Board of Directors

Background:
Known as Jafri to his friends, Mr. Jafri is the current Board of Directors’ Chairman and with every action he inspires us to expand the visibility and reach of the Hume Center. He is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Onvoya which he founded to eliminate the frustration consumers face when buying travel. Harnessing the power of AI/Machine Learning, Conversational Voice Technologies and NDC (the new Broadband standard adopted by the Airline Industry) Onvoya will transform the travel industry from its current 50-year-old platform to a more streamlined platform connecting consumers directly to the suppliers without any middlemen. Books could be written about enterprises created through leveraging emerging technologies to enable worldwide success for his many ventures. Before Onvoya Jafri founded Mondee, Cfares.com, Exambria, Inc., Docunet, TeleTix, Jafcom and Tri World Inc through partnerships with EDS and Olivetti, Ticketmaster, Chemical Bank, Bell Atlantic and Visa. Mr. Jafri holds a Masters Degree in Engineering from Stanford University and BS in Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan.

Career Progression:

Since 2004, Dr. Joty Sikand has served as Chief Executive Officer and President of The Hume Center, leading its transformative evolution. Under her direction, the organization grew from a small Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) with a modest training program into a comprehensive system offering diverse program services across the behavioral health care continuum in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Her 900%+ increase in revenue has significantly expanded the Center’s impact through diverse services and multidisciplinary training, including the recent launch of the Community Behavioral Health Training Center (CBHTC), established in partnership with Human Liberations Founder and Hume Center’s Founding President, Dr. Meji Singh. A dedicated advocate across county, state, and national levels, Dr. Sikand has been instrumental in developing Prevention and Early Intervention services, reaching welfare populations and unserved populations partnering with 80 school and human services organizations. Her efforts strategically focus on reducing stigma and expanding access for underserved immigrant populations, notably through specialized health promotion programs for the South Asian and Latino communities. A key innovation is her pioneering of the Primary Behavioral Health Clinician (PBHC) model—a service design that utilizes doctoral clinical psychology  professionals as the primary clinical care lead of a multidisciplinary team. This model improves functioning for individuals with serious mental illness and reduces the need for higher levels of care. Furthermore, she directed the development of integrated intensive outpatient programs for uninsured individuals, a community-defined approach recognized as effective under healthcare reform. A champion of collective leadership, Dr. Sikand has strategically pivoted her roles at the Hume Center to serve as both CEO and Chief Clinical Mental Health (CCMH). This dual-leadership model anchors clinical excellence at the heart of the organization, seamlessly blending service-driven administration with visionary strategy to deliver sustainable impact and redefine modern nonprofit management.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Sikand has been recognized on numerous occasions for her contributions at local, state, and national levels. These include:

• State of California Recognition Award from the California State Senate
• California Psychological Association Early Career Psychologist Award
• State Leadership Delegate from California for the American Psychological Association
• Hume Center’s Excellence of Achievement Award and National Behavioral Health as a Behavioral Health Champion.
• Spotlight CBHA BIPOC Affinity Leader by the State of Illinois’ Community Behavioral Healthcare Association and the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Association

Affiliations:
American Psychological Association’s California

Education:
Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute, Berkeley (2002-?)
Master’s Degree, Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling
Master’s Degree, Organizational Development Consultation
Bachelor’s Degree, UC Berkeley
Graduate Certification in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling
Graduate Certification in Organizational Development Consultation

License:
Clinical Psychologist

Career Progression:

Since 2004, Dr. Joty Sikand has served as Chief Executive Officer and President of The Hume Center, leading its transformative evolution. Under her direction, the organization grew from a small Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) with a modest training program into a comprehensive system offering diverse program services across the behavioral health care continuum in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Her 900%+ increase in revenue has significantly expanded the Center’s impact through diverse services and multidisciplinary training, including the recent launch of the Community Behavioral Health Training Center (CBHTC), established in partnership with Human Liberations Founder and Hume Center’s Founding President, Dr. Meji Singh. A dedicated advocate across county, state, and national levels, Dr. Sikand has been instrumental in developing Prevention and Early Intervention services, reaching welfare populations and unserved populations partnering with 80 school and human services organizations. Her efforts strategically focus on reducing stigma and expanding access for underserved immigrant populations, notably through specialized health promotion programs for the South Asian and Latino communities. A key innovation is her pioneering of the Primary Behavioral Health Clinician (PBHC) model—a service design that utilizes doctoral clinical psychology  professionals as the primary clinical care lead of a multidisciplinary team. This model improves functioning for individuals with serious mental illness and reduces the need for higher levels of care. Furthermore, she directed the development of integrated intensive outpatient programs for uninsured individuals, a community-defined approach recognized as effective under healthcare reform. A champion of collective leadership, Dr. Sikand has strategically pivoted her roles at the Hume Center to serve as both CEO and Chief Clinical Mental Health (CCMH). This dual-leadership model anchors clinical excellence at the heart of the organization, seamlessly blending service-driven administration with visionary strategy to deliver sustainable impact and redefine modern nonprofit management.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Sikand has been recognized on numerous occasions for her contributions at local, state, and national levels. These include:

