Marie L. Rocha is the manager of both the Early Start Laboratory and the ESDM Training Program. Dr. Rocha’s primary responsibility as lab manager is to provide support and supervision for all of the research study teams under the direction of Sally Rogers and Aubyn Stahmer. As the manager of the ESDM Training Program, Dr. Rocha provides oversight for all of the ESDM training workshops and all certified therapists, trainers and parent coaches worldwide. The goals of the ESDM Training program are: 1) to make the evidence based practices of the ESDM accessible to organizations and professionals working directly with young children with autism and their families through workshops and the certification programs, and 2) to provide organization and support for certified ESDM therapists, parent coaches and trainers throughout the world. Dr. Rocha is a certified ESDM therapist, parent coach and senior trainer, leading multiple training workshops annually. In addition to her extensive training in ESDM, Dr. Rocha has had 20 years of experience using behaviorally based, empirically validated, autism intervention methods in a variety of community settings. As a board-certified behavior analyst and experienced clinical supervisor, Dr. Rocha provides ongoing behavior analytic supervision to the clinical team. Her research to date has focused on developing and evaluating naturalistic behavior analytic techniques, including parent education models. Her clinical experience includes supervising home and school-based behavioral intervention programs in both research and community settings. Dr. Rocha received her master’s degree and doctorate in Psychology at the University of California, San Diego and has worked with Dr. Rogers since 2008.

Dr. Leslie Morrison received a master’s degree in Human Development (Behavior Analysis) from University of Kansas and doctoral degree in Behavior Analysis at Simmons College. Dr. Morrison became board certified as a BCBA® in 2000 and has been in the field of applied behavior analysis for over 20 years, mostly working with individuals with ASD, developmental disabilities, brain injury, and mental health disorders. She has held positions as Autism Clinical Specialist for Regional Center of Orange County and Director of Clinical Services for a behavioral services agency. She has also taught and developed courses in behavior analysis at Northern Arizona University, Arizona State University, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Simmons College, and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Areas of research interests include analysis of verbal behavior, service provision in applied settings, parent and family education, staff training, quality assurance measurement, and organizational behavior management.

Marge Ackermann is currently Senior Vice President for National Client Partnerships at Beacon Health Options. She is also a key sponsor of Beacon’s National Autism Initiative group. She has over 25 plus years in Behavioral Health starting in direct practice settings including child welfare and working with families of special needs children to in recent years, leading development of programs and operations for large BH managed care companies. In her work in BH managed care, she has led teams overseeing commercial, Medicaid, Medicare and ACA (Exchange) programs. She has worked with various customers including small and large health plans, state entities and Fortune 100 companies. She has held senior management positions with Magellan, New Directions and now Beacon. Most recently at Beacon, she had oversight of the state of GA program to assist in building a state of the art system for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities.

Her most important credential and work is being an advocate for her son with autism. In this role, she served on the Board of Directors at an organization providing respite and family support in IL. She has also held a variety of parent /family support groups. Most recently in past few years she has been involved and focused on the housing crises for adults with autism and Developmental disabilities. Her most valued learning, both personally and professionally, has been through her son, his peers and all that support them.

Dr. Mark R. Dixon, BCBA-D, is professor and coordinator of the Behavior Analysis and Therapy Program at Southern Illinois University. His interests include the study of complex verbal behavior, gambling addiction, and organizational behavior management. Mark has published 10 books and over 200 peer reviewed journal articles. He has served as Editor of Behavior Analysis in Practice and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, associate editor for Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, and a reviewer for over 20 non-behavioral journals. Dr. Dixon has generated over 2.5 million dollars in funding to infuse behavior analysis within local schools and treatment facilities, and create a behavioral therapy clinic for persons suffering from autism and related conditions. Mark’s research and/or expert opinions have been featured in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, National Public Radio, This American Life, Bill Nye Saves the World, a New York Times best seller, and regional affiliates of ABC, CBS, and PBS.

Dr. Quick is an experienced health care leader and the founding CEO of New Directions Behavioral Health, a managed behavioral health organization. As CEO for 23 years, Dr. Quick grew the company from 1 million to 14 million covered lives over a 10-year period, making it one of the fastest growing managed behavioral health companies in the United States and the third largest company of its kind.

He created a corporate culture that sustained exponential growth, reduced risk, increased profitability, provided superior service to members and resulted in a highly engaged workforce. Currently retired and President of Quick Consulting, LLC, today Dr. Quick focuses on advising companies in behavioral health and related health care industries that focus on increasing access to quality behavioral health services, reducing costs, improving health care outcomes and integrating behavioral health and medical services.

Dr. Quick is a licensed psychologist in Missouri with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri–Kanas City and specialized in working with adolescents, families, and couples. He completed post-graduate training program in family therapy at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka.

Dr. Quick’s practice experience includes a private practice of psychology, consulting with schools, practicing in community mental health centers and psychiatric hospitals over a 20-year period. During this time Dr. Quick managed clinical programs in various settings and levels of care. Following progressive promotions in various provider systems he ultimately took on the role as the founding CEO at New Directions Behavioral Health, a managed behavioral health company owned by seven Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. Dr. Quick retired from the CEO role at New Directions in 2017 after 23 years with the company and is now President, Quick Consulting LLC.