Movers & Shakers – People and Positions for December 2012

The holiday season is upon us, and people are doing more than just shopping for Christmas or Hanukkah gifts—lots of senior living professionals are shaking up the industry by making strategic moves. 

Employers: Take advantage of our job board to look for some of the best and brightest in the industry. Post a job on the SHN job board for less than $1 per day, and attract local and national candidates through our system that leverages these postings throughout the SimplyHired network. Post a job now.

Looking for new opportunities in 2013? Look for senior housing jobs nationwide on SHN’s job board.

Margaret Wylde Chairs ULI’s Senior Housing Council

Margaret A. Wylde, president and CEO of ProMatura Group, LLC, is the new chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Senior Housing Council. Wylde, who has been involved with the council for eight years, will be at the helm in 2013-2015.

As chair, Wylde is responsible for the direction of the Council and ensuring that members get value from it. Overall, ULI’s product councils (of which the Senior Housing Council is one) “play a key role in ULI’s mission of providing leadership in the responsible use of land and creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide,” according to www.uli.org

Wylde said she appreciates the opportunity to further the goals of the Council, including applying research to innovative applications in land-use planning and participating in the exchange of information on the “state of the art” in the development in the development field.

Housing Colorado Welcomes Elisabeth Borden to Board of Directors

Elisabeth Borden, Principal of The Highland Group, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Housing Colorado, a statewide membership organization in support of affordable housing. Housing Colorado is the “unified resource in the state for affordable housing education, information, and advocacy.” Housing Colorado’s annual conference attracts over 500 attendees. The Highland Group is a market research and development planning firm based in Boulder, Colorado, focused exclusively on seniors housing and care communities. 

Silverado Senior Living Appoints New SVP of Community Operations

In her tenth year with Silverado, Michelle Egerer, M.A.Ed. assumes the role of Senior Vice President of nationwide operations for Silverado’s Memory Care Assisted Living communities. Egerer’s career in healthcare spans more than 30 years and includes management of startup and turnaround operations, involvement in mergers and acquisitions, and more than 20 years in executive management roles for a variety of behavioral healthcare organizations.

Egerer’s interest and involvement with dementia grew from personal experience with her grandmother’s progression through memory loss. She joined Silverado in 2002 as Administrator of Silverado’s Memory Care community in Costa Mesa, California, where she received numerous company recognitions including Silverado Community of the Year and Administrator of the Year.

She then continued onto successive roles as Senior Administrator, Regional Administrator and Regional Vice President, where she played an integral role in the startup of Los Angeles and Orange County-area Silverado communities and in the acquisition of Silverado communities from previous providers in other locations.

In addition to her impactful tenure at Silverado, Egerer volunteers on community and state Boards. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Alzheimer’s Association, Orange County Chapter, she is on the Board of the California Assisted Living Association and is active at a national level with the Assisted Living Federation of America.

Daniel Schwartz Joins New Perspective Senior Living as COO

Daniel Schwartz has joined New Perspective Senior Living, developer and operator of the Lighthouse senior living communities, as chief operating officer (COO) and a partner. Schwartz brings more than 20 years’ experience in health care operations including new development, turn-around and public, private and not-for-profit models. As chief operating officer, he is responsible for the business operations of 12 Lighthouse communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Schwartz comes to New Perspective Senior Living from Addus Healthcare, Inc., Palatine, IL, a home based healthcare company, where he was COO. Prior to Addus, Schwartz was senior vice president of North American Operations at Sunrise Senior Living, McLean, VA, a senior living company with 400 communities.

He earned a Master of Health Care Administration and a BA in psychology from George Washington University, Washington, DC.  He is adjunct professor at George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services. Schwartz belongs to several professional associations, including: National Long Term Care Emerging Leaders Summit Steering Board; founding member of the National Association for Private Duty Home Care and the Pennsylvania and Indiana Assisted Living Associations. He also is a well-known speaker at national professional forums.

Georgia CCRC Park Springs Welcomes Three Top Professionals to Management Team

Isakson Living recently welcomed three new team members to Park Springs, a continuing care retirement community in Atlanta, Ga. owned and operated by Isakson Living.

Jason R. Cronk is the new Executive Director, and he is joined by Stephanie Peoples, Park Springs’ new Director of Nursing, and Reggie Porter, Manager of the community’s state-of-the-art on-site Fitness Center.

Cronk has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Most recently, he served as Interim Executive Director for CRSA LCS Management, a division of Life Care Services in Des Moines, Ia., after spending a year as Senior Director of Operations for CRSA in Guangzhou in the People’s Republic of China.

Peoples, a graduate of Georgia Baptist College of Nursing at Mercer University, has served as Director of Nursing with Briarcliff Haven Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Atlanta for two years and before that, as VP of Health Care Services at Lenbrook CCRC.

