For more than 40 years, Beverly Watts Davis has worked at nearly every level of the substance misuse prevention field, as an elected official, a federal agency Executive, a nonprofit Executive, and as a mentor to coalition leaders across the country. This year, CADCA is honoring her decades of service with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25º Annual Mid-Year Training Institute in Orlando, FL.
Mrs. Watts Davis’ career spans public service and community leadership in equal measure. She served as an elected official in Austin and Travis County, Texas, before moving into federal government, where she held a Senior Executive Service position as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary and Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) at SAMHSA. She has also served as Executive Director of San Antonio Fighting Back, Inc. and Senior Vice President at the United Way of San Antonio and Bear County. Today, she serves as Chief Officer for Program Support and Senior Vice President for Texas Operations at WestCare Foundation, which operates in 17 states and three U.S. territories with a mission of improving behavioral health, increasing community capacity, and reducing community harm. In 2024, she joined the Bexar County Hospital District Board of Managers, nominated by Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert.
Her connection to CADCA runs deep. She has served on CADCA’s Board of Directors, alongside board roles with the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, National Crime Prevention Council, National Family Partnership, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, National Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Higher Education, Women’s Chamber of Commerce Texas, and Texas Mental Health Association. She currently serves on the boards of the Ella Austin Community Center, Housing First Town Village Homeless Community, and Annie’s List, which supports women candidates for Texas political office. She has also advised the National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention, National Center for State Courts, Youth Crime Watch of America, Center for Public Policy & Political Studies, and One Star Foundation. That breadth of service reflects a career built on the same principle CADCA coalitions are founded on; that change happens when public agencies, nonprofits, and communities work together.
The recognition that Watts Davis has earned along the way is extensive. She has been inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame, received the FBI Director’s Award for Community Leadership, and has been recognized by the Texas State Legislature for her community service. She was selected as a Distinguished Alumna by her alma mater, Trinity University, named to the SA100 recognizing San Antonio’s most influential women, and named an Outstanding Business Leader by the San Antonio Business Journal. She has received the Distinguished Achievement and Courage Award from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, the MLK Living the Dream Award from the Baptist Ministers Union, and the Yellow Rose Award from the State of Texas as a woman who has impacted Texas history.
On the federal level, she received three Secretariat Awards for Distinguished Service from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and was the first Texan selected by the U.S. Attorney General for the Gould-Wysinger Award for juvenile justice delinquency prevention. Her other honors include SAMHSA’s National Faith-Based and Community Leadership Award, the PRIDE National Youth Leadership Award, the National Prevention Network Achievement Award, the National Crime Prevention Council’s Outstanding Citizen Advocate Award, the Department of Defense Commander’s Award for Outstanding Leadership, and the San Antonio Bar Foundation’s PEACEMAKER Award. She earned her undergraduate degree from Trinity University and a master’s degree in Human Resources Management from Webster University.
Please join us in congratulating Beverly Watts Davis on this well-earned honor.
