Meet the Phoenix House
Texas Team
Clyde B. Rush
Senior Vice President and Regional Director, Phoenix Houses of Texas
Director, Human Resources and Management Training, Phoenix House Foundation
Mr. Rush joined Phoenix House in June 2000 as Vice President and Director of Human Resources. He was subsequently promoted to Senior Vice President in February 2003. In October 2006, Mr. Rush also assumed responsibility for the Management Training function. In January 2009, Mr. Rush assumed the position of Regional Director for the New York Region in addition to his Human Resources responsibilities. He led the New York Region for fifteen months during which he was instrumental in turning around the Region from a financial, census and employee morale standpoint. After relinquishing the position of New York Regional Director, in May 2010 Mr. Rush assumed the position of Texas Regional Director. Prior to joining Phoenix House, Mr. Rush retired from Bristol-Myers Squibb after nearly 20 years of service with that organization. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Rush held a number of executive/management positions including working extensively with the Management Teams in Dallas, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. Mr. Rush retired as the Vice President, Strategic Staffing and Planning for the corporation. Clyde has over forty-five years of successful domestic and international experience in management, human resources and training. He is a strategic leader whose vision and approach to leadership has created organizational environments and cultures that facilitated and encouraged teamwork, openness, focus, performance and accountability. Mr. Rush is also a dynamic speaker, facilitator, and trainer. He has conducted a variety of management and leadership seminars throughout the U.S. and numerous foreign countries including Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Brazil, and Canada. In addition, he has conducted Job Search Workshops at over 100 universities, trade associations, and civic organizations. Mr. Rush holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from the University of Louisville.
Laurie DeLong, LCDC
Director, Phoenix House Academy, Austin, Texas
Ms. DeLong initially joined the Phoenix House Team in 1996 to develop and open prevention and assessment services in Austin, Texas. With the increasing demand for adolescent treatment services, Ms, DeLong assumed the Director position to open Phoenix Academy of Austin in 1997. Opening with 8 residential treatment beds in 1997, Ms. DeLong now directs the day to day services for 47 adolescent residential beds, 3 adolescent outpatient programs and prevention/intervention programs for the central Texas area. Ms. DeLong, a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor, brings with her over 28 years of experience in varied behavioral health settings providing psychiatric and substance abuse services throughout the continuum of prevention, intervention, treatment and transitional living. Currently, Ms. DeLong is also overseeing the Houston treatment and prevention programs.
Rachel J. Gonzalez, PHR
Director of Human Resources, Austin, Texas
Ms. Gonzalez joined Phoenix House in 2000 as the Human Resources Manager for the Texas region. She was promoted to Director in 2004. Prior to joining Phoenix House, Ms. Gonzalez held several Human Resources positions with ASOMA/SPECTRO, a high-tech manufacturing firm. Ms. Gonzalez holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. She is certified as a Professional in Human Resources.
Michelle Valenciano Hemm,LCDC
Program Director, Phoenix House Feinberg Academy, Dallas, Texas
Ms. Hemm joined Phoenix House in September 2002 as Program Director and was instrumental in opening the Phoenix House Academy of Dallas. In addition, she established and led an out-patient program and the Dallas Prevention program. Ms. Hemm entered the field in 1984 working for Daytop Village as a substance abuse counselor in Daytop’s New York program. While at Daytop, Ms. Hemm worked her way up to Program Director and was instrumental in establishing a day treatment program in Texas. Ms. Hemm has worked with both adults and adolescents in a variety of modalities. Ms. Hemm holds a B.S. in Communications from St. John’s University, an MA in Counseling from Argosy University, and she is a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor.
Kristen Keeth
Manager of Administration, Dallas, Texas
Ms. Keeth joined Phoenix Houses of Texas in 2006 as an Executive Assistant. In 2007, she was given the added responsibility of Contract Management. In June 2010 she was promoted to Manager of Administration for the Texas Region. She is responsible for the administration of the Texas contracts and grants, submission of funding proposals, and maintains facility licensure and accreditation. Prior to joining Phoenix House, Ms. Keeth held several administrative and insurance positions with American Fidelity and Crawford & Company. Ms. Keeth attended the University of Oklahoma and is completing her B.A. at Texas A&M University.
Laura A. Moss
Development Associate, Dallas, Texas
Ms. Moss joined Phoenix House in March 2009 as the Development Associate. She manages fundraising initiatives for all Texas programs through event coordination, organization of volunteer efforts, grant writing, and donor campaigns; additionally, she oversees responsibilities within the Communications department for the Texas region. Prior to joining Phoenix House, Ms. Moss worked in the insurance industry with recruiting, but decided to pursue her interest in the field of substance abuse treatment. Ms. Moss graduated from Abilene Christian University with a B.S. in Psychology.
James “Jimmy” Ochs, LCSW, LCDC
Program Director, The Dallas County Judicial Treatment Center, Wilmer, Texas
The DCJTC is a 310 bed residential drug and alcohol treatment facility that serves the Dallas community with 45-180 day inpatient programs. Phoenix House took over the operation in December, 2009 in partnership with the Dallas County Community Supervision and Corrections Department. Mr. Ochs joined Phoenix House in December 2009 from the Austin Recovery treatment center where he served as the Chief Operating Officer overseeing adult male and female, women and children’s, inpatient, detox, and outpatient services for over 250 clients. In that capacity he assisted in adding over 120 new beds and $3 million in additional revenue. Prior to that, Mr. Ochs served in a variety of positions with Interventions based in Illinois and its successor organizations, ending as the Director of Quality Assurance for over 22 programs nationwide. Mr. Ochs graduated from Georgetown University and subsequently received a Masters in Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor for the State of Texas.
George Willis
Director of Finance, Dallas, Texas
Mr. Willis joined Phoenix House in 2009 as Director of Finance. Prior to joining Phoenix House, Mr. Willis served as the Finance Manager of the Baylor Foundation; General Accounting Manager for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit; and, Controller/CFO for the St. Philip’s School. Mr. Willis also has experience in external auditing, having held positions both with Coopers & Lybrand and KPMG. Mr. Willis is a CPA with over 15 years of accounting experience. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelors degree in Accounting and a minor in Communications.
Brittany Yelland
Community Relations Manager, Dallas, Texas
Ms. Yelland joined Phoenix Houses of Texas in January 2009. Ms. Yelland is responsible for community outreach, assisting families transition their teens into treatment, and building relationships with referral sources in the community. Prior to joining Phoenix House, Ms. Yelland spent more than nine years serving the community in Denton County where she helped children, adolescents and adults in crisis access mental health and substance abuse services. Ms. Yelland obtained her undergraduate degree in Sociology from Texas Woman’s University and she is currently pursing a Master’s Degree in Social Work.