Ruby Goyal-Carkeek, MPH

Director, Behavioral Health and Child Welfare                   

Ruby Goyal-Carkeek is the director of behavioral health and child welfare at the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). In this role, she leads initiatives focused on children and youth who receive publicly financed physical health and behavioral health services, with a particular focus on the child welfare and foster care systems.

With 30 years of experience in the nonprofit and public sectors, Ruby has deep knowledge of systems of care, holding roles in direct service, administration, and public policy. Most of her career has been in public service, where she served as fiscal manager and deputy director for the NJ Children’s System of Care (CSOC) division, widely recognized as a national model for serving children and youth with behavioral health needs, substance use challenges, and intellectual/developmental disabilities. During this time, Ruby helped launch essential initiatives with leadership support and partnerships with provider agencies and vendors, including integrated care and trauma-informed care, and contributed to significant system transformation efforts. Ruby also provided oversight of CSOC’s Contracted System Administrator, a managed healthcare entity that hosts the division’s management information system, including a statewide electronic health record.

Ruby has delivered technical assistance nationally on CSOC, provided consulting for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and served as a senior consultant at Sellers Dorsey.

Before joining CHCS, Ruby was senior vice president at Social Current — a nonprofit that provides a range of supports to advance the social sector and ignite change toward a more equitable society. Hervaried experience has provided Ruby with insights that help connect clinical, operations, quality, financing, regulatory, and policy impacts on service delivery, while reinforcing the importance and value of strengthening public-private partnerships. Ruby has also served on the boards of the BuildingBridges Initiative and the Arc of New Jersey.

Ruby holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, both from Rutgers University. 

Ruby serves on the CHDI Board and serves on the Program, Equity, and Communications Committee.