chief medical officer.
As CMO, Sheward supervises a team of 10 psychiatrists, two prescribing APNs, nurses, and inpatient liaison staff who
provide psychiatric and medical services to Aspire’s clients. Optimizing service delivery quality and efficiency has been
an important focus of Dr. Sheward, adapting to the continually changing healthcare environment. In addition he has served
as consultant to multiple behavioral health plans concerning service delivery, utilization management and quality
improvement.
Dr. Sheward is also vice president of operations for ARCHEON, a for-profit company conceived to market and support
electronic medical record software to large behavioral healthcare providers. Led by Dr. Sheward, the Archeon software suite
was created by a team of BehaviorCorp clinicians and practice management personnel in collaboration with MedInformatix,
a state-of-the-art healthcare software company in Los Angeles. This product is now extended throughout Aspire and
several additional mental health centers in Indiana.
“When I was in medical school I was struck by the fact that the quality of my patients’ lives was primarily defined by
the state of their mental health. Some patients were able to find satisfaction, meaning and happiness in their lives
despite, poverty, horrible disability and sometimes terminal illnesses while others experienced such terrible despair
despite the most favorable of circumstances. "I believed I could do the most to alleviate suffering and improve the
lives of my patients by becoming a psychiatrist."
Craig Baird, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
When Craig Baird joined BehaviorCorp (then-Tri-County Mental Health) in 1981 as its accounting manager,
the organization operated from a two-story house in downtown Noblesville. Baird has been instrumental in Aspire Indiana’s
growth and success, helping the organization with six moves in 29 years as it continued to expand services.
As BehaviorCorp’s CFO, Baird helped navigate the merger to form Aspire Indiana, Inc. in 2009. Most recently, he was on
the leadership team planning and building Aspire Indiana’s headquarters in the Noblesville Business Park, which opened in
fall 2010.
A native of Vincennes, Baird grew up in Indianapolis and graduated from North Central High School. He earned a Bachelor
of Science degree with a major in accounting from Indiana University in Bloomington, where he worked full-time after
graduation for the school’s auditing department.
“I’ve always considered myself as just a humble servant providing nonprofits assistance in problem solving in difficult
economic environments, but found that I just enjoy helping others.”
Craig and his wife, Memory, have three children and live in Carmel.
Jerry Landers, Vice-President, Chief Development Officer
Jerry Landers thought he simply was going to work for The Center of Mental Health as a part-time
night-shift residential coach in the summer of 1993. But once he got involved in the challenging and gratifying work of
the mental health organization and started helping residential patients with their mental illnesses, he signed on for a
full-time job. Working his way up through several positions over the last 17 years and through a recent company merger,
he now serves as vice president of business development for Aspire Indiana.
Landers holds a Master of Science degree, Master of Business Administration degree and is a certified occupancy specialist
for HUD. For nearly a decade, he worked with The Center for Mental Health’s residential programs in various roles,
including residential coordinator. And, he developed and led the Center’s Gradual Re-Integration Program, which
provides residential-style services in a community setting. Eventually, he served as manager of the Center’s Elwood and Noblesville offices and began managing business development. Landers implemented the Center’s HIV program, which is
now, geographically, the largest HIV program in the state of Indiana. He also championed the expansion of behavioral
health services in Elwood, including the construction of a larger facility.
Over time, Landers directed the Center’s expansion into Hamilton County and, in Madison County, developed several housing
and social enterprises. One such enterprise is Harvestland, a community supported agriculture farm, which employs clients
who plant, nurture, harvest, prepare, and sell produce to the community. This program has received national recognition for
its innovation. For three years prior to the Center’s merger with BehaviorCorp in 2010, Landers served as the Center’s
vice president of finance and business development. After the merger, which resulted in a new company name, he continued
as Aspire Indiana’s vice president of business development. Today, Landers’ primary focus is on the expansion of related
services and the development of diversification strategies for Aspire.
Landers and his wife, Rachel, live in Anderson with their three children.
