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Fairbanks President & CEO Recognized as Administrator of the Year at the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers Conference

During the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) annual leadership conference, the American College of Addiction Treatment Administrators presented their annual recognition award to Helene Cross, President and CEO of Fairbanks Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center. This award recognizes administrators who have made outstanding contributions in the field of addiction treatment. Helene was nominated by a group of her fellow NAATP board members, including NAATP Board Chairman, Kermit Dahlen.

“We were so impressed with how Helene took on the job of improving the financial health of one of the nation’s oldest freestanding not-for-profit treatment programs by not only focusing on the business practices of the organization, but by focusing on patient care,” said Dahlen. “Helene not only grew Fairbanks into a financially solid organization, she grew it into the programmatic jewel it is today and added programming to meet the needs of its patients and community. Her successful development of the recovery high school, Hope Academy, is another wonderful example of her leadership excellence.”

Helene Cross has served as the President and CEO of Fairbanks for eleven years. In September of this year she will retire. She has provided leadership for capital improvement and building projects exceeding $12 million—all funded by grants and donations. Under her leadership, program revenue has tripled and all debt was eliminated. Helene has selflessly given of her time and talent to make hope and recovery a reality for thousands of individuals and families. Today, Fairbanks is a nationally recognized addiction treatment and recovery center.

The Administrator of the Year award has grown out of the efforts of NAATP to nurture excellence in addiction treatment administration and to develop professional collegiality among addiction treatment administrators. It is often the administrator who creates and sustains the vision of a treatment center. In recognizing the administrator of the year NAATP recognizes the vision creators and sustainers in the field.