About

Dr. Kitty Harris serves as President of NLW Partners, which is dedicated to consulting, education, science and research for addiction recovery. She is a noted author and public speaker, and presents at national conferences, workshops and seminars on topics including adolescence; collegiate addiction and recovery; and communication, civility and leadership. She served for twelve years as the Director of the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery (CSAR) at Texas Tech University. Under her leadership, the CSAR gained national attention, appearing in the Wall Street Journal, on the NBC Today Show, CNN, and featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The New York Times. Dr. Harris is the author of Women and Recovery-Finding Hope, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and co-editor of Substance Abuse Recovery in College, published by Springer.

Karen P. Tandy has more than 38 years of leadership experience in the public and private sectors with executive board experience serving on for-profit and nonprofit boards. She serves as Executive Vice President of NLW Partners. Ms. Tandy was the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for Motorola Solutions where she was Motorola’s top public policy spokesperson on issues related to global telecom policy and oversaw government affairs in more than 70 countries where Motorola operates. Prior to joining Motorola, Ms. Tandy was appointed by President Bush and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate as the first female to head the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), where she managed a $2.4 billion budget and approximately 11,000 employees in 86 global offices.

Thom Duddy serves as Senior Vice President – Corporate Development for NLW Partners and RecoverOnline, LLC. Before joining NLW Partners and RecoverOnline, he served as Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Relations for Adapt Pharma. Previously he led Commercial Strategy, Marketing & Sales for Interpace Diagnostics. Thom also led Marketing for Jazz Pharmaceutical’s Psychiatry Business Unit. Thom has more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical, biologic, device and diagnostic industries. Thom has also held various commercial roles at OraPharma, Sunovion, Sanofi and Pharmacia. Thom holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Pennsylvania State University.

Jared P. Dempsey, Ph.D. serves as Chief Scientist at NLW Partners. Dr. Dempsey is actively involved in neurological and physiological research in addiction. Recent publications include preliminary evidence for a biological marker of addiction recovery, non-conscious emotional response to drug stimuli, and the influence of social anxiety on addiction treatment. Dr. Dempsey has also served as an expert reviewer for the Journal of Motivation and Emotion, Psychopharmacology, Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, American Journal on Addictions, Addiction, Psychiatry Research, European Psychiatry, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Dr. Dempsey was also actively involved in the development of a comprehensive symptom tracking and outcome data collection tool for addiction treatment, TRAC9.

Dr. McKenzie Wilkes serves as the Associate Executive Director for Trac9. She earned her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies with emphasis in Addictive Disorders and Recovery Studies. Dr. Wilkes has over 10 years of experience in the field of addiction recovery, working at the Texas Tech University Center for Collegiate Recovery Communities. She taught an undergraduate course in eating disorders for many years and currently teaches a graduate course in human growth and development as an adjunct instructor. Dr. Wilkes’ research interests include how eating disorders and mental health impact substance use disorders and long-term, sustained recovery.

Sarah is the Technology Operations Officer at Trac9 Informatics and is actively involved in product development. Sarah also assists with algorithm modeling and oversees notification of facilities for high-risk clients.