Molly O’Neill, CEO, Ohio Citizen Advocates for Addiction Recovery

Molly has spent the last three decades enhancing the quality and quantity of recovery options for individuals impacted by addiction. Knowing that addiction is a progressive and fatal illness if left untreated, she is determined to reduce the implicit bias people hold regarding substance use disorders, so that people can access help without shame.

Currently, as the Chief Executive Officer for Ohio Citizen Advocates for Addiction Recovery (OCAAR) in Columbus, Ohio, Molly is focused on giving voice to people in recovery at all levels of policy creation and implementation across Ohio, as well as capacity building for people with lived experience working to start Recovery Community Organizations across Ohio. In her spare time, Molly uses her wealth of knowledge and experience in consulting with nonprofits to provide Governance and Leadership training to boards of directors and executive leadership across the United States.

Prior to moving to Columbus, Ohio and establishing her consulting business, Molly served for seven years as President & Chief Executive Officer of First Call Alcohol/Drug Prevention & Recovery, which provides prevention and recovery services to over 20,000 individuals in the Kansas City area annually.

Before joining First Call, Molly helped found The Women’s Recovery Center, the first SUD treatment program for women and children in Kansas, and spent 14 years spent 14 years as President & CEO of Friendship House/Catherine’s Place, Recovery Residences for women and women with children, where she established and developed a safe and supportive living environment in which women and women with children learn to live sober and become economically self-sufficient.

In order to facilitate all of the above, Molly has raised tens of millions of private and public dollars throughout her career.

She received a BS in Interdisciplinary Social Science from Kansas State University.