Jeff Fladen, MSW
President
NAMI Board of Directors
Jeff Fladen, MSW, is president of the NAMI board of directors, elected to the role in June 2025 after being re-elected to the board in 2024. He also serves as President of the Tennessee Caregiver Coalition and is a board member of the Behavioral Health Foundation.
Jeff brings deep lived experience as both a family caregiver and someone who has personally received mental health treatment. His professional background includes work as a therapist, crisis counselor, case manager, EAP clinician, and psychiatric program manager.
He joined NAMI in 2013 with a personal mission to strengthen the visibility, financial well-being, and influence of the organization — both in his home state of Tennessee and across all levels of the NAMI Alliance. From 2013 to 2023, he served as Executive Director of NAMI Tennessee. He is also deeply committed to outreach within the Jewish community, where he previously served as an executive director.
Fladen has worked actively to expand Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) and co-response programs, and has served on numerous mental health task forces and advisory committees. He is a frequent presenter at conferences, webinars, and broadcast events focused on mental health and crisis response.
In 2018, he was honored with the Vicki Cottrell Leadership Award by his fellow NAMI Executive Directors.
Fladen holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and an Master of Social Work from The Ohio State University.
