Mr. Rizzi has been a professional in the substance abuse service field since 1969. He has considerable experience in therapeutic community, residential, outpatient, drug-free and methadone treatment systems. His background also includes community and public relations, administration, budget development, and grant-writing as well as prevention, education and parenting programs.

Mr. Rizzi, a New Jersey native and a 1969 graduate of Providence College, Providence, RI, began his career in substance abuse services at the NJ Regional Drug Abuse Agency (Liberty Village) in 1969. When he left Liberty Village in 1972, he was the Director of Outreach Services in North Hudson County to take a position as Director of the Wing of Hope, a new prison-based therapeutic community in Rhode Island. In 1973, he joined CODAC, a new, outpatient treatment provider in Rhode Island and, since that time, he has been instrumental in the development and implementation of substance abuse treatment prevention and education services for CODAC's statewide services.

At present, Mr. Rizzi is the President/CEO of CODAC Behavioral Healthcare in Rhode Island. He serves on the committees to re-write State licensing standards, local community prevention task forces and is a member of the Board as a Rhode Island delegate and Treasurer of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, chair of AATOD's International Committee, and is AATOD's immediate past representative on the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' (JCAHO) Professional and Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC). He also is the Chair of the Opiate Treatment Association of Rhode Island.