News

Brightn Appoints Veteran CEO and Impact Investor Dick Ferguson as Board Chair, Accelerating Its National Expansion in Preventative Behavioral Health

Emilie Mauricio

January 15, 2026

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5 min read

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emilie Mauricio | emilie@brightnapp.com
Cedar Rapids, Iowa — December 12th, 2025

Brightn, the AI-powered upstream mental wellness platform helping payers, PBMs, MSOs, and healthcare organizations improve behavioral health outcomes before crisis, today announced the appointment of distinguished business leader and purpose-driven investor Dick Ferguson as Board Chair.

Ferguson is the former CEO of ACT, where he led the education and workforce organization through years of national expansion and transformation. Across a 40-year career, he has served as a trusted advisor, board member, and early-stage investor in multiple high-growth companies, including OpenLoop, one of Iowa’s fastest-scaling healthcare technology platforms. His impact-focused investment portfolio includes several successful exits and has helped shape some of the Midwest’s most respected organizations.

Ferguson brings deep expertise in governance, operational scale, and enterprise growth, with a strong track record of guiding mission-driven organizations through critical stages of expansion.

“I’ve spent my career supporting organizations that create measurable, lasting impact,” said Ferguson. “Brightn is tackling one of the most urgent challenges of our time, the mental health crisis, with a truly preventative solution that integrates directly into the healthcare ecosystem. Their ability to surface real-time behavioral insights and drive sustained engagement is unlike anything I’ve seen. I’m honored to help guide Brightn through its next phase of growth.”

As Board Chair, Ferguson will play a central role in shaping Brightn’s strategic direction and accelerating national adoption over the next 36 months. His responsibilities will include:

Accelerating payer, PBM, and MSO adoption of Brightn’s preventative behavioral health platform
Strengthening governance during a period of rapid commercialization and enterprise expansion
Supporting provider-integrated growth, including telehealth and triage partnerships
Guiding the company through upcoming seed and Series A milestones
Scaling national impact by helping health plans reduce high-acuity utilization and improve behavioral health quality measures, including HEDIS outcomes

Brightn Founder and CEO Jeff Johnston emphasized the significance of Ferguson’s leadership:

“Dick embodies everything we value at Brightn, integrity, impact, and a deep belief in preventative mental wellness. His leadership will help us scale responsibly, deepen payer and provider partnerships, and ensure Brightn becomes the nation’s leading upstream behavioral health solution.”

Brightn continues to build momentum through recent enterprise partnerships, including:

MedOne, a national pharmacy benefit manager
PrimeCare America, an MSO representing millions of covered lives
OpenLoop, a leading telehealth infrastructure and care delivery platform

These partnerships position Brightn at the intersection of preventative care, behavioral health intelligence, and scalable enterprise integration.

About Brightn

Brightn is an AI-driven preventative mental wellness platform helping individuals, employers, health plans, PBMs, MSOs, and telehealth networks move from reactive behavioral health to proactive, data-informed mental wellness. By embedding directly into healthcare ecosystems, Brightn delivers personalized daily guidance, AI-powered journaling, and real-time sentiment and risk analytics that support early identification, reduced high-acuity utilization, and improved engagement.

Brightn’s mission is simple: to Brightn lives by keeping people well long before crisis.

Download the Brightn App today!

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