Gerry Schmidt, MA, LPC, MAC the Vice President and Chief Development Officer at Valley HealthCare System since September 1980, has been in the mental health and addictions treatment profession for over thirty five years. He began his career with the State of West Virginia working as an alcohol and drug counselor doing assessments, treatment and prevention in January 1972. Schmidt has a variety of publications to his credit including several articles on the development of Employee Assistance Programs in rural areas and wellness in the workplace as well as a variety of articles in the Addiction Professional, NAADAC's professional publication and the Behavioral Healthcare magazine.

Schmidt served on the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) Expert Panel for the National Treatment Plan development, which will shape the course of addictions treatment for the next ten years and has edited Treatment Improvement Protocols for CSAT for several years. Schmidt is currently the Clinical Affairs Consultant for NAADAC as well as the Chair of the Public Policy Committee and has been active in the coordination and delivery of the series of Practitioners Services Network (PSN) projects for NAADAC and CSAT. Schmidt graduated from Fairmont State College with a BA in Psychology in 1971 and received a Masters in Counseling Psychology from West Virginia University in 1976. He is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and certified as a Master Addiction Counselor (MAC) and as a licensed clinical supervisor (LCS).