Jonathan Bibb, MPA
Mr. Bibb is the Arkansas Department of Human Services’ social services administrator at the Division of Medical Services. His experience includes leading in the areas of public health, career and technical education, and serving people with disabilities. Mr. Bibb has been with the Arkansas Department of Human Services(DHS) since May 2022.
Jennifer Brezée, LCSW
Ms. Brezée is a director for DHS, currently over the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS). DDS manages all DHS services for Arkansans with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (IDD), which include eligibility for the Community and Employment Support Waiver (CES Waiver) and the Autism Waiver, five Human Development Centers (HDCs), CES Waiver Provider certification, and several grant-funded programs. The DDS team also provides administrative support for the following Medicaid Programs, including Early Intervention Day Treatment (EIDT), Adult Developmental Day Treatment (ADDT) programs, AppliedBehavioral Analysis (ABA), and habilitative services under PT/OT/Speech. Before joining DHS, Ms. Brezée held leadership positions in two of the existing four PASSEs.She had been working alongside Medicaid and DHS for 15 years before officially joining the DHS team in 2024. Ms. Brezée is a Licensed Certified Social Worker with the state of Arkansas.
Jay Hill
Mr. Hill serves as the director of the Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services (DAABHS), overseeing programs that promote the health, safety, and independence of older Arkansans and adults with disabilities. His division also supports and funds mental health and substance abuse treatment across the state. Mr. Hill began working at DHS at the Arkansas Health Center in 2006, becoming its director in 2011. In 2017, he accepted his current position. Prior to joining DHS, Mr. Hill worked in management for several large private corporations and served as a special agent in the United States Secret Service. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) with degrees in history and political science. Mr. Hill and his wife, Mandy, have four children.
Debora Inman, JD
Ms. Inman received her bachelor’s degree from Texas Wesleyan University. She earned a law degree from the University of Arkansas, Bowen School of Law in 2005. She began her legal career at the Pulaski County prosecutor’s office, serving as a deputy prosecutor for almost eight years. After that, Ms. Inman’s DHS career began in the Office of Chief Counsel, where she was assigned to child welfare cases. She represented the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) for several years until 2018, when she was asked to take on the role of forensics administrator. From 2018 to 2024, she oversaw the forensics program for DHS. In 2024, Ms. Inman moved into her current role as an assistant director for aging.
Janet Mann, CPA
Ms. Mann has over 20 years of experience in health care and health care finance. She has worked in the public and private sectors for multiple states and clients. Ms. Mann has served as the director of the DHS Division of Medical Services(DMS), overseeing the Medicaid operations before and during the beginning of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency until April 2021. She also served as DHS’s chief financial officer for a year in 2017. In addition, Ms. Mann was a deputy administrator for Medicaid in Mississippi during Governor Haley Barbour's administration, 2006-2010. She has focused on health care in the private and public sectors for several entities throughout her career, including most recently atHorne, LLP in Ridgeland, Mississippi. While consulting, Ms. Mann worked closely with other states implementing public policies and programs in areas of program integrity, managed care, audit and compliance, and financial processes. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Alabama and is a Certified Public Accountant. Ms. Mann has been married to Doug for over 29 years and has two grown children, Sydney and Will.
Tabitha McNulty, JD
Ms. McNulty is the deputy director of the Provider-Led Arkansas Shared Savings Entity(PASSE) and Medicaid Behavioral Health Services within the Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (OSAMH) at DHS. Prior to this position, she was an attorney practicing within the child welfare arena. She spent approximately 10 years representing DHS as a trial and an appellate attorney across the state in dependency-neglect matters. She also spent almost 10 years representing parents on appeal in mostly termination of parental rights cases. Ms. McNulty grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, but graduated from Marion High School. She attended the University of Arkansas, where she received a bachelor’s degree in political science and minored in communications. Ms. McNulty graduated from the William H. Bowen School of Law with her law degree. She is married to Kelly McNulty and has three children: Max, Maggie, and Henry. When she is not working, Ms. McNulty’s time is spent at all of her children’s various sporting events and volunteering in her community.
Susan Morrow
Ms. Morrow serves as the Office of Community Services (OCS) licensure and certification manager with the Division of Provider Services and Quality Assurance(DPSQA). She has played a pivotal role in launching the Division’s enterprise licensing system. Ms. Morrow has 20 years of experience working with DHS. This has included experience in investigations with the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS), inspecting and licensing programs with the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education, and inspections and licensure/certification with the Division of Provider Services and Quality Assurance.
