Ozark Guidance names Laura Tyler new CEO

Springdale-based Ozark Guidance, a nonprofit community mental health center, has named Eureka Springs native Laura H. Tyler as chief executive officer. She is replacing Cynthia Curatalo, who is retiring.

Tyler was most recently chief integration officer and associate vice chancellor with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She began her career with Ozark Guidance in 1983 and worked there for more than 15 years.

“Dr. Tyler brings not only great depth and knowledge of mental health care administration to our organization, but also great enthusiasm to the position,” said Ozark Guidance board chairman Kevin Hatfield. “She will lead a team that is engaged and committed to meeting the needs of the community. With dramatic changes in Medicaid funding on the horizon, we feel she can lead our organization as we adapt to the new and complex changes.”

Tyler attended the University of Arkansas for undergraduate and graduate studies, and completed her doctoral work at Virginia Commonwealth University.

She spent nearly 10 years at UAMS, and before that worked at Avita Community Partners in a 13-county service area in northeast Georgia. There she served as the behavioral health director then chief executive officer.

Tyler, according to an Ozark Guidance news release, has consistently advocated for individuals with mental illness and addictive disorders to be best understood as experiencing symptoms of health conditions that deserve an integrated treatment approach, rather than segregation and stigmatization.

Ozark Guidance has seven locations in Benton, Washington, Madison and Carroll counties and 375 employees.