• State of California Recognition Award from the California State Senate
• California Psychological Association Early Career Psychologist Award
• State Leadership Delegate from California for the American Psychological Association
• Hume Center’s Excellence of Achievement Award and National Behavioral Health as a Behavioral Health Champion.
• Spotlight CBHA BIPOC Affinity Leader by the State of Illinois’ Community Behavioral Healthcare Association and the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Association

Affiliations:
American Psychological Association’s California

Education:
Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute, Berkeley (2002-?)
Master’s Degree, Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling
Master’s Degree, Organizational Development Consultation
Bachelor’s Degree, UC Berkeley
Graduate Certification in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling
Graduate Certification in Organizational Development Consultation

License:
Clinical Psychologist

Andree Alarcon is a distinguished early-career professional and a rising luminary who has elevated The Hume Center’s Finance Department to unprecedented heights. Serving as Vice President of Finance with a trajectory toward CFO, he is a mission-driven financial strategist dedicated to ensuring long-term organizational sustainability. A decisive leader, Andree expertly navigates complex regulatory shifts—most notably the transition to CalAIM payment reform and critical contractual evolutions with essential county partners such as ACBH and CCBH. His leadership fosters a culture of accountability, anchored in robust data metrics and sophisticated financial modeling. 

Andree has successfully spearheaded the development of vital financial frameworks, partnering with clinical leadership to design program service models that harmonize fiscal health with community care. This commitment is reflected in his expertise in strategic budgeting, forecasting, and profitability analyses, all of which drive insightful business decisions. By optimizing financial performance, his ultimate objective is to secure a surplus that empowers The Hume Center to expand its mission and deliver greater services to the community. Furthermore, driven by a passion for innovation and impact, he contributes to strategic initiative teams, applying a growth mindset to advance the field of behavioral health.

Career Progression:
Dr. Chris Celio is a licensed psychologist, who started working in the mental health field in 2001 and originally trained to be a Child Psychologist, but found his calling when he joined the Hume Center as a Doctoral Intern in 2007. While this shifted his focus to serving adults diagnosed with serious mental illness, he brought with him an emphasis on the family and other systems that the consumer is a part of and a creative spirit that believes that healing and recovery can come through many surprising and outside-of-the-box pathways, beliefs, and persons.

Chris has helped Hume Center’s services in Contra Costa County expand into prevention and early intervention services, housing support, and full-service partnership services, which include case management, peer and family services, and homelessness prevention. He is currently working on a team at Hume Center developing behavioral health-informed independent housing.

Dr. Celio is excited about the impactful work being done by the Behavioral Health Consultation Training Center and is honored to be a part of it. Believing strongly in the power of the community, he has worked to create or support events like Mental Wellness Night with the Sharks, Community Living Room Conversations, and the annual Hope Cup Softball Tournament and Annual Bowling Tournament.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Celio is proud to have been awarded the Hope Award by the SPIRIT Classes of 2017, 2018, and 2022, the Community Partnership Award in 2018 and the Unsung Hero Award in 2022 by the Putnam Clubhouse, and the Committed Clinician Award by NAMI Contra Costa in 2019. He was honored to be chosen by Contra Costa Behavioral Health to moderate their first “Bust Stigma”; event at Brenden Theatre for Recovery Month 2019, by Putnam Clubhouse to moderate their Reimagine Mental Health Care Conference in 2020 and 2021, and by TogetherWell to speak as a panelist during their “The Power of Support and Advocacy in Peer Mental Health”; in 2021.

License:
Clinical Psychology

Background:
Fatemeh Bani-Taba, Psy.D. was introduced to the Hume Center as a pre-doctoral intern where she was a mentee of Dr. Singh. Fatemeh finished her work with us, graduated from the Wright Institute, and then moved to Kaiser Permanente as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. Once a fully licensed psychologist, she worked as an Adult/Crisis Psychologist with patients in both emergency room and clinical settings for five and a half years.

Due to her love for creating programs (having developed the Hume Center testing program as an intern), when she heard that Kaiser Permanente was piloting an integrated HealthCare Ombudsman Mediator (HCOM) role for each of its United States locations, she jumped at the chance to be at the forefront of change in the healthcare industry as it related to dealing with medical mistakes and its aftermath. That was 2005.

