Wendy White Tiegreen, MSW is a public sector innovator with specialty skills in behavioral health Medicaid, policy, operations, workforce, and finance which support innovative service practice. She is a Partner with Lexicon Strategies and is the former (retired) Director of Medicaid and Health System Innovation for the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. She has 35 years of experience working in services delivery and administration in the public behavioral health sector. Much of her career has been spent as liaison between the state Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities authority and state Medicaid authority. In that role, she was the primary negotiator with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the establishment of peer supports as a Medicaid-financed service, and is a presenter at several national Medicaid, health, and behavioral health management conferences. In her various Departmental roles, she led in Georgia’s development of the first 24/7 statewide crisis call center, the 988 implementation, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, whole lifespan Peer Support (including whole health and forensic specialties), High-Fidelity Wraparound, Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health, and System of Care frameworks for the State of Georgia. She has an extensive consulting history, including working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMPD), providers, and more than half of all states related to behavioral health, Medicaid, and workforce, especially advancing the lived experience guild. Ms. Tiegreen was a selected academy member of the National Association of State Health Policy, winning their Academy Award in 2025) and served as the vice-chair of NASMHPD’s Division of Finance and Policy for more than a decade. She has been recognized by the State of Georgia House of Representatives for her work in the creation of Peer Support as a Medicaid-reimbursed service. Ms. Tiegreen is currently a partner with Lexicon Strategies in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as an expert consultant to the University of Georgia’s Ralston Institute for Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Development Disabilities on behavioral health workforce.