Michelle Gross, LMFT
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Michelle is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with experience in human resources, management, and workplace dynamics. She excels at combining her collaborative people skills with her experience analyzing data and metrics to enhance and improve individual and group performance across all levels of our organization.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Applied Psychology from the University of California – Santa Barbara and her master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She has received specialized training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and holds a certificate in Human Resources Management from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.
Michelle has worked with Evolve since we first opened our doors. She’s now our CEO, but she’s also been our Chief Operating Officer, Director of Operations, Discharge Coordinator, Program Director, and therapist. She began as an associate intern and worked her way to her current leadership position through a commitment to the Evolve vision and a passion for helping adolescents meet and exceed their goals for treatment and recovery.
When she’s not hard at work at Evolve, Michelle loves spending quality time with family and friends. She enjoys playing board games, spending weekends in her hometown of Santa Barbara, and traveling abroad – especially to Italy, where she spent a college year abroad and returns whenever possible.
Judy Sylvia
Chief Business Development Officer
Judy is a strategic business development leader in the field of behavioral health. She has close to two decades of experience in behavioral health admissions and marketing, operations, and program development. Judy knows how to gain trust and build consensus among clinicians and families to create positive and productive community partnerships.
Judy received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from San Jose State University in San Jose, California. She began her career an Admissions Director and quickly advanced to positions leading the corporate call center, centralized admissions team, Salesforce development and deployment, and Search Engine Marketing at CRC Health Group. This experience allowed her to transition to executive positions such as Vice President of Business Development for Senior Transitions (senior assisted living) and Vice President of Access Systems for Elements Behavioral Health (addiction and mental health treatment).
At Evolve, Judy oversees all aspects of brand awareness, business development, admissions, outreach and digital marketing, and managed care partnerships. Judy’s mission is to build relationships that connect people to the resources they need. She sees Evolve as a vital resource for all teens and families who need help and support with mental health and/or substance use issues. She teaches the members of our outreach and admissions team to help families navigate the complex process of finding quality care and support for their teens, and ensures that everyone who makes contact with Evolve comes away with a next step – whether that next step is treatment and support at Evolve or at another provider that meets their needs.
In her spare time, Judy enjoys gardening, completing projects at home, and spending time with her two teen children and her dog, Dolly.
Del Sabzerou
General Counsel
Del is Evolve’s General Counsel. Her practice focuses on the leadership and oversight of our legal needs, which include compliance with healthcare regulations and licensing laws.
Prior to joining Evolve, Del was Assistant General Counsel for Fortune 500 organization Optum, as well as DaVita Medical Group and HealthCare Partners. At Optum, she advised on matters relating to medical groups, management services organizations, Independent Physician Associations, and restricted Knox Keene licenses.
An experienced corporate lawyer, Del is also involved with the healthcare legal community. She is President of the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Executive Committee on Healthcare.
Del received her B.A. degree magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her J.D. from Loyola Law School, also in Los Angeles.
During her downtime, Del enjoys spending time with her dog, and traveling with her friends and family.
Bradley Peterson, MD
President, Evolve Psychiatry PC
Chair, Evolve Clinical Advisory Committee
Dr. Peterson is the President of Evolve Psychiatry and Chair of Evolve’s Clinical Advisory Committee. He is the Director of the Institute for the Developing Mind and Chief of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, as well as the Vice-Chair for Research and Director of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, and Professor with Tenure at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
Dr. Peterson received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Tulane University and earned his medical degree alpha omega alpha from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He trained in General Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, in Child Psychiatry at the Child Study Center of Yale University, and in psychoanalysis at the Western New England Institute of Psychoanalysis. He was a faculty member at the Yale Child Study Center and at Columbia University, where he was the founding Director of MRI Research and the Director of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
His research uses brain-imaging technologies to understand the origins of neuropsychiatric disorders and brain basis for therapeutic responses to medication and psychological therapies. He has published more than 325 peer-reviewed publications. In his personal time, Dr. Peterson enjoys music of any genre, live concerts, martial arts, meditation, classic literature, the Green Bay Packers, and cooking with friends and family.