Fatemeh is skilled at making productive connections among people using her education and training to remain confidential, impartial, independent, and informal while advocating for a fair process. For decades, she has helped executives, administrators, directors, doctors, nurses, patients and families learn about themselves while trudging through vicarious trauma, pain and suffering to facilitate meaningful interactions in the aftermath of medical errors.

Luckily for us, Fatemeh accepted our invitation to join the Center’s Board of Directors in 2010. While on the board she has served as Personnel Committee Chairwoman responsible for guiding the development, review and authorization of personnel policies and procedures. In 2018 Fatemeh agreed to be the Board of Directors Chairwoman assisting with the creation of our 25 year Anniversary Gala, a reprise of the role she played in organizing our 5 year anniversary event when she was an intern. Today, she continues to serve on the board as vice chairperson, and in 2023, she was asked to share her vast expertise by serving the Executive Leadership Team as a Chief Consultant of Communication and Conflict Resolution.

Education:

Fatemeh holds both Masters’ and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology, a B.A. in Industrial / Organizational Psychology, an AS in Biology & Speech Communications. She is a certified communications trainer of the Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability courses. Her greatest passion is to compassionately navigate healing for involved parties facing the devastating impact of unanticipated medical outcomes and the conflict that manifests out of them.

Career Progression:

Since 2004, Dr. Joty Sikand has served as Chief Executive Officer and President of The Hume Center, leading its transformative evolution. Under her direction, the organization grew from a small Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) with a modest training program into a comprehensive system offering diverse program services across the behavioral health care continuum in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Her 900%+ increase in revenue has significantly expanded the Center’s impact through diverse services and multidisciplinary training, including the recent launch of the Community Behavioral Health Training Center (CBHTC), established in partnership with Human Liberations Founder and Hume Center’s Founding President, Dr. Meji Singh. A dedicated advocate across county, state, and national levels, Dr. Sikand has been instrumental in developing Prevention and Early Intervention services, reaching welfare populations and unserved populations partnering with 80 school and human services organizations. Her efforts strategically focus on reducing stigma and expanding access for underserved immigrant populations, notably through specialized health promotion programs for the South Asian and Latino communities. A key innovation is her pioneering of the Primary Behavioral Health Clinician (PBHC) model—a service design that utilizes doctoral clinical psychology  professionals as the primary clinical care lead of a multidisciplinary team. This model improves functioning for individuals with serious mental illness and reduces the need for higher levels of care. Furthermore, she directed the development of integrated intensive outpatient programs for uninsured individuals, a community-defined approach recognized as effective under healthcare reform. A champion of collective leadership, Dr. Sikand has strategically pivoted her roles at the Hume Center to serve as both CEO and Chief Clinical Mental Health (CCMH). This dual-leadership model anchors clinical excellence at the heart of the organization, seamlessly blending service-driven administration with visionary strategy to deliver sustainable impact and redefine modern nonprofit management.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Sikand has been recognized on numerous occasions for her contributions at local, state, and national levels. These include:

• State of California Recognition Award from the California State Senate
• California Psychological Association Early Career Psychologist Award
• State Leadership Delegate from California for the American Psychological Association
• Hume Center’s Excellence of Achievement Award and National Behavioral Health as a Behavioral Health Champion.
• Spotlight CBHA BIPOC Affinity Leader by the State of Illinois’ Community Behavioral Healthcare Association and the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Association

Affiliations:
American Psychological Association’s California

Education:
Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute, Berkeley (2002-?)
Master’s Degree, Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling
Master’s Degree, Organizational Development Consultation
Bachelor’s Degree, UC Berkeley
Graduate Certification in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling
Graduate Certification in Organizational Development Consultation

License:
Clinical Psychologist

Career Progression:
Dr. Chris Celio is a licensed psychologist, who started working in the mental health field in 2001 and originally trained to be a Child Psychologist, but found his calling when he joined the Hume Center as a Doctoral Intern in 2007. While this shifted his focus to serving adults diagnosed with serious mental illness, he brought with him an emphasis on the family and other systems that the consumer is a part of and a creative spirit that believes that healing and recovery can come through many surprising and outside-of-the-box pathways, beliefs, and persons.

Chris has helped Hume Center’s services in Contra Costa County expand into prevention and early intervention services, housing support, and full-service partnership services, which include case management, peer and family services, and homelessness prevention. He is currently working on a team at Hume Center developing behavioral health-informed independent housing.

