Wayne W. Lindstrom, Ph.D. has been the Deputy County Manager of the Behavioral Health Authority for Bernalillo County since 2024. Before this role, he was VP of Business Development and Consulting for RI International from 2019 to 2024. Prior to joining RI, he served for five years as the Director of the New 
Mexico Behavioral Health Services Division and the CEO of the New Mexico Behavioral Health
Collaborative. During a portion of this time, he also was President of the National Association of State 
Mental Health Program Directors. Before coming to NM, he was the president and CEO of Mental Health 
America (MHA), formerly known as the National Mental Health Association. Dr. Lindstrom has 53 years of behavioral health experience. His doctorate is in Applied Social Sciences from Case Western Reserve 
University and his MSW is from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining Mental Health America, he 
was the CEO for six years of a community mental health center in Ohio that served children, youth, and 
families. For the previous eight years he managed an organizational development consulting practice 
where he specialized in the management turnaround of provider organizations. His organizational clients 
included public authorities, service providers, health systems, pharma, and private companies. In the 
1980’s he directed addiction services for the State of Ohio and subsequently spent the next seven years 
working to build a private group psychotherapy practice into a thriving managed behavioral health care 
business. This led to managing behavioral health for over 600,000 commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare 
enrollees in OH and IN for United Health Care. He went on to perform nationally as the Director of Public Sector Operations for United Behavioral Health (UBH) which included overseeing the implementation of public sector contracts. His career began in 1971 when he served, as an officer, in the U.S. Air Force where he implemented and managed a drug treatment program during the Vietnam War. He has worked in community mental health, hospitals, emergency departments, corporate environments, and private practice while also teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels.