We are announcing an important milestone for RethinkFirst as we welcome Dinesh Senanayake as our new Chief Executive Officer, effective March 2, 2026.
On his first day, Dinesh sat down with Mike Lamm, RethinkFirst’s Chief People Officer, to talk about what drew him to RethinkFirst, the personal connection he feels to our mission, and the future he envisions for our organization and the people we serve.
A Personal Connection
Mike Lamm: Dinesh, welcome to RethinkFirst! As you know, our business operates at the intersection of behavioral health, education, and technology. All three of these areas are both deeply human, and also complex. What about this mission attracted you to the role?
Dinesh Senanayake: Thanks Mike! I’m thrilled to be here.
What struck me immediately is that our work sits at the heart of something personal for so many families, including my own. Behavioral health is not abstract; it affects real people, often at vulnerable moments in their lives.
RethinkFirst is uniquely positioned to make support more accessible, more measurable, and more integrated across life stages in schools, clinics, and workplaces. That breadth of impact is rare. It’s not just about software; it’s about outcomes, dignity, and access.
That combination of mission and scale is what drew me here.
Continuity and Momentum
Mike: We know that leadership transitions can create inflection points. From your perspective, what kind of moment is this for RethinkFirst?
Dinesh: I see this as a moment of continuation and acceleration, not reinvention.
The company has built meaningful momentum: expanding strategic partnerships, building upon our talent, and launching solutions to market that make an impact, like Session Note AI, allowing ABA therapists to quickly and effectively support their clients. Those are important milestones.
My role is to build on that foundation and to execute with precision. Our customers value stability, partnership, and consistent progress. That’s exactly what we intend to deliver.
Mike Lamm, Chief People Officer, RethinkFirst & Dinesh Senanayake, CEO, RethinkFirst
Customer-Centered Leadership
Mike: If you were to define the principle that will most shape your leadership here at RethinkFirst, what would it be?
Dinesh: Yes – my unwavering and intentional focus on our customers.
Every strategic decision must ultimately answer one question: Does this improve outcomes and experiences for the customers and community we serve?
That means listening more closely, prioritizing more effectively, and executing with discipline. Businesses always have more ideas than capacity. The real work is choosing the few that matter most and delivering them exceptionally well.
It also means direct engagement. I plan to spend meaningful time with our customers to understand their challenges, workflows, and goals firsthand. Strategy should be informed by real-world experience, not assumptions.
On Growth and Innovation
Mike: As you look ahead, how do you think about balancing growth, innovation, and service?
Dinesh: I think about it through three lenses: grow, retain, innovate. This is actually RethinkFirst’s internal ‘rally cry’ for 2026.
We can have even further positive impact as we bring more customers into our growing community. Expanding access to behavioral health support is part of our responsibility. But growth must be sustainable and aligned with delivering measurable outcomes.
We must deliver products and be exceptional partners to our customers so that they choose and continue to choose to work with us. We never take that for granted. We are committed to providing responsive service, transparency, and continuous improvement as we evolve.
And we must continue to innovate, particularly in how we leverage data and AI to simplify workflows and strengthen insights. Innovation isn’t about novelty; it’s about solving real problems in meaningful ways.
On the Future of RethinkFirst
Mike: When you think about where RethinkFirst could be five years from now, what does success look like?
Dinesh: Success means setting the pace as the trusted leader in technology-enabled behavioral health and neurodiversity solutions. It means leveraging the power of AI to deliver actionable insights that lead to improved outcomes for our caregivers and users.
It also means customers view us not as a vendor, but as a strategic partner in delivering outcomes. It means our solutions are integrated, data-driven, and continuously evolving.
Most importantly, success means more individuals, across schools, clinics, and workplaces, are receiving the support they need because our customers are empowered to deliver it effectively.
If we stay anchored in mission, execute with operational excellence, and maintain relentless customer focus, that future is well within reach. I look forward to meeting and working with all our customers to make this vision a reality!
RethinkFirst remains committed to improving behavioral health outcomes through innovation, partnership, and purpose. Under Dinesh’s leadership, we look forward to deepening our impact and strengthening our collaboration with the customers and communities we serve!
