Steven J Yohay is principal shareholder and chief executive officer of the ACI healthcare group, comprising AREBA Casriel, Inc. Steven Yohay is involved in musical theater, having invested in such Broadway hits as The Producers

The Producers (musical)

The Producers is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics written by Brooks and music composed by Brooks and arranged by Glen Kelly and Doug Besterman. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich...

, Hairspray

Hairspray (musical)

Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...

, Sweeney Todd, and Little Shop of Horrors

Background

Steven Yohay was born in 1950 in the Bronx

The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

, the son of a longshoreman and a bookkeeper. He attended the City College of New York

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

.

Struggle with addiction

At seventeen, an automobile accident changed the course of his life. Not only did he lose his fiance; Yohay also witnessed her decapitation, soon after which he became addicted to heroin. By age 20 Yohay had a hundred-dollar-a-day habit.

Yohay earned his BS in psychology from the State University of New York in 1977 and also received New York State certification as an Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor. Yohay is also involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors, having contributed generously to AIPAC

American Israel Public Affairs Committee

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...

, Hadassah

Hadassah

Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with around...

, and B'nai Zion, and has been the recipient of a number of awards and honors in recognition of these contributions.

Yohay's grandmother read an article by Daniel H. Casriel

Daniel Harold Casriel

Daniel Harold Casriel was an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and author. He was born in New York City on 1 Mar, 1924 and died at his home in Manhattan on 7 June 1983 age 59 from a form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis...

, MD, a New York psychiatrist who had extended his private practice to include a dozen beds for rehabilitating drug addicts. A special arrangement was made with Dr. Casriel, who was moved by Steven's mother's plea, "am I not as entitled as a rich person to see my son live?" The Yohays got their son admitted, though the treatment consumed a significant portion of the family's life savings. Yohay's resolve to find a cure for his condition manifested early, and he completed treatment within one year.

Career

Yohay impressed the staff with his grasp of substance-abuse theory and he became Casriel's protege as a counselor trainee. Yohay's ascent within the company was rapid. He went from being a counselor-trainee in 1971 to being assistant resident director in 1972. In 1973, Yohay became resident director, and then executive director in 1975. Finally, Yohay became chief executive officer in 1982. Through his training and experience at ACI, Yohay acquired sufficient expertise to have contributed a number of scholarly articles on the subject to notable journals.

In 1983, Casriel developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...

, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS. Yohay, by this time the proprietor of the company, envisioned a significant expansion of the scope of the treatment center, moving it to a 100-bed facility at its current home on 57th Street. Yohay built ACI into a prominent facility for substance abuse treatment in the New York area. It soon became licensed and accredited. It is the oldest private facility for such treatment in the country. Under Yohay's tutelage, ACI became the foundation for creation of a number of other healthcare companies offering a wide range of medical services including diagnostics and treatment, as well as managed care. In 2002, Steven Yohay founded NineEleven CaseManagment, Inc., which was provided a contract to manage all of the mental health and substance abuse benefits for the victim of the 9-11 World Trade Center attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 and their families. This effort was funded by the September 11th Fund

September 11th Fund

The September 11th Fund was created by the New York Community Trust and the United Way of New York City in response to the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001....

. In 2000, Yohay was awarded the title of Counselor Emeritus by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.