Mary Giliberti, the new executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, graciously agreed to be 
interviewed during the first week of January when she took charge of the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization. My mother’s funeral prevented me from scheduling a face-to-face conversation. Knowing that many of you wanted to learn more about Ms. Giliberti and her views, I submitted written questions which she answered through emails. I am dividing our exchange into three blogs, with number two scheduled for Wednesday and the final segment for Friday.
I want to thank Director Giliberti for answering my questions. She answered every question posed to her exactly as it was asked and did not set any pre-conditions. Ms. Giliberti was hired by the board after an extensive search that began early last year after Michael Fitzpatrick announced his retirement. Prior to accepting the board’s offer, she served as a section chief in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Earlier, she was director of public policy and advocacy for federal and state issues at NAMI.
Ms. Giliberti has spent more than twenty years working in the mental health field. She served as a disability counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and as a senior attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. She earned her B.A. at Harvard College and her J.D. at Yale Law School. She is a native of North Bellmore, N.Y.
Question: What interested you in applying for this position?
Giliberti: I wanted this job for three reasons.
