Speaker – Rob McCartney, MSW

Robert E. McCartney MSW, “Rob,” is the Chief Executive Officer for The Barry Robinson Center (BRC) , a behavioral health system in Norfolk, Virginia, anchored by a 72-bed residential treatment center. Over the past eight years, Rob has led BRC’s residential program’s transition from a typical residential treatment center to a premier program whose primary mission is to help military-connected children and their families heal. Since 2013 The Barry Robinson Center has provided care to over 500 military children, adolescents and their families from over 40 states and 6 countries. Rob will tell you, “We don’t get it right all the time, but we do get it right most of the time. Go look at the smiles.”   

As the son of a CPA and a Professor of Nursing, Rob says he was destined to become a social worker. He started his journey of helping young people while in college, working at a juvenile detention facility. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, Rob took time off to see the United States, but after several years of what his mother called “wander lust,” he returned to Michigan State to earn his Masters in Social Work.

The first half of his career was clinically focused working in a variety of settings including foster care, residential, hospitals, and outpatient, serving clients from age 5 to age 85. Those that know Rob will tell you he has never truly grown up and that is why he always migrates back to working with children. The second half of his career Rob has focused on clinical and operational leadership. He has served as a Clinical Supervisor, Executive Director, Regional Director of Operations, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Executive Director. Rob has experienced success in starting up new programs and turning around struggling programs. He credits this success to the teams he has been able to develop. “I hire good people and try to stay out of their way.” 

Rob’s professional life has been strongly influenced by his personal life – father of two boys, divorced, remarried, stepfather to two girls the same age as his sons, “The Brady Bunch without Alice,”  and now “Papa.” Knowing he and Shirley (his wife) would have four kids in college at the same time, Rob moved to administration. The influence of family followed Rob to BRC Rob’s two grandchildren’s father is a Marine. When Rob assumed leadership at BRC, one of his goals was to have a program good enough for his grandkids. He believes he has succeeded. He tells parents, “Kid tested. Grandparent approved.”

In summary, one of Rob’s colleagues says it best: “Rob is a compassionate leader who puts the clinical needs of the children and families first. He has strong operational skills and can become laser focused when needed. We have been successful because of his leadership.”

Host – Kathryn Barrett

Kathryn Barrett is an independent broadcaster, an Emmy-award winning television journalist and former medical news anchor at WVEC-TV, the ABC News affiliate in Norfolk, Virginia.

Her work has taken her to two war zones and 10 foreign countries. During the Iraq war, she was embedded with the U.S. Air Force in the central combat tent hospital in Iraq, while it was under mortar attack. She accompanied severely wounded servicemembers from Iraq to the Army Medical Center in Germany and on to Joint Base Andrews. A decade before, she reported on the role of Portsmouth Naval Hospital staff at a United Nations combat tent hospital during the war in the former Yugoslavia and was on board the USS Eisenhower off the coast of Italy for the first major deployment of women on a combatant ship. She has interviewed many professionals about challenges that come along withparenting children of military personnel.

Kathryn received an Emmy for her coverage of Operation Smile’s work in Honduras and an Emmy nomination for Combat Hospital Iraq. She has awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists, American Women in Communications, Virginia Association of Broadcasters, Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters and Pennsylvania Associated Press. She is a recipient of the Hampton Roads Women in Business Award and was named the USTA (tennis) Mid-Atlantic journalist of the year, 2009.

Kathryn is a board member of the regional Penn State Alumni chapter, a longtime judge for the regional Health Care Hero Awards and has served as an emcee, volunteer or board member for numerous organizations, non-profits and hospitals in the community.