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Dr. Andy Mendenhall: One of Portland’s Top 25 Executives for 2025
Monday, January 27, 2025We’re proud to share that Dr. Andy Mendenhall has been named one of Portland’s 2025 Top 25 Executives of the Year by the Portland Business Journal!
This award celebrates leaders who demonstrate exceptional strategic vision, management skills, and impact. Honorees were selected by an independent panel for achievements such as driving revenue growth, leading global expansions, securing major funding, or positioning their organizations for future success.
Dr. Andy’s Time at CCC
Dr. Andy has been with Central City Concern (CCC) since 2017, first as Senior Medical Director for Substance Use Disorder Services (SUDS) and later as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in 2018. During his tenure, he has elevated and diversified CCC’s service level to offer a broad array of evidence-based practices to match client needs. As CMO, Dr. Andy oversaw the agency’s medical and clinical services, assumed responsibility for their quality and effectiveness, provided leadership to staff, helped shape the agency’s strategic vision, promoted ethical and high-quality care, and led CCC through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July 2022, Dr. Andy became CCC’s President and CEO, overseeing a period of significant growth and innovation. Some of his most notable achievements over the past two years include:
- Launching a bold strategic plan outlining new ways to implement regionally scaled solutions to homelessness.
- Leading regional data efforts so that we have a clear understanding of how many people experiencing homelessness in our community are facing a particular problem, whether it’s severe pervasive mental illness, opioid use, or stimulant use disorder.
- Spearheading the development of a new 74-bed residential treatment center opening in 2025.
Anecdotes with Dr. Andy
As part of the award, Dr. Andy participated in a short interview with the Portland Business Journal which we augmented into a series we’re calling “Anecdotes with Dr. Andy.” We thought we’d share his insights with you.
What are you most proud of in your career thus far?
Being of service to Central City Concern and thereby the Portland community I have called home for the bulk of the past 33 years. Our folks on the frontlines are the real heroes of our community, I wake up each day to be of service to them. Clearly defining the cost-savings value of our model of connected health services with housing and supportive employment at CCC is work in active flight and will have broad, societal implications for sustainable funding and continuity. This is something I am looking forward to in the next year.
What is your favorite piece of business advice?
Always, always listen to your teams doing the work. There is no more important voice to hear in the assessment and leadership of one’s business than the voice of your teams. If you aren’t listening to and meaningfully hearing your folks doing the hardest work, you’re flying blind.
What advice would you have told yourself 20 years ago?
Trust your gut…. wait another ten years before you get married. What did I say before? Trust your gut, and make the hard calls.
What personality trait has served you best in business?
Openness. The ability to listen and learn was critical in my formation as a physician, and it has served me well in my journey as a leader. It’s mandatory in the leadership of a complex, community non-profit. Pre-conclusion of ideas and solutions, and comfort in attachment to old truisms is a risky approach within the dynamic behavioral health and human services space.
What is your favorite Portland business other than your own?
Cabezon Restaurant. Chef David Farrell and his spouse Jackie deliver for their loyal customers. Consistent, inspired, owner-operated restaurants hold a place in my heart from my days as a busboy in a similar restaurant. Go sit at the bar, talk-up the staff and experience the magic.
Who is your business role model?
I have been privileged to have been mentored by Mark VanNess of Sperry VanNess and his spouse Julie VanNess, Real Leaders Magazine, for the past decade. They have helped me learn to amplify my vision setting and storytelling through data. In our world Medicaid insurance claims data grounds us in the truth; there is the deepest power anchoring in truth.
What is your outlook for the next 12 months?
I’m encouraged regarding the alignment and continuity of strategy being elevated by key partners working in the homelessness and affordable housing spaces. Our region has been ground zero for the unsheltered homelessness, behavioral health and substance use disorder crises. Our region is changing this narrative by bringing shelter and supportive services, and affordable housing capacity online. We need more of all of this. Partnership between service providers, health systems, coordinated care organizations (CCOs) and all levels of government is necessary in order to maintain alignment and amplify investment.
What does the future of health care look like?
The future of health care is anchored in both access and connection. Folks need access to the services they need in the most convenient and timely way possible. Through better connection, folks will have better engagement in their treatment and therefore better outcomes.
The future of health care is also anchored in how we expand our definition of the things that support health and drive better outcomes, things like housing, healthy food access, connection to community and family. This is particularly important with the folks we serve at CCC and also becoming more important as we see the group of Americans age 55 and older becoming the fastest growing population of individuals becoming homeless for the last five years. Housing instability, food instability and isolation are problems that are really expensive in terms of leading to poor healthcare outcomes and also a markedly reduced quality of life. We can do better and the innovative models of service here at CCC are a big part of the solution.