Dr. Celio is excited about the impactful work being done by the Behavioral Health Consultation Training Center and is honored to be a part of it. Believing strongly in the power of the community, he has worked to create or support events like Mental Wellness Night with the Sharks, Community Living Room Conversations, and the annual Hope Cup Softball Tournament and Annual Bowling Tournament.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Celio is proud to have been awarded the Hope Award by the SPIRIT Classes of 2017, 2018, and 2022, the Community Partnership Award in 2018 and the Unsung Hero Award in 2022 by the Putnam Clubhouse, and the Committed Clinician Award by NAMI Contra Costa in 2019. He was honored to be chosen by Contra Costa Behavioral Health to moderate their first “Bust Stigma”; event at Brenden Theatre for Recovery Month 2019, by Putnam Clubhouse to moderate their Reimagine Mental Health Care Conference in 2020 and 2021, and by TogetherWell to speak as a panelist during their “The Power of Support and Advocacy in Peer Mental Health”; in 2021.

License:
Clinical Psychology

Career Progression:
Dr. Chris Celio is a licensed psychologist, who started working in the mental health field in 2001 and originally trained to be a Child Psychologist, but found his calling when he joined the Hume Center as a Doctoral Intern in 2007. While this shifted his focus to serving adults diagnosed with serious mental illness, he brought with him an emphasis on the family and other systems that the consumer is a part of and a creative spirit that believes that healing and recovery can come through many surprising and outside-of-the-box pathways, beliefs, and persons.

Chris has helped Hume Center’s services in Contra Costa County expand into prevention and early intervention services, housing support, and full-service partnership services, which include case management, peer and family services, and homelessness prevention. He is currently working on a team at Hume Center developing behavioral health-informed independent housing.

Dr. Celio is excited about the impactful work being done by the Behavioral Health Consultation Training Center and is honored to be a part of it. Believing strongly in the power of the community, he has worked to create or support events like Mental Wellness Night with the Sharks, Community Living Room Conversations, and the annual Hope Cup Softball Tournament and Annual Bowling Tournament.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Celio is proud to have been awarded the Hope Award by the SPIRIT Classes of 2017, 2018, and 2022, the Community Partnership Award in 2018 and the Unsung Hero Award in 2022 by the Putnam Clubhouse, and the Committed Clinician Award by NAMI Contra Costa in 2019. He was honored to be chosen by Contra Costa Behavioral Health to moderate their first “Bust Stigma”; event at Brenden Theatre for Recovery Month 2019, by Putnam Clubhouse to moderate their Reimagine Mental Health Care Conference in 2020 and 2021, and by TogetherWell to speak as a panelist during their “The Power of Support and Advocacy in Peer Mental Health”; in 2021.

License:
Clinical Psychology

Career Progression:

Since 2004, Dr. Joty Sikand has served as Chief Executive Officer and President of The Hume Center, leading its transformative evolution. Under her direction, the organization grew from a small Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) with a modest training program into a comprehensive system offering diverse program services across the behavioral health care continuum in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Her 900%+ increase in revenue has significantly expanded the Center’s impact through diverse services and multidisciplinary training, including the recent launch of the Community Behavioral Health Training Center (CBHTC), established in partnership with Human Liberations Founder and Hume Center’s Founding President, Dr. Meji Singh. A dedicated advocate across county, state, and national levels, Dr. Sikand has been instrumental in developing Prevention and Early Intervention services, reaching welfare populations and unserved populations partnering with 80 school and human services organizations. Her efforts strategically focus on reducing stigma and expanding access for underserved immigrant populations, notably through specialized health promotion programs for the South Asian and Latino communities. A key innovation is her pioneering of the Primary Behavioral Health Clinician (PBHC) model—a service design that utilizes doctoral clinical psychology  professionals as the primary clinical care lead of a multidisciplinary team. This model improves functioning for individuals with serious mental illness and reduces the need for higher levels of care. Furthermore, she directed the development of integrated intensive outpatient programs for uninsured individuals, a community-defined approach recognized as effective under healthcare reform. A champion of collective leadership, Dr. Sikand has strategically pivoted her roles at the Hume Center to serve as both CEO and Chief Clinical Mental Health (CCMH). This dual-leadership model anchors clinical excellence at the heart of the organization, seamlessly blending service-driven administration with visionary strategy to deliver sustainable impact and redefine modern nonprofit management.

Notable Achievements / Areas of Interest:
Dr. Sikand has been recognized on numerous occasions for her contributions at local, state, and national levels. These include:

• State of California Recognition Award from the California State Senate
• California Psychological Association Early Career Psychologist Award
• State Leadership Delegate from California for the American Psychological Association
• Hume Center’s Excellence of Achievement Award and National Behavioral Health as a Behavioral Health Champion.
• Spotlight CBHA BIPOC Affinity Leader by the State of Illinois’ Community Behavioral Healthcare Association and the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Association

Affiliations:
American Psychological Association’s California

Education:
Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute, Berkeley (2002-?)
Master’s Degree, Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling
Master’s Degree, Organizational Development Consultation
Bachelor’s Degree, UC Berkeley
Graduate Certification in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling
Graduate Certification in Organizational Development Consultation

License:
Clinical Psychologist