West Huddleston

West Huddleston is the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP); the world’s largest trade association focused on the intersection of justice and behavioral health. As CEO, Mr. Huddleston also founded and served as Executive Director of NADCP’s division for justice-involved Veterans, Justice for Vets. From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Huddleston served as the first Director of NADCP’s National Drug Court Institute, which he co-founded in 1998. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Division on Addiction at Harvard Medical School, Chairman of the Board of WarriorNow, and recent past Vice Chair of the philanthropic foundation for catastrophically injured veterans, the Independence Fund. He is a highly-sought after keynote speaker and consultant on technology, behavioral change, and best practices in community corrections, child welfare, treatment courts, and veteran care. Mr. Huddleston is regarded as a passionate and fearless pioneer in problem-solving courts, alternative-sentencing and evidence-based solutions in community corrections, child welfare and justice-involved veterans. During his nearly two decades of service and executive management at NADCP, he authored twenty-six publications and articles; testified numerous times before U.S. Congress, state legislatures, and international parliaments; was interviewed repeatedly by radio, television and print media appearing on NPR, CNN, CSPAN, and in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Daily Journal and USA Today, to name a few. He Executive Produced the documentary “25 Years of Drug Court: The Beginning” as well as numerous star-studded PSAs that were distributed nationwide by Hulu, CNN, and TV Land. Mr. Huddleston also served as a consultant for numerous federal agencies and organizations and as a distinguished faculty member of the National Judicial College. Mr. Huddleston’s leadership, tactics and the subsequent impact of NADCP as a “champion” organization in the nation’s Capital are a focus in the 2011 public management and change book series How Information Matters, Networks and Public Policy Innovation by Dr. Kathleen Hale at Auburn University/Georgetown University Press. For his outstanding leadership, Mr. Huddleston was inducted into the “Judge Stanley Goldstein Hall of Fame” before an audience of 6,000 attendees at the 2015 NADCP Conference. He has received numerous other honors throughout his career including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy “Director’s Award”; the U.S. Congressional “Horizon Award”; the Safe Haven’s “Leadership in Policy Award”; the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence’s “Friend of the Field Award”; and the Johnson Institute’s “America Honors Recovery Award”.