Phillip Franks is the Chief Executive Officer of Be Well OC.
Franks brings to Be Well OC more than 25 years of experience in healthcare and military leadership. He most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of OC Specialty Health & Hospitals, where he led two simultaneous new hospital projects through a complex and challenging process of planning, construction, and operation. Under his leadership, both Anaheim Community Hospital, a 98-bed General Acute Care Hospital and Outpatient Surgery Center, and Aliso Ridge Behavioral Health, a 119-bed Acute Psychiatric Hospital in Aliso Viejo, opened their doors in service to the community in 2022.
Prior to his work in Orange County, Franks served as COO of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, the second largest municipal health system in the nation. He began his career with 18 dedicated years of service in the United States Army where he rose to Chief Administrative Officer – 40th Infantry Division. He retired from military service in 2015.
Franks holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, a Master of Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle, and an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of San Francisco. He is a resident of Huntington Beach.
Dr. Lauren Brand has served as Mind OC’s Director of Operations since September 2019. Dr. Brand is a psychologist specializing in business operations. She has over 20 years of experience working in the public and private sectors, including developing and directing programs that provide mental healthcare, social services and addictions treatment.
Prior to her work with Mind OC, Dr. Brand served as Chief Operating Officer for Jewish Federation & Family Services, Orange County, including a period as Interim President & CEO, smoothly guiding the organization through transition while maintaining a corporate culture of growth and innovation. With a passion for helping others, Dr. Brand enjoys mentoring, coaching, and teaching, supporting transformation and culture change for people, organizations, and systems. She holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology.
Rachel Tillman is the Director of Human Resources for Be Well OC.
Valerie Fryer, MBA has served as Mind OC’s Director of Finance from the organization’s founding to the present. Ms. Fryer has been a Principal at Miles Away Consulting since 2019. Valerie has more than 18 years of finance experience working with nonprofits & 10 years with corporate finance.
During her career, she has led all facets of operational & finance management including accounting, financials, budgets, information technology, human resources administration and audits. At OneOC, Valerie led the Business Services Dept for 12 years which was responsible for the OneOC financials, over 100 community initiative oversight & financials, 30 nonprofit accounting / bookkeeping clients and 20 corporate foundation financials.
She is well versed in all levels of government contracts and financial audits. Previously, she was the Controller for Olive Crest which provided services to care for abused and neglected children in 3 states that included mental health services, prevention, foster/adoption, and education (schools) programs. Ms. Fryer holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration.
Victor Jordan is the Chief Financial Officer of Be Well OC.
More than 20 years’ experience as a healthcare executive with progressive responsibility for regional and market operations, financial services and strategy for non-profit, faith-based integrated healthcare delivery systems, for-profit healthcare organizations and community hospitals. Expertise includes streamlining operations and improving financial performance, forging partnerships and joint ventures, acquisitions and integration as well as clinical care improvement work and service line development initiatives. Possesses a strong background in developing and mentoring emerging leaders, building collaboration among teams and initiating strategies to respond to market and business changes.
Kathryn Hamel, Ph.D., is the Vice-President of Mobile Operations at Be Well OC.
She previously worked as a Chief Executive Officer for a mental health nonprofit dedicated to providing education, information, and services to traumatized persons.
Before transitioning into nonprofit leadership, she worked in higher education and later as the Senior Vice-President of Human Resources and Organizational Development for a private, accredited international university.
She also served her community for nearly 25 years as a law-enforcement professional for two mid-sized municipal police departments and retired as a police lieutenant in 2019.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Dr. Hamel is the 2023 recipient of the Advocate of the Year award from the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce and the 2022 recipient of the Mental Health Association of Orange County’s Professional of the Year.
She is pursuing a second Master’s Degree in Psychology with a completion date in 2024. In addition, Dr. Hamel holds two professional certifications in trauma and resilience (Level 1 and Level 2) from Florida State University, a Doctoral Degree in Organizational Leadership & Criminal Justice from Capella University, a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Chapman University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocational Education and Occupational Studies from California State University, Long Beach.
Jessica Foat is the Director of Mobile Operations at Be Well OC. Jessica is a dedicated professional with a passion for enhancing community well-being. She earned her Master of Education in Curriculum & Instructional Design from California Southern University with honors, and she holds a Graduate Certificate in Health Care and Psychology from the same institution.
Jessica’s commitment to trauma-informed care is evident through her professional certifications in Trauma & Resilience and Social-Emotional Education & Interventions from Florida State University. Her dedication and accomplishments have earned her recognition as a 40 Under 40 honoree by the Greater Irvine Chamber.
Jessica is a dynamic leader who serves as the Chair of the Women Veteran Working Group at the Orange County Veteran & Military Family Collaborative, bringing her own experience as an Army Veteran with the rank of Sergeant. In addition, she plays a vital role as a Leadership Committee Member in the Orange County Health Care Agency’s Community Suicide Prevention Coalition.
With core competencies in executive leadership, strategic planning, community relations, program development, non-profit management, public speaking, outreach, project management, instructional design, and organizational development, Jessica Foat brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role at Be Well OC. Her collaborative approach and dedication to improving the well-being of individuals and communities make her a valuable asset in the field of mental health and trauma-informed care.
