Neal Andrews Councilmember

Neal Andrews
Councilmember

After more than 20 years as an active businessman and community volunteer in Ventura, Neal Andrews was encouraged by many citizens of Ventura to run for City Council. He was elected on his first attempt in 2001.

Neal owns Horizon Management Services, a consulting firm offering professional assistance in strategic planning and business development, management issues, public policy matters, and marketing and public relations.

Before founding Horizon Management Services, Neal worked in a variety of capacities with Blue Cross of California, managing their statewide system of contracting for health services and later heading Behavioral Health Access, the corporate division responsible for mental health services to Blue Cross members. He has also been a hospital administrator, chief executive of a regional joint powers agency, and a university professor. As Chief of Planning & Evaluation for Emergency Medical Services for the State of Michigan in the 1970s Neal pioneered the planning and implementation of the first integrated statewide EMS system and contributed substantially to the development of model legislation for emergency medical services later adopted by the National Governors Council. This model legislation serves today as the basic EMS law in the State of California and much of the nation.

His professional honors include being twice elected to the International Board of Directors of The Planning Forum, then the leading international professional organization in the discipline of strategic planning and management. In addition, Neal has served on the National Leadership Council for the Institute for Behavioral Health, as a Scholar-Diplomat under the sponsorship of the U. S. State Department, as a Fellow of the National Security Education Seminar and the Inter-University Colloquium on Armed Forces and Society. He is the author of Foreign Policy and the New American Military and many papers and articles on matters of public policy, business, and health care over the years. He is a popular speaker before regional and national conference audiences including such prestigious organizations as The Conference Board, the California Medical Association, and the National Managed Health Care Congress.

While recognized nationally as an expert in business strategy and management issues, Neal has also been an active contributor to his community locally. He has been elected twice as Chairman of the Ventura County Mental Health Board and is proud to have led that Board during a time of systematic improvement in local standards of care for the mentally ill, the addition of substantial new housing inventory, and the development of the first countywide critical incident training program for police agencies to improve management of mental health crises and significantly reduce deaths associated with police response to incidents arising from mental illness. Over the years, Neal has also served as the Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties representative on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Health Care Executives Association, as a Member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the San Buenaventura Foundation for the Arts, and as an officer and board member of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce, among others. He is widely known as an active citizen advocate in water quality and water conservation public policy issues in Ventura. He is a member of Rotary, Kiwanis, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks.

Neal received his baccalaureate degree from Duke University and his graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He later completed additional post-graduate work at the Michigan State University School of Public Administration and the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

His personal interests include theatre, ancient cultures, travel, fly-fishing and golf.