President and CEO

Kitty Harris, Ph.D., LCDC, LMFT

Dr. Kitty Harris Wilkes 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.

Executive Vice President

Karen P. Tandy

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.

CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER

Jared P. Dempsey, Ph.D.

Jared P. Dempsey, Ph.D. serves as the Executive Director for Trac9 Informatics and as the Chief Science Officer 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 the lead scientist behind the development of Trac9 Informatics, a comprehensive tool for substance use disorders and mental health treatment which provides evidentiary support for clinical monitoring, outcomes, supervision and success forecasting. 

Program Manager

Sarah M. Wilson

Sarah serves as the program manager at NLW Partners.  She was critically involved in development and deployment of Trac9.com.  She currently oversees general operations and leads the technical support division.  Sarah is also actively involved with the R&D division of Trac9, with specific focus on algorithm optimization.

Director of Marketing

Leah Dempsey

Leah is the Director of Marketing. She has over 10 years of experience working with high profile clients such as, the Food Network, Dave Navarro, Bruno Mars, Snoop Dog, Ayesha Curry and Bob Dylan. Leah was able to fine tune her efficiency, rapid decision making and creativity working in such a high discretion environment for many years.

Leah stays current with industry standards and brings a unique flare due to her extensive experience in Hollywood. Leah has been featured in Rolling Stone, Maxim, and Los Angeles Times Magazine. She is an expert in various forms of creative direction, marketing and communication