The AIM Center board of directors announced the hire of a new president. Rodney Battles, who officially began work on Wednesday, Jan. 2, comes to the AIM Center after 16 years as president of Fellowship Hall in Greensboro, N.C.
Mr. Battles has more than 29 years diverse experience as a healthcare executive in general and acute care hospitals, behavioral and specialty hospitals, including both inpatient and outpatient settings. He brings to the AIM Center experience in excellent staff performance, board engagement, and financial stability and growth.
“The board, staff and members of the AIM Center are delighted to welcome Rodney Battles to Chattanooga and the AIM Center. He brings to AIM a unique combination of skills and experience that will well serve AIM’s mission into our future. We have been superbly led by Bonnie since our inception, and we are grateful that she has agreed to work with us during this transition. She will be greatly missed, and we wish her the best in her retirement,” said AIM Center board chairman, Jim Neal.
Mr. Battles’ hire is the result of a year-long search for a successor to Bonnie Currey, who announced her retirement last February 2012. Ms. Currey wrote the original, federal establishment grant to start the AIM Center as a psychosocial program in 1987 and was hired as President in 1988. Her leadership has directed the program through several transformations, most recently with the completion of a successful capital campaign and renovation of the facility at 472 W M L King Boulevard. AIM Center’s clubhouse model approach to psychiatric rehabilitation has been recognized by local, state, and national entities as a cost effective solution to helping people with mental illness recover and reclaim their lives. Ms. Currey remains at the AIM Center as a consultant through the end of February.
AIM Center provides consumer driven psychiatric rehabilitation services that enhance recovery in the living, working, learning, and social environments. By offering a lifetime membership, AIM participants are encouraged to utilize services whenever needed.