Executive Vice President Mary Katsikas — Knoxville’s 50 Under 50 Honoree
When you meet Mary Katsikas, Executive Vice President of the McNabb Center, you quickly understand why she is being recognized as one of Knoxville’s 50 Under 50 honorees. Her career has reshaped mental health services across East Tennessee and extended compassion to vulnerable communities around the world.
For more than two decades, Katsikas has devoted her talents to the McNabb Center, the region’s largest nonprofit provider of mental health, addiction and social services. Today, she oversees a team of directors and staff who provide prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery programs across more than ten counties. Her leadership has directly improved the lives of thousands of children and families who might otherwise go without critical care.
Katsikas has also been at the forefront of some of the most innovative mental health programs in Tennessee. She pioneered the state’s first Family Walk-In Center, the first Children’s Crisis Stabilization Unit and the state’s only public Recovery High School. These groundbreaking initiatives reflect her belief that no family should have to wait for help in a time of crisis.
Her influence extends beyond direct service. She has played an active role in state policy and planning through her service on the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking, the Family Justice Center’s Coordinated Community Response Team and as chair of the Region 2 TDMHSAS Regional Planning and Policy Council. In 2020, she was honored with the TAMHO Dorothea Dix Professional Service Award, one of Tennessee’s highest recognitions for mental health leadership.
This latest honor builds on her recognition more than a decade ago as one of Knoxville’s 40 Under 40 rising leaders. Today, as she steps into the 50 Under 50 spotlight, her achievements highlight both longevity and continued innovation in leadership.
Katsikas’s service has not been confined to Tennessee. In the wake of the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, she was recruited to bring her expertise and to provide training to local staff working to end child slavery.
In 2024 alone, the McNabb Center served more than 51,000 individuals across 30 East Tennessee counties, supported by nearly 1,400 professionals and a robust network of volunteers. Those numbers reflect not just the scale of the Center’s work, but also the impact of Katsikas’s leadership in shaping programs and policies that meet families where they are.
Her story is one of perseverance, service, and vision—an example of what strong, compassionate leadership can accomplish. For East Tennessee, her legacy is already woven into the lives of the children and families whose futures look brighter because of her work.
