Dawan Utecht

Dawan Utecht, Director of Behavioral Health for Fresno County. She has over 15+ years of senior level administrative experience in both profit/non-profit hospital settings, as well as County government. She serves on the Board of Directors of Valley Caregivers Resources Center and the Children’s and Families Commission/First Five Fresno County, both in Fresno, California. Previous to the Mental Health Director appointment, Dawan was the CEO of Community Behavioral Health Center, a 61-bed adult acute inpatient psychiatric facility licensed under Community Regional Medical Center. Dawan oversight also included the 28-bed acute and outpatient physical rehabilitation center, and 106-bed skilled nursing and sub-acute care facility in Fresno. In her current role at the Mental Health Director, Dawan is responsible for an annual budget of $180M, business planning and program development, quality and regulatory management, along with all other administrative duties for the Department. Currently, Dawan and her senior management are strategically planning the redesign of mental health and Drug Medi-Cal services in Fresno County in an effort to provide recovery focused care with improved access to care at all levels of the continuum. Dawan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Columbia University in New York.