Our Team

Meet Our Leadership Team

Larry Kroll

President and Chief Executive Officer

For over 25 years, Dr. Kroll has provided clinical leadership, oversight, and quality assurance for the CMI behavioral healthcare management services. He champions evidence-based practices and ensures program compliance with all federal and state regulations. He successfully leads an executive team made up of highly qualified financial and behavioral health professionals. In his role as CMI President/CEO, Dr. Kroll is also responsible for working closely with Board of Directors and committees to assess and address issues affecting the organization, identifying and addressing staffing requirements for efficient operations and maintaining a strong work culture that attracts and retains people while focusing on the organization’s mission, overseeing and supporting the development of financial documents for required audits and Board oversite, and ensuring compliance with all federal and state regulations for the operation of OTPs locations.

A graduate of Loyola University of Chicago, Dr. Kroll specialized in drug pathology and pharmacology. He is the founder of Step-One Recovery centers (an outpatient and residential treatment program), and co-founder of LIFELINE, one of the first in-patient cocaine-specific treatment programs in the country. He continues to serve as a consultant and advisor to numerous other private and public organizations and is committed to the advancement of drug treatment.

Ron Vlasaty

Chief Operating Officer

Since 1999, Mr. Vlasaty has served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Vlasaty has over 25 years of experience in behavioral healthcare management with specific emphasis on oversight of all administrative, medical and clinical areas of opioid treatment programs (OTPs) delivering all FDA-approved medications. He also participates in the following governmental councils and advisory boards:

  • Chairperson for the Statewide Illinois Advisory Council for the Substance Use Disorders
  • Chairperson for the Medication Assisted Recovery (MAR) Committee of the Statewide Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council
  • Chairperson – the Behavioral Health Consortium of the Cook County Health and Hospital Systems
  • Advisory Board Member, Cook County Department of Public Health
  • Suburban Cook County Opioid Advisory Council
  • Board Member – State of Illinois Task Force on Disability Income Insurance and Parity for Behavioral Health Conditions

Prior to 1999, Mr. Vlasaty was the Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Bureau of Administration. Mr. Vlasaty received his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Allison Alexander

Executive Vice-President

As CMI’s Executive Vice-President, Allison Alexander has over 20 years of experience in managing (along with HR Vice-President) the human resources functions. Ms. Alexander has skill and experience in identifying, evaluating and solving hiring challenges in the behavioral healthcare environment.

Maria Bruni

Chief Program Officer

Maria Bruni, Ph.D. serves as CMI’s Chief Program Officer and in this role she helps to lead the strategic direction by developing and implementing an inclusive strategic plan for substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health (MH) service delivery with collaboration across the agency’s leadership team. Dr. Bruni is also responsible for the following strategic planning priorities for FGC: overseeing and managing strategic business, proposal development and responses with input from the leadership team, working closely with the CFO and Revenue Cycle Team to implement effective front-end revenue cycle processes (ex. prior authorization) to ensure timely accounts receivable and reduce uncompensated care, identifying opportunities to expand existing programs based on need and launching new programs utilizing state and federal grant awards, developing and leading the implementation of strategic initiatives to leverage emerging technology, innovative reimbursement models, and trends in the field of behavioral health.

Jim Hagestad

Chief Financial Officer

Jim Hagestad, CPA, currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Comprehensive Management, Inc. Mr. Hagestad has over 25 years of experience in several financial-related areas including: Accounting and Financial Reporting, Tax Reporting, Procurement, Payroll, Insurance, Banking Relationships and Board Governance.

Prior to joining CMI in 2019, he served the nonprofit healthcare, trade & professional association, and private school industries as an audit senior manager with Plante Moran LLP’s Chicago not-for-profit practice. In addition to a practical working knowledge of nonprofit accounting/tax and enterprise risk management, Mr. Hagestad possesses strong emotional intelligence in working with those holding competing interests to achieve unified goals.

He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Concordia University and is member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society.

Prior to joining CMI in 2020, Dr. Bruni held several high level positions at the State of Illinois for over 20 years, leading the state’s strategic planning efforts related to substance use and mental health disorders. At the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Dr. Bruni was responsible for advising the Medicaid Director on strategies to improve health outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries with substance use and mental health disorders. At the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Substance use Prevention and Recovery, she developed and implemented strategic plans to maximize the utilization of state and federal resources to ensure the accessibility of evidence-based, culturally appropriate services throughout the state.

Brian Nottage

Senior Vice President for Compliance and Performance Improvement

Mr. Nottage has an extensive background and over 20 years of experience in regulatory compliance, performance improvement and clinical management. In terms of regulatory compliance, Mr. Nottage has 21 years of experience as Joint Commission accreditation, including comprehensive knowledge of all applicable standards, applications for new programs, and pre-survey training. He serves as the lead during each survey, and supervises post-survey corrections and follow-up. He works to incorporate new standards into organization workflows through creation of policies, provides staff training regarding new policies, and revises existing policies based on changes in accreditation standards, federal and state regulations, and best practices. Mr. Nottage also manages similar activities and processes for federal and state contract and administrative rule compliance. In terms of performance improvement, Mr. Nottage oversees the analysis of program data for use in performance improvement activities.

Veronica Diaz

Vice-President of Human Resources

Veronica Diaz brings over two decades of dedicated experience in the field. Ms. Diaz is responsible in developing strategic HR policies and plans that seamlessly align with the agency’s overarching vision. Overseeing all facets of employee management, from recruitment and training to retention, HR information system (HRIS), performance, relationship management and ethical practices, termination of programs and personnel, program and payroll allocations, benefits, and compensation. Ms. Diaz ensures meticulous adherence to legal (U.S. employment laws and regulations), federal, state, and programs regulatory reporting, compliance, safety and principles of equality. She also plays a key role in supporting the company’s long-term talent management strategies, positioning it for growth and success. Leveraging her extensive tenure, she provides valuable insights and leadership to the HR team and the organization. Veronica has a PHR certification from DePaul University and is SHRM-CP certified.