Craig D. Apple Sr. has served in the Albany County Sheriff’s Office since 1987, being elected sheriff in 2011. As sheriff, Apple oversees all department operations with oversight of 720 employees and an $80 million operating budget.

During his years of public service as sheriff of Albany County, Apple has implemented numerous programs at the Albany County Correctional Facility, including the Sheriff’s Heroin Addiction Recovery Program (SHARP), the Medically Assisted Treatment Program (MAT), the Soldier On program for veterans, Steps To Adoption Readiness (STAR), a program for animals in shelters, Sheriff’s Inmate Fire Training (SHIFT), a program to train inmates to become volunteer firefighters, and the Inmate Work Force Program. Apple’s latest program will convert decommissioned jail cells into transitional housing to assist the homeless population in the county. He also began the practice of enrolling eligible inmates for the Affordable Healthcare Program, producing a savings of a half million dollars annually.

Apple has served on the executive boards of the United Way and Soldier On and continues to serve for the Boys and Girls Club. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Counter Terrorism Officer’s Association, and the New York State Sheriff’s Association. He holds an MPA and other certifications from the NYS Law Enforcement Executive Education from John Jay College and the FBI National Academy.

Apple places a strong emphasis on serving the public. Many of the life-changing programs he has implemented in his first two terms as sheriff of Albany County have drastically reduced recidivism and received statewide and national recognition. He began his third term in January.

John Bennett is the executive director of Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (GCASA) where he has been employed for the past 21 years. He has worked in the field of addiction for 35 years. Bennett has served on several regional and statewide policy and oversight committees including the New York State credentials board responsible for governing regulations for credentialed counselors in the state.

In 2006, Bennett led his organization to be an early adopter of one of the Western New York’s first opioid-specific outpatient programs. Since that time, GCASA has treated over 1,500 patients with opioid addiction. In 2018, GCASA opened the region’s first rural opioid treatment program, giving patients a choice of any FDA-approved medication-assisted therapies. More recently, Bennett is a founding member and the co-chair of the Genesee-Orleans-Wyoming Opioid Task Force which is comprised of over 100 organizations and 450 members. In 2019, the task force was named Outstanding Rural Health Program of the Year by the New York State Association of Rural Health (NYSARH) and was recognized by the National Organization of the Offices of Rural State Health (NOSORH) as a Community Star in 2020. Under Bennett’s leadership, GCASA was named among the “Best Companies to Work For” by the New York State Society for Human Resource Management in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Bennett has committed his entire career to serving persons and their families struggling with addiction.

Debbian Fletcher-Blake serves as the chief executive officer at Vocational Instruction Project (VIP) Community Services, Inc. which offers integrated medical, behavioral health, housing, and wrap-around services to improve the health and well-being of the Bronx and surrounding communities. Previously, she served as the executive vice president/chief operations officer at Morris Heights Health Center in the Bronx. She also served as the assistant executive director of Care for the Homeless, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) specializing in homeless healthcare in New York City. Prior to joining Care for the Homeless, Fletcher-Blake was employed by the Institute for Family Health, NYC as a family nurse practitioner and clinical director of the homeless program for a combined 10 years. Fletcher-Blake also worked in academia serving as the clinical director of the Mobile Health Program and an adjunct instructor at New York University College of Nursing. She is active in building culturally competent workforces, tackling healthcare inequities, and focusing on strategies to eliminate disparities and working to ensure community members are active participants in deciding systems of care.

Fletcher-Blake collaborates with multiple community stakeholders to improve access to mental health and addiction services. She serves on several boards, including Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS), Montefiore Nyack Hospital, New York City’s Behavioral Health Coalition, The Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers of New York State (ASAPNYS), and Treatment Communities of America (TCA). Her involvement with various organizations has allowed her to collaborate with colleagues, legislators, and other stakeholders locally and nationally to impact health care for patients from the dual perspectives of clinician and administrator. 

Patricia Strach is a fellow at the Rockefeller Institute and principal investigator on the Institute's Stories from Sullivan project, which examines how opioid use affects local communities and what local communities are doing to address it. Strach is a professor in the Departments of Political Science and Public Administration & Policy at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany. Her research examines public policy and mass politics. She is the author of Hiding Politics in Plain Sight: Cause Marketing, Corporate Influence, and Breast Cancer Policymaking (Oxford 2016), All in the Family: The Private Roots of American Public Policy (Stanford 2007), and articles appearing in Political Research Quarterly, Journal of Policy History, Polity, and American Politics Research. In 2008-2010 she was a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at Harvard University. Strach received her doctorate in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004.