Porter, who received his B.S. and M.S. in Kinesiology from Georgia Southern University, has worked in many areas of the fitness industry, including a position in the cardiac rehabilitation center at St. Joseph’s/Candler Medical Center.

Greater Yield Hires Diana Hueter as Senior Knowledge Leader

Diana Hueter has joined Greater Yield as a Healthcare Senior Knowledge Leader, bringing to the table a level of expertise in the ever-evolving field of healthcare. As a strategic business consulting firm, Greater Yield looks at businesses from an enterprise-wide perspective, analyzing the structures, tools, processes, management styles and other behaviors to identify and solve problems within the organization. Hueter will join Greater Yield’s new healthcare division team.

With more than 30 years in the field, Hueter has extensive knowledge of the healthcare sector, and experience implementing enterprise transformation solutions that achieve best-in-class operational performance. She has worked in workforce health, productivity, quality of care, and cost savings through compliance with evidence-based guidelines that deliver significant bottom-line results.

Prior to joining Greater Yield, Hueter worked with executives from Caterpillar, Dow, Ford Motor Company, Pfizer Health Solutions and Toyota Motors, implementing healthcare improvement initiatives. In addition, she facilitated a national think tank in the development of value-based healthcare processes, and produced an employer health asset management roadmap designed to help organizations execute better employee health initiatives.

American Seniors Association Retains Jeri Thompson as National Policy Director & Spokesperson 

American Seniors Association Holding Group, Inc. (AMSA:PK) today announced it has retained Jeri Thompson as its National Policy Director and Spokesperson.

Thompson is a prominent national political strategist with extensive experience in public policy, lobbying and public relations. Her career highlights include past assignments with the Republican National Committee, the Senate Republican Conference and, in the private sector, with global public relations firm Burson Marsteller. She is also a frequent commentator on politics, current events and family issues for a number of news organizations including Fox News, the American Spectator and the Washington Examiner.

Thompson signed a three-year agreement with American Seniors that includes strategic consulting, media relations, alliance building and governmental relations. She lives in McLean, Va. and is the mother to two children, Hayden and Samuel. She is married to former U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Fred Thompson. She was born in Hastings, Neb. and raised in Naperville, Ill.

Constant Care Family Management Hires Community Relations Director 

Autumn Leaves of Sugarloaf, an Alzheimer’s and memory care community under construction in Metro Atlanta, has named Divine Taylor community relations director. Taylor will expand her focus as the company develops an additional five or more Alzheimer’s and memory care communities in the Atlanta area. Taylor brings more than 10 years of experience in sales with effective relationship-building skills and a portfolio of success.

Taylor is joining Constant Care Family Management from PQC International, a management consulting firm for which she most recently served as the director of sales and client relations for four years. There she managed a national sales team covering North America in four regions with sales representatives in each. Taylor earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in communications from Bowie State University.

Autumn Leaves of Sugarloaf is currently under construction and scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2013. The nearly $10 million project is the result of a partnership between The LaSalle Group, The Frost National Bank and Silverado Interests, and it will create 200 jobs.

Constant Care Family Management Names New VP of Sales & Marketing

Constant Care Family Management, the property management company for Autumn Leaves memory care communities, has named Laura Kislowski vice president of sales and marketing. Kislowski brings more than 25 years of senior housing and health care experience to the team. Kislowski will oversee the sales and marketing operation at the more than 25 Autumn Leaves Alzheimer’s and Memory Care Communities across the country.

Kislowski joins Constant Care Family Management from Springpoint Senior Living where she most recently served as senior vice president. Kislowski spent five years with the company, and prior to that role, she spent 25 years working in the senior living industry. Kislowski has a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Fullerton where she graduated Cum Laude.

Smith Senior Living Names New Chairman, Board Members

George E. Petraitis has been elected to a five-year term as board chair of Smith Senior Living, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving seniors since 1924.
He succeeds Robert A. Berghoff. The Smith board also elected Steven J. Murphy vice-chair and named Anne Z. Schaible, M.D. a new board member.

Petraitis joined the board of Smith Senior Living more than 10 years ago. As president of LaMantia Architects Inc., a division of LaMantia Design and Construction Company in Brookfield, he has shared his experience in architecture, design and sales during a period of unprecedented growth and expansion for Smith retirement communities. He studied architecture at University of Illinois in both Champaign-Urbana and Chicago.

Ashby Ponds Announces Susan Fix as New Dining Services Director

Susan Fix recently joined Erickson Living’s Ashby Ponds retirement community as the new Director of Dining Services. As the Director of Dining Services at Ashby Ponds, she will oversee a staff of 180, as well as the operations in the two dining establishments at the community. Some of those staff include high school students from Loudoun and Fairfax counties who work in a variety of dining service capacities including as servers, restaurant assistants, utility workers, and service coaches. 

