Phoenix House President & CEO Ann-Marie Foster has served as a leader in healthcare for over three decades and is a longtime Fellow of the American College of HealthCare Executives (FACHE). Prior to joining Phoenix House, Ann-Marie worked for the New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation for 26 years beginning her healthcare journey at Metropolitan Hospital. Over the years she held several leadership positions within the corporation and in 2009 she led the country’s largest psychiatric program, Bellevue Hospital Department of Psychiatry, as the Senior Associate Executive Director. While at Bellevue, she organized the opening of the corporation’s first Children Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CCPEP).
In 2017, she joined Phoenix House as Senior Vice President & Executive Director, and after successfully expanding the organization’s services and supporting the recovery of residents across New York City and Long Island, she was named President & CEO in 2019. Under her leadership, Phoenix House has expanded its services to treat children and adolescents, in a new mental health clinic in Long Island as well as expanding the services of the first recovery center in Brooklyn, NY. In 2025, Phoenix House opened its first Clubhouse in Harlem serving adults with mental illness. Phoenix House now serves over 4,000 individuals annually, offering clinical services, residential and outpatient treatment for people with substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders, along with vocational, educational and outreach support teams. The strategic vision to continue to grow Phoenix House includes opening a Supportive Crisis Stabilization Center and expanding into supportive and transitional housing.
Ann-Marie is a thought leader in the addiction and mental health field. She has written several opinion pieces seen in the Times Union, quoted in the New York Times, Newsday and interviewed on Spectrum News NY1, CBS, PIX11. In October 2024, Ann-Marie was named to a Blue-Ribbon Taskforce on Opioid Addiction, launched by the New York State Bar Association to address the statewide opioid public health crisis. In addition, Ann-Marie collaborates with NYS Drug Enforcement Agency, HITDA and community partners to advance recovery and treatment initiatives. She was recently named in Crain’s New York Business as a Notable Black Leaders in 2024 and City & State Top 50 over Fifty Leaders in NYS. Ann-Marie serves on several boards such as InUnity Alliance, National TCA, Mental Health News, and in January 2025, she joined the Center for Justice Innovation.
Ann-Marie was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY by her beloved grandmother, Josephine Ellis. She attended Brooklyn Technical High School, Utica College of Syracuse University for her undergraduate degree and Baruch College for her graduate degree. She is the proud mother of two young adults, her daughter, Maya, who is Labor and Employment Litigator and her son Myles, who is a professional basketball player. She lives by the scripture that states, “to whom much is given, much is required.”