Helio Health removes interim tag from agency president and CEO

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse–based Helio Health, Inc. is naming Kathleen Gaffney-Babb as the agency’s new president and CEO.

At the same time, the Syracuse native also becomes the top official of the Helio Health Foundation and Fulton Friendship House, Inc., the agency announced.

Helio Health works to help those dealing with the effects of substance use and mental-health disorders and other health issues. Helio Health operates facilities in Syracuse, Rochester, Utica, and Binghamton.

Gaffney-Babb has been serving as the agency’s interim president and CEO since the start of 2023. She succeeds Jeremy Klemanski, who left the organization at the end of December to become president and CEO of Gateway Foundation in Chicago, Illinois.

Gaffney-Babb has worked at Helio Health for more than 30 years, most recently serving as executive VP and COO.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am very pleased with our decision to appoint Kathleen Gaffney-Babb as the President and CEO of Helio Health,” James Antonacci, Jr., chairman of the Helio Health board of directors, said in a statement. “Ms. Gaffney-Babb has worked her way from the ground floor of Helio Health to becoming the leader of this great organization. What an accomplishment for her and what an asset for Helio Health. Helio Health is a leader in providing services for individuals with substance use and mental health disorders and other health issues; with over nine hundred employees, and still growing.”

Gaffney-Babb earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Empire State College and a master’s degree in rehabilitation from Syracuse University. She is also a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor and state credentialed alcoholism and substance-abuse counselor, Helio Health said.