As the CEO of Rise Behavioral Health Services, my professional shift from a 17-year career in Market Research to Behavioral Healthcare reflects a pretty significant refocus in some respects but a consistent alignment in others. In 2021, I joined the team at Rise as CIO, developing information systems and policies to facilitate providing essential in-home and on-site services for families in need of behavioral health services throughout Western and Central Massachusetts. These services address a broad spectrum of autism and other behavioral health challenges. My days were filled with the familiar world of system development and operational design, but required the development of a new skillset to navigate the myriad legal compliance concerns in a necessarily highly regulated, ever-evolving field. I developed strong quantitative analytic skills during my years in Market Research and I am every day grateful for having had the opportunity to work with wonderful folks who helped me acquire and refine those tools.Rise began in 2020, and as anyone who has worked at a start up well-knows, the entire management team is required—for weal or woe!—to wear many hats. My work as CIO evolved over the first two years—building and managing the systems that house all of the agency’s data to ensure our administrative operations, healthcare data and business development strategies are closely aligned naturally lead to requiring an understanding of those concerns. I took on more responsibilities in financial and strategic decision making. I was asked to become CEO in late 2023. While I can freely say I have never worked so hard or so much in my life, it’s equally easily to say that I have never found my professional life so rewarding.