Adam is an Executive Leader, Systems Thinker, Writer, Policy Advocate, and Mental Health Professional at Upfront as the CEO and Chairman
Curator’s note: Adam Regiaba, CEO and Chairman of Upfront, is a systems thinker and mental health professional known for his community-driven leadership in healthcare and technology. In an interview, he discusses his journey from the media to founding organizations that enhance mental health services. Adam emphasizes the importance of clarity, ethical leadership, and the role of systems in influencing outcomes. Through writing, he reflects on complex issues surrounding mental health and societal impact. He advocates for a responsible approach to business, viewing it as a framework for addressing real-world problems. His insights and experiences are valuable for aspiring leaders and creators. This interview is conducted by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, founder and chief editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium, Substack, and Patreon.
Hello Subscribers,
Today, as part of my interview series, I am pleased to introduce someone whose work and thinking in mental health deserve closer attention.
In this interview, I will introduce you to Adam Regiaba, founder and CEO of two organizations in the healthcare, mental health, and technology space. Beyond his leadership roles, I have come to know Adam as a thoughtful, community-oriented, and caring executive who supports my Health and Wellness Network and theSubstack Mastery Boost Program as a founding member.
What drew me to invite Adam for this interview was his lived experience, the clarity of his thinking, and his long-term vision for mental health support. These perspectives are timely and relevant for many people navigating pressure, responsibility, and change.
Adam is relatively new on Medium. He became a Friend of Medium and has started writing insightful and engaging stories. I believe you will find his background, reflections, and plans both grounding and practical as you read this conversation.
I decided to publish this on Synergy, serving creators and freelancers, to create synergy for writers, readers, editors, professionals, and thought leaders. Non-members can read this story on our community blogs.
Hi Adam, let’s start with a bit about your background.
Hi Dr Yildiz, thank you for the invitation. I will be happy to provide some background information for your readers.
I come from an entrepreneurial and systems-building background, primarily in healthcare, technology, and operations. My career began in traditional print media, working on editorial and custom publishing projects at Time Inc., later AOL Time Warner, including work tied to Fortune Custom Projects. That experience grounded me in storytelling, structure, and how information moves people.
As media shifted toward digital, I found myself on teams exploring how online advertising and audience behavior actually worked. I later worked at Yahoo during a transitional period for the industry, when many of us were still trying to understand how digital media would function at scale. That period shaped how I think about systems and incentives.
When my business partner, Arthur, and I moved to California, we decided to start a digital media company together. Google had a strong presence in Southern California at the time, and I believed deeply that understanding its ecosystem would be essential. Arthur focused on sales and relationships; I focused on technology, systems, and strategy.
About 18 months in, one of our clients, a healthcare treatment provider for whom we were generating calls, told us he couldn’t pay his bill because his business was failing. That conversation changed our direction. Instead of simply servicing healthcare companies, we chose to invest directly in building better systems within the mental health and treatment space.
I do not hold clinical credentials and do not participate in direct patient care. My role has always been on the technology and operational side. I remain the CEO of Upfront, the parent digital and technology company, while Premier Health Group operates as a subsidiary housing treatment programs run entirely by licensed professionals.
Over more than a decade, the organization grew into one of the larger privately owned mental health providers in Southern California. Throughout that growth, my focus stayed the same: building digital infrastructure, automation, and software systems that reduce friction and improve access.
Writing eventually became a way for me to slow down and reflect on those experiences, making sense of the systems behind them and their human impact.
Why did you choose your profession?
I’ve consistently been drawn to solving complex problems through systems. Whether in media, technology, or healthcare, my work has always centered on understanding how structure influences outcomes.
Can you describe a typical day of a CEO and the types of problems you solve?
A typical day as a CEO is less about routine and more about prioritization. My focus is on solving problems that sit at the intersection of people, systems, and long-term direction.
That includes removing friction inside teams, clarifying decision-making when information is incomplete, and ensuring that short-term actions align with long-term values.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned — often the hard way — is finding the balance between over-management and under-management. Micromanagement stifles growth, while absence creates confusion.
Effective leadership means creating clarity, setting expectations, and then giving people the space to make decisions, learn, and even make mistakes. Allowing others to develop their own judgment rather than borrowing mine has been essential to building durable teams.
Much of my time is spent thinking rather than reacting, anticipating second- and third-order consequences, and ensuring the organization stays aligned as it scales.
What do you recommend to aspiring startup founders, CEOs, and chairmen?
My strongest recommendation is to develop sound judgment before pursuing scale. Early momentum tends to reward speed and visibility, while sustained leadership depends on clarity, restraint, and the ability to see second- and third-order effects.
Founders benefit most when they invest time in understanding people, incentives, and systems, rather than just products or technology. Learning to listen without defensiveness, to separate emotion from analysis when decisions carry weight, and to take full responsibility when outcomes fall short are skills that compound over time.
