Our Team

Staff

June, 2018

Neil Shah

Neil Shah

CEO

Neil has committed his life to humanity and discovering creative solutions to the hardest challenges and most promising opportunities.

Neil has committed his life to humanity and discovering creative solutions to the hardest challenges and most promising opportunities. His drive to radically change society sparked when working alongside Black Panthers in New Orleans post-Katrina. He joined Concrn as a founding Board member and crisis responder in 2015 to launch operations in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District and transitioned to CEO in 2016. Prior to Concrn Neil worked as a Director at startup nonprofit Code Tenderloin and co-founded a social enterprise, Apprenta, to provide apprenticeships in software and design to people from underrepresented backgrounds in tech. He started his career working for Larkin Street Youth serving homeless youth in San Francisco, and has since worked in a range of professional roles, including the spectrum of tech corporate finance to real estate development to workforce development. Along the way he experienced mental health and substance abuse issues which led to repeated run-ins with the criminal justice system, which keeps him grounded in Concrn’s compassionate response ethos. He has also served on the Board at Lava Mae and as a small business advisor at La Colectiva, immigrant women’s rights collective. As the son of Indian immigrants, he cultivated a deep-rooted love for culture, diversity and the principles of nonviolent direct action. He has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford and MBA in Finance & Social Innovation from UC Irvine. He’s lived in Brooklyn, Bogota and the Bay and is from the hot ass desert in southern California.

Matthew Dudley

Matthew Dudley

CEO

Scott Carlisle

Scott Carlisle

CEO

Board of Directors

June, 2018

Deb Levine

Deb Levine

ChairDeb Levine, BSW, MA is an expert in using technology for health and wellness among marginalized populations. In 2001, she founded YTH, a non-profit devoted to improving young people’s health and wellness using technology. During her tenure at YTH, projects developed won numerous awards including a White House – Health and Human Services challenge, a Webby, and a Drucker Grassroots Innovation award. Deb has worked extensively in San Francisco with the Department of Public Health, piloting projects that were later scaled to more than 25 state and local health jurisdictions. She sits on the boards of Crisis Text Line, the Male Contraceptive Initiative and California PTA and is currently a consultant for Children’s Council San Francisco, Oakland Unified School District, and Cornell University Act for Youth Center of Excellence, among others. She is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University.

Deb Levine, BSW, MA is an expert in using technology for health and wellness among marginalized populations. In 2001, she founded YTH, a non-profit devoted to improving young people’s health and wellness using technology. During her tenure at YTH, projects developed won numerous awards including a White House – Health and Human Services challenge, a Webby, and a Drucker Grassroots Innovation award. Deb has worked extensively in San Francisco with the Department of Public Health, piloting projects that were later scaled to more than 25 state and local health jurisdictions. She sits on the boards of Crisis Text Line, the Male Contraceptive Initiative and California PTA and is currently a consultant for Children’s Council San Francisco, Oakland Unified School District, and Cornell University Act for Youth Center of Excellence, among others. She is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University.

Jacob Savage

Jacob Savage

Member/Staff

Jacob is the co-founder and program director at Concrn. He manages street operations and relationships with service provider collaborators on the ground as well as participating in supervision and training for compassionate responders.

Alex Briscoe

Alex Briscoe

Alex Briscoe has spent the last 20 years in health systems design, leadership and innovation. Alex earned a B.A. from Vassar College in urban studies and a master’s in marriage and family counseling from the University of San Francisco. Alex has worked in school reform and the charter school movement, including work with YouthBuild USA, the Corporation for National and Community Service. He has advised or collaborated with a number of national foundations including The Atlantic Philanthropies, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Annie E Casey Foundation, The California Endowment, and most recently with The Tipping Point Community and The Zellerbach Family Foundation.   He has specialized in Medicaid policy and administration, emergency medical services, youth voice and crisis counseling, and safety net design and administration

Alex was appointed director of the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency in 2009 where he led one of state’s largest public health systems, overseeing health and hospital systems, public health, behavioral health, and environmental health departments with an annual budget of 700 million dollars and 6,200 FTE contracted and civil service staff. Before joining the county, he was the director of the Chappell Hayes Health Center, a federally qualified outpatient center of Children’s Hospital and Research Center at Oakland.  Alex has served on the Alameda County First Five Commission, The Alameda Alliance, and The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and The Uninsured, as well as a number of other public and private boards and commissions.

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson, is the co-founder of San Francisco Behavioral Health Court and recently retired as a career Deputy Public Defender in the City and County of San Francisco. Jennifer is an extremely passionate advocate for mental health, diversion from incarceration, and behavioral health treatment as opposed to punitive action within the criminal justice system. She has won numerous awards including being named as County Champion by the Forensic Mental Health Association of California and the California State Association of Counties.

