Featured Speaker – Catherine Ivy
Catherine Ivy joins the staff of the National Association of Social Workers Georgia Chapter on December 3rd as the new Executive Director, following Susan Fort’s thirteen-year leadership as the Chapter’s Executive Director. Catherine has worked in the field of aging and disability services for over twenty years, specifically in care management, homecare, service planning, and program and policy development. She worked for the Area Agency on Aging in Atlanta, and later administered the Care Management Services Division for Visiting Nurse | Hospice Atlanta, an interdisciplinary team of nurses, social workers, and respite care attendants providing long term care and healthcare services for over 4,000 older adults in metro Atlanta.
In 2008 Catherine joined the Fuqua Center for Late-life Depression at Emory University as Associate Director, later moving to the Georgia Department of Community Health staff as Deputy Director of the Medicaid Division, overseeing the Division’s Long Term Care Section. In that capacity, Catherine has been responsible for policy development and administration of Georgia’s long term care programs including the Medicaid waiver programs, nursing facilities, community mental health services, home health, hospice services, psychiatric residential treatment facilities, the Money Follows the Person demonstration grant, and most recently the award of the CMS Balancing Incentive Program grant through the CMS Center for Innovation.
Catherine is a clinical social worker and part-time instructor in the School of Social Work at Georgia State University where she enjoys integrating practice experience with social work and gerontology education. She has served on the Boards of the Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, the Center for Positive Aging, the Georgia Gerontology Society, and the Georgia Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, where she proudly served as President of the Board from 2006-2008. Her affiliation with the Chapter began in the late 1980s and has included roles as Chair of the Legislative Committee, Board Treasurer, Chair of the Aging Task Force, and most recently, Chair of the 2012 Annual Conference Planning Committee. Catherine is passionate about NASW and the profession of social work and wants to hear from members about their vision for NASW and the Association’s role within our social work profession.