Board of Trustees & Staff

Mark J. Covall has served as interim president and CEO of the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare (NABH) since Oct. 1, 2025. Previously he served as the association’s president and CEO for 24 years before he retired in December 2019.

Mark has than 35 years of experience in healthcare policy and is an expert on Medicare, Medicaid, and quality issues related to behavioral healthcare. He has founded and helped to lead a wide variety of coalitions working to improve the lives of individuals with mental health and substance use disorders. In addition, Mark central role in advocacy successes on issues including parity, the Medicare inpatient psychiatric prospective payment system, and healthcare reform.

Before he became NABH’s president and CEO in 1995, Mark served as the executive director of the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association (now known as the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness)—an association that represents the nation’s leading managed behavioral healthcare companies.

Mark also served for nine years as the director of government relations for NABH, which was then called the National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals. Early in his career, Mark worked on Capitol Hill for the House Aging Committee’s Health and Long-Term Care Subcommittee.

NABH members provide the full continuum of behavioral healthcare services to children, adolescents, adults, and older adults with mental and substance use disorders in 49 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. NABH members and staff work together to improve behavioral health treatment, better measure outcomes, and increase transparency for patients, families, providers, and payers. A small group of physicians founded the association in 1933.

Maria Merlie is the chief operating officer at NABH. In this role, she is responsible for all of the association’s member services and administrative activities.

Maria oversees the NABH Annual Meeting, which includes soliciting and managing the Annual Meeting’s exhibitor and sponsor opportunities, contracting with the hotel, and supervising all activities on site. Maria also serves as the staff liaison to the NABH Board of Trustees, where she coordinates all Board meetings and supervises the Board member election process.

Maria is a graduate of the Katharine Gibbs Business School.

Jessica Zigmond is vice president of communications at NABH. In this role, she leads efforts to communicate the vital role that behavioral health plays in helping Americans achieve overall health.

Jessica brings to the association her experiences as both a journalist and public relations executive. Before joining NABH, Jessica was the vice president, group manager at Ketchum, where she served as project manager for a federal government account overseeing communications about clinical quality standards and value-based incentives to the nation’s healthcare providers.

Previously, Jessica served as the Washington bureau chief for Modern Healthcare magazine, where she oversaw coverage of federal health legislation, regulatory changes, and healthcare industry trends. Earlier as the magazine’s public health reporter, Jessica reported on a range of public health issues, including rural suicide, national emergencies and the uninsured population.

Jessica’s previous experience includes positions with Hager Sharp, Reuters, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Jessica earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Andy Dodson is vice president of government relations at NABH, where he oversees all aspects of the association’s legislative and advocacy priorities, including the NABH Champions PAC.

Andy brings to NABH more than 20 years of legislative and regulatory advocacy experience in senior government affairs positions with several national trade associations and a multi-client government affairs consulting firm.

Andy began his political career working in the Texas legislature and on several statewide political campaigns before he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) and several Texas lawmakers.

He has advocated for companies and associations in the insurance, technology and telecommunications, real estate, and business aviation industries, and he is eager to represent behavioral healthcare providers.

Most recently Andy led the American Wood Council’s federal, state, and local advocacy efforts, where he developed and implemented successful political campaigns and government relations initiatives.

He also worked as a regional fundraising director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Clinton/Gore Re-Election Committee.

Andy earned a bachelor’s degree in Government and American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dan Schwartz is vice president of public policy at NABH, where he brings to NABH a range of experiences in federal agencies related to addiction services, including most recently in his role as a senior behavioral health policy analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In that role, Dan engaged in federal policymaking efforts by providing subject matter expertise about the delivery, financing, and regulation of behavioral health services, with an emphasis on the substance use disorder care continuum, controlled substances, and various mental health topics.

Dan also served as the staff lead for the HHS Workgroup on Implementation Strategies for Contingency Management; co-led a workgroup that supported developing legislative proposals related to behavioral health; and was a lead analyst for developing and implementing the HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy.

Prior to working at ASPE, Dan worked at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Dan earned a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, where he was a Bloomberg Fellow in Addiction & Overdose, and a bachelor’s degree in public health from George Washington University.

Sarah Steverman, Ph.D., M.S.W. is NABH’s vice president of regulatory affairs, quality, and compliance. In this role, she is responsible for developing regulatory solutions and policy recommendations that support and promote quality behavioral healthcare services nationwide.

Sarah advances NABH’s advocacy priorities through monitoring legislation and regulations that affect the behavioral healthcare industry and providing strategic direction about essential programs and initiatives in the federal regulatory environment. She also manages NABH’s Quality Committee and Behavioral Health Services within General Healthcare Systems Committee.

Sarah came to NABH from HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), where she supported behavioral health policy research and coordination as a social science research analyst. Before joining ASPE, Sarah served as a social behavioral scientist administrator at the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Prevention Research Branch, where she focused on prevention research in healthcare settings and research on policies and environmental strategies to prevent substance misuse.

Prior to her work in government service, Sarah worked at Abt Associates, where she specialized in behavioral health policy, research, and dissemination of evidence-based interventions. She has also served as a public health analyst at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and led policy efforts at Mental Health America and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Sarah began her career working in direct service with individuals with co-occurring substance use and mental health conditions. She earned both her master’s and doctoral degrees at Catholic University of America.

Emily Wilkins is NABH’s director of government relations. In this role, Emily is responsible for helping the director of congressional affairs develop strategies that increase the visibility of and action on NABH’s advocacy priorities and initiatives. Emily also works on the NABH Champions PAC by assisting with member correspondence, recordkeeping, and reporting.

Most recently Emily helped coordinate NABH daily operations as the association’s administrative coordinator, a position she held since late 2019. Before she came to NABH, Emily comanaged a range of administrative responsibilities as the office assistant for the Association of Global Automakers, a trade association that represents the U.S. subsidiaries of international automobile manufacturers.

Emily completed a year of service as an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA) for Higher Achievement, a Washington, D.C.-based not-for-profit organization committed to closing the achievement gap among middle school students in underserved communities.

Emily earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Longwood University in Farmville, Va.

Meghan Barrett is the operations coordinator at NABH, where she is responsible for a wide range of duties that support NABH’s daily operations.

Meghan spends much of her time coordinating activities related to the NABH’s Annual Meeting, committee meetings, broadcast email communications to members, and webinars.

Meghan brings years of customer service experience to her role at NABH. Most recently Meghan served as a customer service representative at the Seattle Aquarium, where her work contributed to the overall success of Guest Services.

Meghan earned her bachelor’s degree from Seattle University.