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Hazelden Betty Ford Selects New Chief Financial & Administrative Officer
Arnie Stueber to succeed retiring Jim Blaha
Center City, Minn. (May 18, 2023) – The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation—the nation's largest nonprofit provider of substance use treatment, mental health care and related research, education and prevention services—has selected Arnie Stueber to be its next chief financial and administrative officer.
Stueber, a certified public accountant with an MBA from Marquette University, has nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare finance. For four years, he served as chief financial officer for Rogers Behavioral Health, helping to lead significant growth across a national system of care. He also has held senior roles at Network Health Plan, Ascension Wisconsin, Integrated Health Network of Wisconsin, DentaQuest and UnitedHealth Group. In addition, he brings to the role his own lived experience as a person in sustained, long-term recovery from substance use disorder.
"Arnie is an impressive financial mind, with a highly successful track record, who also embodies
the spirit of our mission – an ideal combination for the role and this important time in Hazelden Betty Ford's evolution," said President and CEO Joseph Lee, MD. "Arnie's significant experience in all aspects of behavioral health will be a big asset as we broaden our banner to reach more communities and expand our emphasis on comprehensive, holistic services—including robust mental health care and family programming. Arnie approaches the work from a place of altruism, and we are excited to welcome him and add his thoughtful leadership to our team."
Stueber said he loves the complexities of health care. He has extensive experience in both payer and provider operations, payer network management, revenue cycle, hospital and medical group operations, and strategic finance and planning. He also has a strong background in analytics and reporting and is adept at communicating complex information in understandable ways.
He will succeed the retiring Jim Blaha, whose 13-year tenure included a doubling of Hazelden Betty Ford's size, reach and revenue.
"It's an honor to join the mission at Hazelden Betty Ford, and I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to follow in Jim Blaha's footsteps, work with the great teams he assembled, and help the organization pursue its vision of empowering recovery and well-being for all," Stueber said. "Having experienced the transformational impact of recovery in my own life, I'm passionate about extending lifesaving services to others and excited to now do that at Hazelden Betty Ford."
In addition to his work, Stueber volunteers and serves as vice chair of the board for Lad Lake, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that runs a school, residential facility and other programs to support young people aging out of the foster system.
He and his family will soon be moving from Milwaukee to Lindstrom, Minn., near Hazelden Betty Ford's headquarters and largest campus in neighboring Center City. He will step into the new role May 30.
About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation's leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient addiction and mental health care for adults and youth, the Foundation has treatment centers and telehealth services nationwide as well as a network of collaborators throughout health care. Through charitable support and a commitment to innovation, the Foundation is able to continually enhance care, research, programs and services, and help more people. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in its services and throughout the organization, which also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction.