Karina A. Forrest‐Perkins is a national speaker and consultant on systems improvement and primary care integration within the behavioral health field. Forrest-Perkins also serves as the Chief Executive Officer for The Wayside House, a women’s chemical dependency and co-occurring treatment center in Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, and St. Paul, Minnesota. Prior to this appointment, she served as the President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota and Minnesota Communities Caring for Children. Forrest-Perkins has served as a staff member or task force appointee in three Oklahoma governors’ administrations and is a current appointee to the Minnesota Governor’s Task Force on Medical Cannabis Research. In addition to her position as CEO of The Wayside House, she has served in executive roles in residential adolescent co-occurring treatment, outpatient co-occurring treatment and substance abuse prevention. She currently consults as a subject matter expert for the National Addiction Technology Transfer Center, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Excellence on Opioid Abuse for Pregnant and Postpartum Women, and SAMHSA’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies. Forrest-Perkins is a 2017 Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow and lives in Robbinsdale with her husband, Jack, and cat, Gus.