Ben Harrington is the CEO of the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee, an MHA affiliate, and has held the position since 1994. He is actively involved in advocacy matters at the local, state, and national policy levels as well, having served on or chaired numerous boards, including the Tennessee Mental Health Planning and Policy Council and Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network. He has also served on MHA’s Affiliate Relations Committee for several years and has been a Regional Policy Council representative.
He has been honored by the United Way of Greater Knoxville with the Wayne Murdoch CEO of the Year Award and in August 2010 he received the Health Care Heroes Award for Community Service presented by the Greater Knoxville Business Journal in recognition of the Mental Health 101 and Mental Health Matters in the Workplace programs. He earned a BA in History in 1982 from Heidelberg University and his M.A. Ed in Education Counseling in 1984 from Bowling Green State University. He is married to Norma Harrington and together they have two sons, Donovan and Jackson, and two dogs, Baxter Bugtussel and Lady Violet.