Board of Trustees & Staff

Shawn Coughlin is the President and CEO of NABH. In this role, he serves as the association’s principal lobbyist, oversees the association’s advocacy work on Capitol Hill, and helps to set and implement strategic policy goals that support high-quality, evidence-based behavioral healthcare for Americans living with mental and substance use disorders.

Shawn brings more than 30 years of advocacy experience to the association. Prior to joining NABH, Shawn served as the association’s advocacy consultant on behavioral health policy during his almost 16 years with Capitol Health Group as the firm’s principal and chief operating officer. He is a leading healthcare advocate and policy expert who works with patient and provider groups, regulators, public and private payers and trade associations. Shawn began his health policy career working on Capitol Hill, handling various healthcare policy needs for the House Ways and Means Committee. Shawn earned his bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. and a master’s degree in public management from the University of Maryland.

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.

Rochelle Archuleta brings to NABH 30 years of experience in the health policy, healthcare delivery system, and legislative arenas.

During her 20-year tenure as a policy director for the American Hospital Association (AHA), Rochelle led AHA’s post-acute care policy team. In this role, Rochelle partnered with providers, policymakers, and leading trade associations on issues pertaining to the home health, skilled nursing facility/nursing home, inpatient rehabilitation facility, and long-term care hospital sectors.

Rochelle’s advocacy efforts expanded to include issues of common concern to all post-acute care providers and their hospital partners, including issues pertaining to Medicare Advantage and commercial insurers, as well as the Medicare program’s effort to create a new, unified payment system to reimburse the aforementioned, post-acute care settings.

Rochelle is a research fellow in the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy and is a former David Winston Health Policy Fellow. She earned a master of science degree in health administration and a master of business administration degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions and a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Jessica Zigmond is the director 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 director of congressional affairs 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.

Emily Wilkins is NABH’s associate manager for congressional affairs. 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.

Emily Meghan Barrett is the administrative 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.