Marcia McCall, PhD, MBA, LCMHC, NCC

Candidate Statement:

Our profession has never been more vital, and I am committed to ensuring that counselors, who are doing the complex and demanding work of changing lives, are as empowered and supported as possible. I care enormously about ACA’s role in fortifying and invigorating the counseling profession. My counseling mentor at Wake Forest University, Dr. Sam Gladding, modeled a lifetime of service to ACA and inspired my own long-standing commitment. My experience in ACA financial governance at both division and association levels has shown me how responsible, value-driven financial leadership enables the advocacy and professional development that helps us thrive in our work. As Treasurer-Elect, and subsequently Treasurer, counselors’ needs will be my grounding force for budget development and financial investment. I will strive to meet counselors’ highest priorities, advancing programs that bring clear value to members like you. These include advocacy efforts such as the Counseling Compact and fair reimbursement for services; culturally responsive workforce development; high-quality and accessible continuing education; robust counseling research; strong divisions; and thoughtful integration of technological change into our profession. Before becoming a counselor, I built a decades-long career in business and finance, earning an MBA and CPA and serving in director-level leadership roles focused on business strategy, resource management, and clinical operations. From this career, I have brought a steady, collaborative approach to navigating challenging financial decisions. My research background reinforces my commitment to evidence and data-informed financial decision-making. As ACA’s Audit Committee Chair for the past two years, I have worked closely with our financial staff to strengthen processes, ensure compliance, and guide transitions, including a change in audit firms. I would be honored to serve ACA as Treasurer-Elect with integrity, clarity, and deep commitment to our members, and I respectfully ask for your support.

Candidate Biography:

I am a clinician-scientist at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. In my clinical work, I practice Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Internal Family Systems for trauma and Exposure and Response Prevention for obsessive-compulsive disorder. I work with depression, anxiety, and relationship concerns using humanistic and cognitive-behavioral approaches. Across all modalities, my foundation is person-centered principles that honor clients’ strengths, values, and capacity for growth.    My addiction research program, launched during my doctoral studies at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, integrates quantitative, qualitative, and economic methods. I am currently leading a mixed-methods clinical trial evaluating my Dialectical Behavior Therapy–adapted intervention for smoking cessation among cancer survivors. With substantial pilot funding, I’ve published findings and am actively pursuing external funding, including NIH grants. Prior to counseling, I worked as a CPA at Deloitte and served as Assistant Controller at the Massachusetts General Hospital. I built a robust career in business operations and finance within academic medicine, managing clinical practices, research, and business operations across multiple hospitals and clinics, overseeing a $36 million budget, and leading teams supporting faculty, staff, and trainees. This provided me with a strong foundation in business strategy, financial stewardship, and risk management. After transitioning into counseling, I saw the importance of financially informed leadership within ACA. I have served as an Emerging Leader and Treasurer with the Association for Humanistic Counseling, Budget Chair and Treasurer for the International Association of Resilience and Trauma Counseling, and Chair of the ACA Audit Committee. I bring respect, collaboration, transparency, and trust to financial leadership, serving the counseling profession with the same humanistic values as my clinical work.