Bob Green '73

Current City: York, PA

Hometown: Philadelphia Pa.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Raising our three children to be responsible adults and watching them grow professionally. From a professional perspective, I managed behavioral health services for Wellspan for 41 years and during the past 25 years developed a “start up” for Wellspan and five other health systems (Ephrata Community Health, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, UPMC Pinnacle Health, Tower Health (Reading Hospital) and Wellspan Health) called Quest Behavioral Health. I reported to the six CEO’s of the joint venture who served as my Board of Directors. I developed Quest into a 30 million dollar company covering over 200,000 people for their mental health and substance abuse services under their health plans including Employee Assistance Programs for approximately 80,000 of those employees and their family members. I also taught Psychology and Business courses at York College from 1980 until 2014 and had the privilege to have taught over 2,000 students over those years. Both my work in Behavioral Health and my teaching were challenging but also the most rewarding.

How did York College help you get to where you are today?

When I returned from Vietnam and was discharged, I chose York College out of many other colleges including Penn State because of both the professional curriculums they offered but also because they were offered in the context of a liberal arts education. My experiences at York College motivated me to provide both essential services to people in need and to become a servant leader through my work as a manager and eventually president of the joint venture of the owner health systems. Although the remuneration was not as high as other positions I could have taken, the work itself was so rewarding and challenging that it more than compensated for it. In 1980, the Behavioral Sciences Department offered me an adjunct faculty position which I found incredibly rewarding. Most of my students were very eager to learn and I was able to share years of my experiences in behavioral since I had graduated from York College in 1973. I also believe being an alumni of York College had special meaning to the students and it was very satisfying to provide a role model for those students who wanted to go into the behavioral health field. Although I had my graduate degree in Psychology, I also decided to enroll in the York College MBA program which had a reputation for being one of the best in Central Pennsylvania. Since beginning my teaching at York College in 1980, I found myself in managerial positions at Wellspan Health which prompted me to enroll in the MBA Program. In 1997 I graduated from the program and the Business Department asked me to teach Business courses as well. Dr. Chris Meisenhelter and his wife Dr. Mary Meisenhelter became my mentors and advisors in the program. Chris developed the business mentor program and curriculum with over 60 local and regional businesses participating that provided students with a real “hands on” opportunity to work with the executives of these companies. I think it was even more fun for me and I learned as much if not more than the students from my involvement with all the companies. It was a very exciting time and I developed a passion for the program. It was very difficult for me to give up teaching in 2014, however, the demands of my role as President of Quest Behavioral Health increased significantly as the company experienced a great deal of growth over the years and needed more of my time and energy. I continue to have students who contact me on LinkedIn and tell me how much they appreciated the classes I taught and it does not get any better than that.

What was your favorite class/professor at York College and how did it/they impact you?

 In my undergraduate program I had so many professors that I truly enjoyed and it’s impossible to single one out. The short list is Ruth Katherman, psychology, Dr. Bill Ashbaugh, Dr. Carl Hatch in History, Dr. Bruce Smith in Biology, Dr. Mohat in Music, my Art appreciation professor whose name escapes me just to name a few. They taught with a passion and motivated me to apply myself to the fullest in their courses.

What did you enjoy the most about your chosen career?

The opportunity to serve people in need in the behavioral health field and later in my career, being able to coach and mentor upcoming managers and leaders. In my teaching at York College, I thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and watching them learn and grow. When they would make presentations, as corny as this sounds, I was so proud of them and that I had the opportunity to influence their thinking. My wife is an elementary school teacher in the primary grades for 34 years and is gratified in the same way. When students tell you what an impact you had on their lives in a positive way, it doesn’t get any better than that.

View all of the 2022 Spartans of the Year award recipients.