Executive Director

Ascension Recovery Services•Morgantown, WV

87d•Onsite

About The Position

Wise Path Recovery Centers is opening Camp Baer, a new substance use disorder treatment program in Morgantown, West Virginia. Camp Baer is a premier residential substance use disorder treatment center offering high-end, evidence-based care in a private, restorative setting. The program is designed to provide individuals with an opportunity to focus on their recovery and build a foundation for lasting change. The Executive Director will lead Camp Baer from pre-opening through launch and long-term operational excellence, shaping the culture, building the leadership team, establishing operational standards, developing community relationships, and setting the tone for the client and team member experience. This is a build role for a mission-driven healthcare leader who combines compassion with strong operational discipline.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Behavioral Health, Business Administration, Human Services, or a related field
Minimum of 5 years of progressive leadership experience within behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, healthcare, residential treatment, or a related setting
Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams
Strong operational management experience
Strong financial and business acumen
Experience working within regulatory and compliance-driven healthcare environments
Demonstrated ability to build accountable, high-performing teams
Strong communication, decision-making, organizational, and problem-solving skills
Ability to successfully lead within a startup, new-facility, high-growth, or turnaround environment

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Behavioral Health, Business Administration, or a related field
Previous Executive Director, Administrator, COO, Program Director, or comparable facility leadership experience
Substance use disorder treatment experience
Residential treatment experience
Experience opening or launching a new behavioral health or healthcare facility
Joint Commission accreditation or survey preparation experience
Familiarity with ASAM-aligned substance use disorder treatment
Experience managing census growth, staffing models, and facility-level financial performance
Experience working within a multi-site healthcare organization

Responsibilities

Lead all aspects of pre-opening operational readiness, including staffing, onboarding, training, scheduling, workflows, and policy implementation.
Build the leadership structure and operational cadence necessary to successfully launch and scale the program.
Establish clear performance expectations, accountability systems, and key operational metrics.
Develop efficient processes supporting admissions, clinical services, medical services, recovery support, hospitality, documentation, and facility operations.
Ensure strong communication and coordination across all departments.
Identify operational barriers early and drive timely, practical solutions.
Partner closely with Wise Path and ARS leadership throughout the opening process.
Help create an environment that is calm, restorative, welcoming, structured, and highly professional.
Ensure the physical environment and daily operations support the therapeutic mission of Camp Baer.
Promote a client experience grounded in dignity, compassion, personal responsibility, and recovery.
Create strong alignment between clinical care, recovery programming, hospitality, and day-to-day operations.
Maintain appropriate professional and therapeutic boundaries while creating a highly supportive treatment environment.
Regularly assess the client and family experience and identify opportunities for improvement.
Ensure compliance with applicable West Virginia behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment requirements.
Lead facility readiness for applicable regulatory and accreditation surveys.
Ensure policies, procedures, documentation standards, and operational expectations are consistently implemented.
Support compliance with HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, client rights, confidentiality requirements, and other applicable federal and state requirements.
Partner with Compliance and clinical leadership on performance improvement, incident review, quality assurance, and corrective action.
Maintain a strong culture of safety, integrity, accountability, and regulatory compliance.
Support high-quality, evidence-based, recovery-oriented treatment in partnership with clinical leadership.
Ensure appropriate treatment planning and interdisciplinary communication.
Maintain strong clinical documentation standards.
Monitor client engagement, outcomes, length of stay, and discharge planning.
Support appropriate level-of-care and utilization review processes.
Ensure coordination between clinical, medical, nursing, case management, and recovery support teams.
Maintain clear accountability for client safety and quality of care.
Manage facility financial performance and budget in collaboration with ARS Finance.
Monitor key operational and financial performance indicators including census and occupancy, admissions and discharges, staffing ratios, labor utilization, overtime, length of stay, payer mix, revenue performance, and facility expenses.
Align staffing levels with census and operational needs.
Maintain disciplined expense management without compromising quality or safety.
Collaborate with Business Development and Admissions to support sustainable referral and census growth.
Understand local market dynamics and help position Camp Baer as a trusted treatment resource in the region.
Recruit, develop, and retain a strong interdisciplinary team.
Build a culture rooted in kindness, teamwork, empathy, integrity, excellence, accountability, and mission.
Establish clear expectations for leaders and team members.
Coach and develop department leaders to strengthen their leadership and operational capabilities.
Lead structured supervision, performance management, and employee accountability processes.
Address performance, conduct, and culture concerns promptly and consistently.
Promote trauma-informed and recovery-oriented leadership practices.
Model professionalism, emotional intelligence, humility, sound judgment, and accountability.
Serve as a visible representative of Camp Baer and Wise Path Recovery Centers throughout Morgantown and the surrounding region.
Develop strong relationships with hospitals, healthcare providers, behavioral health organizations, recovery communities, employers, and referral partners.
Build trust with community stakeholders and referral sources.
Collaborate with Business Development to support responsible market growth.
Help establish Camp Baer as a respected resource within West Virginia's behavioral health continuum.