Board of Directors
Sy Demsky served as the Director of Mount Sinai Hospital’s Narcotics
Rehabilitation Center from 1970 to 2001 when he retired. From 1975 to 1999 he
was also the President and CEO of Auto Assess, Inc., a computerized testing
company. Presently, he is the owner/President of Sy Demsky & Associates, a
Health Care Consulting Company. In 2013, he was elected President of the Board
of NDRI-USA and in 2014 he assumed the Presidency of the Board of Stop Stigma
Now (SSN), a 501c3 whose goal is to eradicate the stigma attached to Medication
Assisted Treatment. He has been a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on
Substance Abuse, and Founder and first President of the New York State
Committee of Methadone Program Administrators ( COMPA).
Sy has received
many prestigious awards including the Dole/Nyswander Award for outstanding
lifetime service to the addiction field, as well as the Unsung Hero Award from the
Carron Foundation. He has collaborated as Co-Investigator on eight NDRI grants.
An early pioneer and former Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Daytop Village, Charles
Devlin has over 48 years experience in the field of substance abuse treatment. Daytop, Entering in 1963
Mr Devlin was the first resident in Daytop Lodge which was an innovative force in the development of
the therapeutic community concept. He is Vice President Substance of Abuse Development with
HELP/PSI, which is a multifaceted Healthcare organization with facilities in NYC, that specializes in
HIV/AIDS and substance abuse, and people at risk.
Mr. Devlin served as President of Therapeutic Communities of America from 1994 to 1998, President of
the Therapeutic Communities Association of New York from 1999 to 2003, and President of the New
York State Association of Substance Abuse Programs from 1984 to 1988 as well as President of the
Kiwanis Club of New York City. Mr. Devlin currently serves on the NYASAP C3 Board of Directors and
is Vice President of Friends of Recovery- New York (FOR-NY). Vice President of NDRI-USA and
membership chair of Treatment Communities of America.
Internationally, he was the Deputy President of the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities, an
organization he was instrumental in founding, representing over 60 nations. Mr. Devlin chaired the
International Organizing Committee, which had the responsibility of organizing twenty-three worldwide
conferences that promoted the networking of substance abuse professionals from government and non-
governmental agencies.
Mr. Devlin has received special citations from the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities, the
Kiwanis Club of New York City and UNICEF. In his previous hometown of Ardsley, New York, he was
appointed by the Mayor to serve as Chairman of the Youth Council for the community. Mr. Devlin has
the distinction of being named “Drug Fighter of the Year” in 1988 by the New York State Association of
Substance Abuse Providers. In 2006 he received the Governor’s Lifetime Service Award in the field of
alcohol and substance abuse. He also received the 2006 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the
Learning for Life division of the Boy Scouts of America. He received the first Ira J. Marion ‘Champion’
Award in 2014 by the New York State Association of Substance Abuse Providers.
Mr. Devlin has been in recovery for 50 years. Mr. Devlin has been married for forty-five years and is the
father of two sons.
Jan Margolis is President and CEO of the Applied Research Corporation, a mid-size
leadership development company specializing in clinical and non-clinical health care
leadership.
Previously, Jan was Senior Vice President of Executive Resources at Bristol Myers-
Squibb and held a similar position at Banker’s Trust Company, now Deutsche Bank.
Jan is a Trustee at Trinitas Regional Medical Center and Chair of the Health
Foundation. She is also a Trustee of the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship. She
also serves on the Board of Clausen Company, a privately-held provider of polyester
glazing putties and antibody fillers, and Paulison Properties, a privately-held real
estate developer, as well as the Board of the Metuchen Area Chamber of Commerce.
Previously, she served on the boards of the American Center for the Quality of Work
Life, the Center for Arts and Education, and chaired the Board of Directors of the
American Society for Training and Development. She is a founding member of NACD –
the National Association of Corporate Directors-NJ.
Dr. Primm is the founder and former executive director of ARTC ( Addiction Research and Treatment
Corporation ), the first methadone program led by an African American physician to service minority
communities in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Past president of the Urban Resourse
Institute which provided essential social services to minority communities and patients for addiction
related conditions such as battered women, alcoholism, unemployment and AIDS. He is a recognized
leader in the fight against AIDS. Dr. Primm served as a prudential advisor and was formally director of
The Center of Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
He has represented the United States at major
conferences of the World Health Organization and the International Conference of Health Ministers
concerning addiction and the AIDS epidemic.
Alan Mathis has 29 years of non-profit and government management experience and currently serves Liberation Programs Inc., a non-profit behavioral health and housing agency serving lower Fairfield County Connecticut, as President and Chief Executive Officer since 2006. From 2002 to 2005 he served as President and Chief Executive Officer at the Lower Eastside Service Center, a non-profit addiction treatment agency in NYC. He began his career in addiction treatment at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Narcotic Rehabilitation Center where he served as Administrative Director then Director from 1998 to 2003. Alan’s interest in addiction treatment began during his ten year career with NYC’s Medical Assistance Program.
Alan received a MS Degree in Policy Analysis and Public Management from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is a Sloan Fellow studying at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and The Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.