Robert McCarron, D.O. completed a dual residency in internal medicine and psychiatry at Rush University and received board certification in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine and internal medicine. While on faculty at the University of California, Davis and Irvine Schools of Medicine, he started the only two California based combined internal medicine / psychiatry residency programs. In these roles, he received grant support to create and implement a “Med Psych” curriculum that can be used in the public mental health system by psychiatry residency training programs. Dr. McCarron served as Director of the only Sacramento County Crisis Stabilization Unit and was the founding Director of Pain Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, within the UC Davis Division of Pain Medicine. Dr. McCarron is the Founding Director for the UC Davis Train New Trainers (TNT) Primary Care Psychiatry (PCP) Fellowship, which is a one-year program designed to train primary care providers in the essentials of psychiatry and pediatric behavioral health. Dr. McCarron now serves as Professor and Vice Chair at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. He serves on the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Psychiatry and is Medical Director for Mind OC.
Dr. McCarron has numerous publications in the areas of medical education, unexplained physical complaints; pain management; depression and anxiety in the primary care setting; preventive medicine; medical / psychiatric cross-disciplinary education and psychiatric integrated care. He has edited six textbooks on clinical education: three with a focus on teaching the essentials of primary care-based psychiatry, one on primary care-based pain management and the other two providing an innovative approach to teaching psychiatrists the essentials of preventive and collaborative care medicine. He spends much of his time consulting on how best to provide “cross disciplinary training” at the interface of primary care medicine, chronic pain management and psychiatry, and is a national thought leader in psychiatric integrated education care. Dr. McCarron served as Co-Chair for a statewide project that supported the integration of primary care and behavioral health for several counties in California and currently serves as an appointed member of the California Department of Health Care Services Behavioral Health Advisory Committee. Dr. McCarron also has extensive clinical and research experience in tele-psychiatry consultation.
Dr. McCarron is a past president for the Central California Psychiatric Society, California Psychiatric Association and the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry. He is the Medicine / Psychiatry Section editor for Current Psychiatry; an Associate Editor for The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders; and serves on the editorial board the journal of Mental Illness. Dr. McCarron has received recognition for his national leadership and expertise in cross disciplinary medical / psychiatric integrated education from the UC Davis School of Medicine Vice Chancellor; the American College of Physicians; the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry; the Academy of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry; The American College of Psychiatrists; the American Psychiatric Association and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
Nicole Ramirez, MBA MA is a Director of Quality Improvement and Network Development with over two decades of successful experience in program planning and implementation. Ms. Ramirez specializes in standing up new programs in the Behavioral Healthcare sector and has a wealth of program management experience on the public and managed care front, most recently serving in the non-profit capacity. Ms. Ramirez began her healthcare career in the children’s behavioral health clinic and administration offices for the Orange County Health Care Agency. Advancing through the agency, she served in lead roles within quality improvement and training fields, planning and implementation of the Orange County MHSA programs beginning with CSS through implementation of the Innovation department.
After completing her Master’s in Clinical Psychology and providing clinical intern services in the Children’s, TAY, and Crisis fields, she stepped into the managed care world where she held a successful Behavioral Health Management position for OC’s COHS plan. During her tenure, Ms. Ramirez completed her Master’s in Healthcare Management while leading the implementation and oversight of the behavioral health portion of Orange County’s Cal Medi-Connect program. During her career in Managed Care, she provided program management and oversight of the CMC plan, provided onboarding training to new hires to the company, responded to policy changes and requests, assisted with Board requests, held a lead role in the planning and implementation of transition from a delegated behavioral health model, served lead in Behavioral Health NCQA response and Audits, maintaining 4 stars on the BH side for the COHS plan and lead quality improvement groups. Most recently, as a Director of QI and Network Development, Nicole manages the Behavioral Health System Transformation project for Mind OC.
Michael Romero began his career in 1992 working for the California Department of Mental Health. He spent the majority of my 20+ years of service as a Psychiatric Technician at Metropolitan and Patton State Hospital. During his state service, he became an Industrial Therapist and a Master Trainer of Preventive Management of Assaultive Behavior.
His last 5 years have been in the Orange County outpatient mental health space. Michael has worked Crisis Stabilization Units and Outpatient Services providing medication and treatment to clients both in house and on the streets, with mental health and substance abuse disorders.
In July of 2021, Michael joined Be Well OC to launch the first Mobile Crisis Response Team in Huntington Beach. He is honored to work with an amazing team of compassionate Crisis Intervention Specialists, 21 Hours a day, 7 Days a week.
HB Mobile Teams are proud to serve the Huntington Beach Police Department, Fire Department, Marine Safety and the City of Huntington Beach.
Certifications and licenses include Crisis Intervention Specialist II and Licensed Psychiatric Technician.
Rosie Zoll has served as MindOC’s Director of Planning since January 2020. Ms. Zoll is an experienced professional in the healthcare planning & design industry, with demonstrated success through the entire project lifecycle, from strategic space planning, design development, operational workflows, training, building activation, and stabilization.
She has over a decade of experience working in healthcare planning & development, most recently working as the Director of Transition Strategy for the new $2Billion Stanford Hospital. Prior to that project, she led all aspects of Facility Planning for the Hoag Health System in both Newport Beach and Irvine, CA.
Ms. Zoll is passionate about creating environments that truly support, nurture and inspire the people who inhabit them. Ms. Zoll holds a Masters of Science in Human-Environment Relations with a Minor in Healthcare Administration.
