NNews March 2026

12 March 2026 Meet Bob Davison, Long-Time NJAMHAA Member Recently Re-elected to the Board W hen Bob Davison, MA, LPC, started his career in the late 1980s, he also launched a long-term relationship with and active involvement in NJAMHAA. At the time, he worked at CBH Care, and he continued with NJAMHAA when his career path led him to Mental Health Association in Northern New Jersey nearly 25 years ago, where he is currently Chief Executive Officer. NJAMHAANews: Why did you join NJAMHAA, serve on the Board and run for re-election? Bob Davison: At the time, I was working at CBHCare, whichwas already amember. I took NJAMHAA trainings and attended conferences, whichwere great experiences, and I met many wonderful people. I remember being at a NJAMHAA conference in Atlantic City. I couldn’t sleep, so I went window shopping and I met an older gentleman doing the same thing. I found out the next day theman was Dr. JohnNash, whomNJAMHAA honored at the event. Back then, the book ABeautiful Mind was out, but not the Davison had previously chaired NJAMHAA’s Public Policy Committee and then served on the NJAMHAA Board from 2001 to 2005 and again from 2010 to 2021. His past tenure on the Board included serving as Treasurer, and he was recently re-elected as an At-Large Board Member. Davison previously served on the Board of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, and he is currently amember of the Board of Mental Health America (MHA) and chairs MHA’s Public Policy Committee. Throughout his 40-year career, he also served on numerous governmental committees, task forces and boards on the local, county, state and federal levels, and in all branches of government. movie. I became good friends with him. We arrangedmeetings with legislators, and I drove Dr. Nash to them. When I became CEO of Mental Health Association, JoeMasciandaro [former President and CEO of CarePlus New Jersey and a long-termNJAMHAA Board Member] encouragedme to run for the NJAMHAA Board. He said it’s important to be with peers, learn from themand maybe teach thema thing or two. I don’t know if I taught anyone anything, but I certainly learned frompeople withmore experience in the field than I did at the time. It was an opportunity to participate in advocacy efforts, and I enjoyed that. I discovered I had a skill set: That if I believed in something, I was willing to say it for advocacy. It comes naturally to me. I resigned from the Board when I chaired Governor Codey’s Task Force on Mental Health. I still worked closely with DebraWentz, as NJAMHAA was instrumental in informing the Task Force about priorities. continued on page 13 Bob Davison and Dr. JohnNash