TENNESSEE HEALTH CARE HALL OF FAME NOMINEE JOEY JACOBS

Joey A. Jacobs served and impacted the health care community as a role model and mentor for more than 35 years. Through his leadership roles, he shared his vision and set a standard for the treatment of mental health and addiction disorders—which improved patient care at a local, national and international level. In his previous role as CEO of Acadia Healthcare, Jacobs expanded the company’s footprint to include patient facilities not only in the United States, but in the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico as well. His ability to make decisions and act quickly contributed to the significant growth and unprecedented quality at facilities around the world. Jacobs obtained a degree in Accounting from Middl EXECUTIVE e Tennessee State University before entering the health care field. He started his career at Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) where, for 21 years, he served in various regional leadership roles. Following his time at HCA, he co-founded behavioral health company Psychiatric Solutions. Before its acquisition for $3.2 billion by a private equity firm in 2010, Joey had grown Psychiatric Solutions into an industry leader with 11,000 beds in 32 states and more than 17,000 employees. After the Psychiatric Solutions acquisition, Jacobs became CEO at Acadia Healthcare. Jacobs continued his success at Acadia in setting the standard of excellence in behavioral health and addiction disorder treatment. Under Joey’s leadership, the company grew from just six facilities in 2011, to a network of more than 568 facilities. In his roles with Psychiatric Solutions and Acadia Healthcare, Jacobs oversaw the investment of millions of dollars in upgrading and expanding facilities to ensure patients received the treatment they needed in safe, modern and inviting facilities. As CEO, Jacobs created a culture within the company that encouraged and empowered employees to give back. Employees take time away from the facilities and offices to volunteer for community organizations such as homeless shelters, organize fundraisers and host mental health awareness events in their respective communities. Under Jacobs’ leadership, Acadia forged a national partnership with youth suicide prevention organization, The Jason Foundation. This relationship positioned Acadia to offer even more impactful programming to staff, patients, families and communities in the arena of suicide prevention. In addition, he served the Nashville health care community through the board of directors at Cumberland Pharmaceuticals. He served as a director for Envision Healthcare, Mental Health Management, Inc. and the Monroe Carell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. He also served on Middle Tennessee State University’s Governing Board of Trustees. He further supported his alma mater through the establishment of the Joey A. Jacobs Chair of Excellence in Accounting. Jacobs received recognition for his entrepreneurial endeavors by Ernst and Young, Emerald Asset Management and Nashville’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. Jacobs was also named to Nashville Business Journal’s Power 100, and, in 2016, he received the Health Care Hero Lifetime Achievement award by the Nashville Business Journal. Among friends and acquaintances he is remembered as an approachable, humble and passionate leader.