A senior executive with more than twenty years of experience in community-based health and philanthropy, Jim Hickman assumed the role of interim Chief Executive Officer of Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) in January 2019. His leadership comes at a pivotal moment for CYW, as the organization accelerates its work to achieve universal screening for ACEs in California.

Hickman’s advocacy around toxic stress is borne from years fighting the systemic roots of poverty, as well as his journey to understand his own experience of childhood adversity. His leadership at CYW is a continuation of his unwavering commitment to advance the health of underserved communities, which are disproportionately affected by toxic stress.

Before coming to CYW, Hickman headed Hickman Strategies, a firm he co-founded to help innovators find new ways to deliver health services to diverse populations.

Recently, Hickman served as the President and CEO of Sutter Health Better Health East Bay (BHEB), a Sutter Health philanthropic foundation that used a data-driven approach to solve healthcare issues for the underserved and those who require complex care in a community setting.

Before joining Better Health East Bay, Hickman led strategic communications and advocacy campaigns for California’s largest Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation global health grantee, PATH Drug Development.

Hickman held posts with the White House Working Group on Welfare Reform and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration.

Hickman holds a BA in Political Science and Business Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an MBA from Santa Clara University. He is a graduate of Leadership San Francisco and the joint Stanford Graduate School of Business and School of Medicine Innovative Health Care Leader Program.

Jim Hickman lives in the East Bay with his wife, three children, and his dog, Bowie.