Elizabeth Pitman, JD
Ms. Pitman has a law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Bowen School of Law, and a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Bozeman College of Public Health. She has worked in and around health law and policy since graduating in 2009. Ms. Pitman’s experience includes serving as the deputy general counsel for the Arkansas Department of Health, as assistant director for the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services(DDS), and as the deputy director for the Division of Medical Services (DMS) before taking over as director in 2021.
Shelley Ruth, MSIOP, CDP
Ms. Ruth is a healthcare quality and organizational leadership professional with over 20years of experience in quality improvement, program management, and behavioral health inspections. As manager of Outreach Services at AFMC, she oversees multidisciplinary teams and ensures compliance with state and federal contracts. Ms. Ruth holds a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology, a bachelor’s degree in health administration, and is a Certified Dementia Practitioner. Her expertise spans healthcare quality, behavioral health inspections, and patient-centered medical home initiatives, where she has led large-scale provider inspections, quality reviews, and data validation processes that directly impact patient care outcomes. She is also an active member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the National Association for Healthcare Quality, the Golden Key International Honor Society, and the National Society of Leadership and Success. Ms. Ruth’s career reflects a strong foundation in both healthcare administration and organizational psychology.
John Selig, MPA
Mr. Selig is president and chief executive officer of AFMC, an organization working with individuals and healthcare providers in all settings to improve health and consumer experience of care while reducing healthcare costs. Prior to joining AFMC, Mr. Selig was vice president of Optum Public Sector, where he led business development efforts in the southeastern United States. From 2005 to 2016, he served as the director of the DHS. Mr. Selig’s previous positions include serving as the State’s director of behavioral health and director of in-home health services.
Sarah Schmidt-Spharler
Ms. Schmidt-Spharler serves as the deputy director of DPSQA. She has over 15 years of experience with home- and community-based waiver programs, direct service providers, and state government (both in Arkansas and Texas).
Martina Smith, JD
Ms. Smith serves as the director of DPSQA. In this role, she oversees the Office of Long-Term Care, which regulates and surveys long-term care facilities, OCS, which certifies and licenses assisted living facilities and other providers, and the Office of Performance and Engagement (OPE), which is comprised of the complaint, FOIA, and quality assurance units. Ms. Smith earned a law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Arkansas State University. She has served DHS in additional capacities, including as dependency-neglect, Adult Protective Services attorney, and privacy officer. Prior to coming to DHS, Ms. Smith worked for the Tennessee Department of Human Services as an administrative hearing official.
Paula Stone, LCSW
Ms. Stone is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 25 years of experience in the behavioral health field. She worked as a mental health therapist and directed community-based programs in Arkansas before leaving the state to work in Florida, California, and New Jersey. Her experience in several areas of the country, managing behavioral health clinics and working for a managed care organization, gave her an opportunity to experience varied systems and service structures. She joined DHS in 2009 and has served in various roles within the DAABHS and the Arkansas Medicaid program, leading projects for Children's System of Care, prevention, and recovery programs. Ms. Stone currently serves as the director of DHS OSAMH, responsible for integrated service delivery across multiple funding streams, including Arkansas Medicaid, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration block and discretionary grants, and the Arkansas State Hospital.
Crystal Walton
Ms. Walton holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Arkansas State University and is a Certified Public Manager. She started her career with DHS in January 2006. During her time with DHS, she has held positions with DCO as program eligibility specialist, program eligibility supervisor, program coordinator, and county administrator. She has also worked in DDS as the DHS program administrator and currently works with DPSQA as the DHS division manager for OCS. In addition to her professional work, Ms. Walton enjoys traveling, reading autobiographies, hot summer days outside with her family, listening to 90s music, and listening to motivational speakers, which enrich her viewpoint while keeping her fair and consistent.
Melissa Weatherton, JD
Ms. Weatherton received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Arkansas in 2001 and her law degree from the William H. Bowen School of Law in 2005. In October of that year, she began work at DHS as assistant deputy counsel handling child welfare and adult abuse and neglect cases. She has also served as deputy counsel, managing attorney, and assistant director of DDS. Ms.Weatherton currently serves as director of DDS and is responsible for oversight of Arkansas’s five Human Development Centers. In addition, she oversees division-wide compliance, policy, and procedures and represents DDS as legislative liaison. Ms. Weatherton is dedicated to serving Arkansas families who have a loved one with a developmental or intellectual disability and recognizes the importance of providing them with an array of service options.
