Gary Bess

Gary holds two master’s degrees in social work and applied sociology from Case Western Reserve University and Kent State University, respectively.  He also has a doctorate in social work from the University of Southern California (USC). Gary has taught in graduate schools of social work at the University of California, Los Angeles, USC, and California State University (CSU) in Long Beach and Chico. He has also taught grant writing and program evaluation for graduate students on several campuses.

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For several years, Gary directed free medical clinics in southern California, including the South Bay Free Clinic in Manhattan Beach and the Los Angeles Free Clinic. In 1991, he began consulting with public and private health and human services organizations, universities, and nonprofits, moving from southern to northern California when his wife Cindy was offered a professorship at CSU Chico. Over this time he grew GBA from a sole proprietorship to a California-based corporation.  

Gary and GBA have developed specialties in FQHC applications, compliance, needs assessment, and in evaluation for Native American planning and treatment programs.  He has co-authored two articles for the Journal of the National Center for American Indian, Alaska Native Mental Health Research on the life cycle of the evaluation process and on process evaluation among Native American communities.  In 2021, he was the lead author on an article in the Encyclopedia of Social Work on social work leadership, and in 2021, was inducted into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction.