Robin McLeod brings to NSAP a career built entirely around one recurring challenge: how do you build the infrastructure that allows a professional field to do its best work?

That question first took shape in a solo psychology practice in Minnesota. Over two decades, that practice grew into a multidisciplinary behavioral health organization with 80 providers, nearly 100 employees, four primary clinic locations in the Twin Cities, and 23 satellite sites embedded in hospitals, pediatric medical clinics, and schools. A training program spanned the full career development trajectory, from first practicum for master's students through postdoctoral training and psychiatric nurse practitioner preparation. That program's doctoral psychology internship earned APA accreditation. Clinical specialization in autism ran throughout, from pre-teen years into adulthood, with a dedicated autism specialty focus embedded in the training program. That training work extended well beyond the clinic: clinicians, trainers of clinicians, teachers, faith formation leaders, and students — anyone whose work brought them into contact with autistic individuals and their families.

Building a single organization, however large, eventually raises a different question: how do you move an entire field? That question led to the American Psychological Association, where Dr. McLeod held an executive leadership position leading APA's strategic relationships with psychological associations across the country. The centerpiece of that work was designing and leading an invitation-only national leadership conference that brought state leaders together with APA's senior leadership, not for networking, but to create aligned momentum across the profession. State leaders left as coordinated advocates, carrying a shared direction forward. Alongside that coalition-building work, Dr. McLeod served as the staff lead for the committee responsible for developing psychology practice guidelines, moving each one from inception through adoption as APA policy. It is difficult to find a more direct preparation for what NSAP exists to do.

A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. McLeod is the recipient of the Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award for Advocacy from APA and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Minnesota Psychological Association. She chaired the Minnesota Board of Psychology and served as Minnesota Commissioner for PSYPACT™. A frequent keynote speaker at national conferences, her focus is the future of professional practice in a field being transformed by technology, policy, and science. That focus is both professional and personal: one of her adult sons is autistic, and the question of what the field owes autistic people has shaped her work for decades.