Sarah Arnquist

Sarah Arnquist

Sarah is a Vice President of Client Partnerships with Beacon Health Options, the nation’s largest independently operated managed behavioral health organization. Sarah’s work focuses on designing and implementing innovative programs to deliver mental health and substance use services to people in the Western United States. Prior to joining Beacon, Sarah worked as a health policy consultant, working directly with top state Medicaid officials and engaging stakeholders on divisive public policy issues. Sarah also worked for two years at Harvard University’s Global Health Delivery Program, where she collaborated with international health care leaders to study successful models of health care delivery. She began her career as a newspaper reporter, covering health care and social welfare issues in California. She won numerous journalism awards and published in many outlets, including the New York Times and Harvard Business School Press. Sarah has a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.

Advisory Board

Joe Kenan

Joe Kenan

Chair

Dr. Joe Kenan is a board-certified psychiatrist and neurologist and past President of the American Adolescent Psychiatrists Association. He was a long-time practitioner in both adult and child psychiatry in greater LA, and now lives in San Francisco where he is the Medical Director for Code Tenderloin. He is currently a resident at ECS’s Sanctuary Shelter and serves as a San Francisco Police Homeless Policy Board Member. Dr. Joe also has a background in technology platform design and an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.

James Loyce (Jimmy)

James Loyce (Jimmy)

Jimmy is a public health and non-profit professional and advocate with over 35 years of experience. He began his career in clinical staff positions progressing over time to the role of Executive Director/CEO. He is also the co-founder of The Black Coalition on AIDS. He has been involved in local, state and federal health policy advocacy. In the public sector, Jimmy served the City and County of San Francisco in a variety of senior administrative roles that spanned health policy, budget development and advocacy. He retired from the San Francisco Department of Public Health as a Deputy Director in 2007 after 20 years of service. In mid- 2016, Jimmy was appointed to the Local Homeless Coordinating Board by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; the Board sets policy and approves allocation of federal, state and local funds for homeless services. Mayor Edwin M. Lee also appointed Jimmy to the San Francisco Health Commission in 2016, which is the policy, governing and funding body for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Jimmy continues his advocacy work serving on a number of non-profit boards. He also is an organizational development consultant to non-profits.

Jason Albertson

Jason Albertson

Jason is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of California. He has been working with poor and homeless people, in the communities of substance use, mental illness, and HIV disease in San Francisco since 1990. He worked in the provision of services in permanent supportive housing, at Community Housing Partnership, and came to work at the Department of Public Health after earning a Masters in Social Work Education at University of California Berkeley in 2001. He supervised street outreach for the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team, and was a member of the San Mateo County Psychiatric Emergency Response Team. Now, he is the lead for Encampment Resolution for San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

Hilary Roberts

Hilary Roberts

Hilary Roberts, the Executive Director of Peer Advocates Training and Consulting in Oakland, CA, has been working with individuals, groups, schools and universities, and public and private organizations, to build and sustain capacity in the areas of Peer Programming, Conscious Communication, Conflict Resolution, Restorative Practices and Leadership since 1979. As an Educator, Trainer, Consultant and Advisor to many school districts around the country, Ms. Roberts spent 26 years with the Fremont Unified School District in a variety of positions, including Small Learning Communities Coordinator, Project Based Learning Coordinator, Peer Assistance Review Mentor, as well as – for nearly 20 years – as a Peer Resources Coordinator, training youth to counsel other youth, present Peer Education, and carry out Conflict Mediation and Restorative Practices work as youth to youth advocates.

As an Educator for the New York City Board of Education, Ms. Roberts was honored with an Impact II Award for Excellence in Program Development for her trauma informed program – Try Another Way – working with marginalized youth and adolescents on the Autism spectrum.

In addition, Ms. Roberts’ tenure as an Educator with Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, was notable for her work with formerly incarcerated youth and youth with serious social–emotional issues. Grounded in the principles of Re-Education, it was through this work with youth and their families, that she pursued Re-Education’s mission to help troubled youth successfully learn and grow through the Re-ED approach, blending quality education and mental health services in partnership with families, schools, and communities.

Ms. Roberts is currently working with municipal agencies, police departments, district and site administrators, youth, teachers, counselors, community organizations and community members to rethink and reshape their personal and organizational culture, communication skills and disciplinary practices for more balanced and peaceable outcomes.

Ms. Roberts holds a Masters Degree from Columbia University in Education with a focus on two populations: adolescents with serious emotional and mental health issues, and adolescents on the Autism spectrum. She holds a number of K–12 teaching credentials from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, including a few Special Education and Multiple Subjects credentials, as well as an Eminence Credential in Multi-Cultural Dance.

In addition to these credentials and certifications, Ms. Roberts has received numerous honors and acclamations for her multi-cultural dance and music work here and abroad – having traveled throughout the world as an Ambassador and Peacemaker through the performance, teaching and sharing of multi-cultural dance and music forms.

Ms. Roberts is also a trained Conflict Mediator, Brief Intervention Counselor working with substance abusers, and a Trauma First Aide Counselor working with individuals who have experienced emotional and psychological trauma.