Frank Rider

Frank Rider is the senior human services financing specialist at AIR. For almost four decades, he has worked in youth and family servicing systems at the state and local levels, including tribal communities. As a skilled technical assistance provider, he is proficient at conducting needs assessments, enhancing capacity with state education agencies, local school districts, and state- and community-level reentry programs, as well as supporting community-level cross-sector teams uplifting children, youth, and families.

Rider also develops training curricula and publications to advance the field’s practices in cost-effective and sustainable financing methods and provides financing expertise to state systems, local school systems, and other organizations to promote school mental health programs. He has extensive experience in health care financing (Medicaid, CHIP, commercial insurance), including cross-agency funding partnerships.

Previously, Rider held increasingly responsible positions within the publicly funded developmental disabilities, child welfare, and behavioral health service systems in Arizona (1980-2006). He served as a foster parent for the state of Arizona and the Navajo Nation (1981-1997) and was the Chief of the Bureau for Children’s Services for Arizona’s Division of Behavioral Health Services until 2006, where he led implementation of a landmark reform for Arizona’s public behavioral health system.