Rusty Selix Recieves the
Dean & Kathleen Rasmussen Advocate of the Year Award
Rusty Selix, Healthcare and ALS Advocate
For more than 30 years Rusty Selix has been a healthcare advocate, most recently as a person living with ALS who helped secure significant state funding to benefit the ALS patient population in California.
On April 30, 2018, Rusty testified in Sacramento on behalf of people with ALS, requesting support for The ALS Association Golden West Chapter's wraparound model of care, which combines medical, community and home-based services and support which is proven to help people with ALS live better and longer with the disease. It is also a model of care designed to accelerate the search for effective treatments and cures for ALS. On June 27, Governor Brown signed budget bill SB 840, in support of California's ALS community.
In addition to his recent work for the ALS community, Rusty was the original co-author (with Darrell Steinberg) and leader of the Proposition 63 Campaign—the November 2004 California ballot measure generating nearly $2 billion per year to transform California’s public mental health system.
He did this work as the Executive Director/Director of Policy and Advocacy for the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies, a statewide association of publicly funded mental health and substance use disorder providers, which he served from 1986 to 2017.
Rusty also served as the Executive Director for the California Access Coalition and of the Mental Health Association in California (also known as Mental Health America of California). As such, Rusty has been a leading expert in mental health policy and finance for the past 25 years, and in state and local government policy and finance for 45 years.
Rusty has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Northwestern University and a J.D. degree from the University of California at Davis.
The ALS Association Golden West Chapter salutes Rusty Selix for leveraging his expertise and influence in the public policy arena as a powerful spokesperson to advance the Chapter’s commitment to providing care and discovering cures for ALS.
About Dean & Kathleen Rasmussen
Dean Rasmussen is fondly referred to as the Golden West Chapter's "Godfather of Advocacy." He has spearheaded advocacy efforts in both Sacramento & Washington D.C., and served as the catalyst and provided seed funding for the creation of the chapter's public policy program.
Dean graduated from both the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York and Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science. He holds a Third Mate's license in the U.S. Merchant Marines, a Lieutenant's Commission in the U.S. Navy Reserve and private pilot license with IFR rating. Dean is the Managing Member and Emeritus Chairman of the Board of C.A. Rasmussen Co., Inc., a privately-held, general engineering contracting firm founded in 1964 which builds highways throughout the State of California.
Dean is an Emeritus Trustee of the National ALS Association; Founder and Emeritus Chair of National ALS Association Federal Advocacy Committee, and Founder and Benefactor of the California ALS Advocacy Committee. He has also held Board positions with: Harvey Mudd College; Venice Island Reclamation District No. 2023; Viewpoint School; the Southern California Contractors Association; Los Robles Hospital and Casa Pacifica.
His wife and life partner, Kathleen O'Brien Rasmussen works in the Rasmussen business and has founded a business with her daughter in real estate development. She also holds a position with Douglas Elliman Real Estate as a Realtor.
After her previous career in various colleges and private schools around the country as a public relations, capital and development director, Kathleen became an Advisory trustee and later the Chairman of the Board of The ALS Association Greater Los Angeles Chapter. During her tenure, she successfully co-Chaired the merging of the Bay Area and Los Angeles Chapters into the Golden West Chapter in 2010.
She has also served as a trustee of the Board of Harvard University's NeuroDiscovery Center. Currently she is involved in the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. She is a graduate of Smith College and attended university in Paris at La Sorbonne and Beaux Arts.
At the top of the Rasmussen's list of passions is their family and grandchildren.
