Meet Your Speakers:
David Lloyd is a Senior Policy Advisor at The Kennedy Forum. Mr. Lloyd focuses on a range of behavioral health policy issues but has devoted much of his time to improving enforcement of the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and state-level parity laws. Previously, Mr. Lloyd was Vice President at Voices for Illinois Children and Director of its Fiscal Policy Center. Mr. Lloyd also has served as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. He has a bachelor's in History from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Senator George Lincoln Barker was first elected to the Virginia Senate in 2007. Prior to his election, he had been active in a number of civic and community organizations since first moving to Northern Virginia more than 35 years ago.
Senator Barker has two degrees from Harvard University, receiving undergraduate honors in Economics and Public Health and a master's in Health Policy and Management. For three decades he worked for the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia, seeking to contain skyrocketing health care costs, promote quality of care, and ensure access to medical care for Virginia families. He currently consults on health care issues.
As the chair of Fairfax County's Transportation Advisory Commission and vice-chair of the Tysons Task Force, George worked to improve transportation conditions and help re-design Tysons Corner – Fairfax County's "downtown" – into an integrated urban area. He also chaired several other state, county, and regional organizations related to health care, human resources, and transportation.
Sarah Christa Butts, MSW, is director of public policy at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), headquarters office in Washington, D.C. NASW is the largest social work organization in the nation, representing the interests of over 700,000 social workers nationwide, with 55 local chapters in states and U.S. territories. Butts is responsible for leading the association’s public policy, political and legislative affairs agenda, overseeing field organizing, working at both the national level and with NASW chapters, political candidates’ fundraising and endorsement efforts, as well as developing and advancing the association’s strategic goals and objectives related to influencing the legislative and executive branches of government. Prior to joining NASW, Sarah served as the executive director of the Grand Challenges for Social Work, a national initiative modeled after a similar undertaking spearheaded by the National Academy of Engineering, whereby 13 science supported challenges were advanced to tackle societies toughest social problems. Sarah is also the founding administrator of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW)—an honorific society for the social work profession and served as an assistant to the dean at University of Maryland, School of Social Work. Butts has also held roles in state and local government, as well as nonprofits, having held positions in Maryland’s Department of Human Services, Social Services Administration, and the Family League of Baltimore. She is a member of the board of directors of the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP) and the Mental Health Liaison Group (MHLG). Butts is also a consultant editor of the first MACRO Encyclopedia of Social Work. In 2018 she was the recipient of The Daily Record’s 40 under 40 VIP list award. She is a contributing author on the 2018 Oxford University Press book, Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society and a 2015 AASWSW paper titled, the Grand Challenge of Ending Homelessness.