From my experience, effective executive leadership moves away from control and toward accountability. The role of a leader is to create the conditions for sound decisions, ethical behavior, and long-term trust rather than to manage every outcome directly.
What does business mean to you?
To me, business is a framework for responsibility at scale. When well designed, it provides a disciplined way to solve real problems, create durable value, and align people, resources, and decisions around a meaningful objective.
Profit is essential, but it serves as feedback rather than purpose. It signals that the organization is delivering value consistently and sustainably. When leaders confuse profit with purpose, the system begins to optimize for extraction instead of contribution, and trust erodes over time.
The businesses that sustain are the ones that remain conscious of their human and societal impact while maintaining operational clarity.
In my experience, responsibility and performance reinforce each other when leadership treats business as a long-term commitment rather than a short-term transaction.
What do health and well-being mean to you?
Health is shaped as much by systems as it is by personal effort. Well-being often depends on whether the surrounding environment supports stability, honesty, and access rather than creating unnecessary barriers.
What are your hobbies, or what excites or entertains you?
I enjoy writing, reading, walking, and thinking deeply about how systems function, particularly where technology and human behavior intersect. Quiet reflection plays an important role in how I reset.
What are the top three books that affected your life?
I’ve long been drawn to Dan Brown’s novels for how they blend storytelling, symbolism, and hidden structures beneath the surface of what we assume we know.
One of the most impactful works I’ve read, however, is Res Gestae Divi Augusti — the personal record left by Augustus Caesar. While not a diary in the modern sense, it reads as a reflection on leadership, restraint, and legacy. What stayed with me was not ambition, but discipline: the deliberate design of systems meant to outlast the individual.
Beyond those, I’m generally influenced by books that explore responsibility, truth, and the long-term consequences of structure.
Now let’s talk about your writing ventures. What are your values as a writer?
My core values are clarity, honesty, and restraint. I try not to exaggerate or oversimplify complex issues. Good writing, to me, respects the reader’s intelligence.
Why do you write on Medium?
Medium allows space for nuance and long-form reflection. It’s one of the few platforms where complexity isn’t immediately flattened, and where thoughtful readers still gather.
Do you write on other platforms like Substack?
Yes. Each platform serves a different purpose. Medium feels like a public forum for ideas, while Substack offers a more direct, ongoing connection with readers.
How do you connect with your readers?
By writing as if I’m in conversation rather than instruction. Connection tends to happen naturally when readers feel understood rather than guided.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION, and how do you find it so far?
ILLUMINATION stood out for its commitment to thoughtful writing and diverse perspectives. I’ve found it supportive of depth, collaboration, and intellectual curiosity.
Who are some writers you follow?
I tend to follow writers who publish with intention rather than volume, voices that explore psychology, ethics, and lived experience without turning everything into advice.
What are some stories you want to share with your audience?
I’m most drawn to stories about the gap between systems and human reality, responsibility and recovery, the cost of silence, the difference between control and stability, and how clarity itself can be a form of care. Here are some examples for new readers:
Integrated Continuum Care Act (ICCA): Why California’s Mental Health System Needs Structural Reform
ICCA Explained: From Crisis Response to Continuity of Care
When Systems Work Against the People They’re Meant to Serve (ICCA Perspective)
The Silent War: How New Fentanyl Laws Are Reshaping America’s Deadliest Drug Crisis
Dancing Back Into Myself: Gratitude, Growth, and the Discipline of Becoming
What are the success factors for you as a writer?
My key success factors are consistency, patience, and integrity. For me, success is resonance over time rather than immediacy.
What do you recommend to new writers?
Write honestly before writing strategically. Learn to sit with discomfort, and don’t confuse productivity with depth.
What are your plans as a writer or as a professional?
I plan to continue writing content at the intersection of human experience, systems, and accountability.
Professionally, my focus remains on building structures that make care and recovery more accessible. Writing will continue as a parallel practice, a way to think, document, and connect.
Thank you, Dr. Yildiz, for this great opportunity. I enjoy being part of your community and will continue to contribute to your publications and Medium and Substack. I appreciate readers who read this story and connect with me.
Many thanks to Adam Regiaba for taking the time for this interview. You can connect with Adam via his primary professional websites, such as Upfront Inc. (CEO & Chairman of the Board) and FentanylSolution.org (Founder & Main Donor). Adam also has a LinkedIn, Medium, and a new Substack profile. Here is a link to Adam’s landing page on my website.
Thank you for reading my interviews. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
This interview series is an excellent networking opportunity for new writers looking to build their audiences across multiple platforms.
The more successful people you meet and engage with, the more successful you can become, from my experience. The more you give without expecting, the more you receive, as my grandparents taught me.
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Links to Prior Interviews and Conversations
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