KBHC Board of Directors

H. Reese Butler II

H. Reese Butler II is the current President of the Board and CEO of the Kristin Brooks Hope Center

Reese has more than 20 years experience both starting successful businesses, including two national newspapers, and with companies that utilize telecommunications and web-based data collection systems. After losing his wife, Kristin Brooks Rossell, to suicide on April 7th 1998, Reese founded the Kristin Brooks Hope Center and the National Hopeline Network 1.800.SUICIDE. In addition to his professional work background, Reese has received training in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST—Living Works) and Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR). Reese also volunteered as a crisis line worker for a time following the death of his wife. Since 1998 when Reese turned his focus to the prevention of suicide, he has helped launch several other organizations: the National Council For Suicide Prevention, the California Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network (CASPAN), and the Virginia Suicide Prevention Council. In addition, he currently serves on the President’s Advisory Board of the Post Partum Support International and on the steering committee for the Iris Fund Alliance. Due to Reese’s vision and the National Hopeline Network’s use of cutting edge telephony technology, the Kristin Brooks Hope Center became a recipient of the prestigious 2002 A Search for New Heroes Award, the Computerworld Honors Program’s Online Archive of information technology innovation.