Fix has more than 30 years of experience working in the hospitality industry. During her 18 years with Marriot, she worked as the General Manager of food services at Marriott’s International Headquarters in Bethesda. From there, she became a District Manager for Sodexo Marriott in Northern Virginia where her primary focus was strengthening the retail and dining services on the AOL campus in Dulles, Va., as well as for 20 other Fortune 500 corporations in the area.  Following her tenure with Marriott, Fix spent four years as the Resident District Manager for Sodexo USA at Western Washington University.  

Fix graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and English, along with postgraduate work in Business Administration. She holds multiple certifications from Sodexo including Customer Service Excellence, Spirit of Diversity, Clients for Life, Mentoring, and EEO & Affirmative Action. She also has a ServSafe certification.

Saratoga Retirement Community Appoints Cathy Schumacher as Executive Director

Saratoga Retirement Community, a 37-acre, not-for-profit Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in the Silicon Valley, is pleased to announce that Cathy O. Schumacher, RN, BSN, MBA, has been appointed to the position of executive director. 

Schumacher earned her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Portland, Oregon, and acquired her Master of Business Administration degree from California State University Long Beach. For the last 10 years, she has worked in retirement community management, first as Director of Nursing, then Risk Manager, and finally as Executive Director of a not-for-profit CCRC in southern California. Previously, she served as a nurse for 17 years, including a position as lead and staff nurse at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in southern California, and later worked for seven years in her own geriatric care management firm.

Rob Pfauth Joins EUA As Senior Project Manager

EUA is pleased to announce that Rob Pfauth has joined the firm as a senior project manager in the firm’s growing Living Environments studio.

Pfauth comes to EUA with an extensive background in senior living and has a commitment to cultivating and nurturing client relationships and a passion for serving our aging community. He brings national experience and has worked on projects across the continuum of care in ten states encompassing over two thousand dwelling units/beds.

Pfauth’s growing list of awards, publications and speaking engagements are a testament to his talent and expertise. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Society for the Advancement of Gerontological Environments (SAGE), and has been active in the AIA Design for Aging Knowledge Community. His most recent speaking engagements include “What the Development Team Sees in Today’s Markets,” for LeadingAge Washington and “Going Green: Greening Your Budget,” for LeadingAge Florida.

Pfauth received a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University and a Master of Architecture from the UCLA School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Prior to joining EUA, Pfauth headed LifePLACE Designs, an independent senior living consultancy. Some of his most recent project engagements include Phase Two improvements at Emerald Heights in Redmond, Wash., expansion of the Glenmoor Health Center in St. Augustine, Fla., and the Felician Village repositioning in Manitowoc, Wisc.

Nova Witkowski Hired as Leo A Daly’s Director Business Development for Atlanta Office

The Atlanta office of international architecture, planning, engineering, interior design and program management firm Leo A Daly welcomes Nova Witkowski, ACHE, LEED® AP, as director of business development. In this role, Witkowski will be responsible for initiating and maintaining contacts with key clients and industry representatives in the local market.

Previously, Witkowski worked in business development and design-build project management for GMK Associates Inc., a planning, design and construction project management firm based in Columbia, S.C., where she managed healthcare opportunities and fostered partnerships among dozens of owners, designers and construction teams. Her client portfolio includes Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Laurens County Health Care System, Clinton, S.C.; Colquitt Regional Medical Center, Moultrie, Ga.; and Floyd Medical Center, Rome, Ga.

Witkowski received her Associate of Applied Science degree in architecture from Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, N.Y., and Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, N.Y. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects and served on the Atlanta Board of Directors from 2010-2012, and a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Society for Healthcare Engineering and the American Hospital Association.

Lifespace Communities Hires Sales Associate for Deerfield Retirement Community

Deerfield Retirement Community has named Dan Reeves as sales associate for this continuing care retirement community, owned and operated by Lifespace Communities, based in Des Moines. Reeves is responsible for educating purpose-driven seniors about the benefits of choosing a Life Care community.

Reeves has more than 35 years of experience in marketing and sales. Prior to joining Deerfield, Reeves was an independent insurance agent, specializing in Medicare Advantage, Supplement and Special Needs plans. He has also worked at Citi Home Equity, and owned and operated Grooms and Reeves Associates, Inc., a commercial and residential property management and cleaning business.

Reeves is a graduate of Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts.

Matt Summerville Named as Executive Director of Autumn Leaves of Sugarloaf 

Autumn Leaves of Sugarloaf, an Alzheimer’s and memory care community under construction in Metro Atlanta, has named Matt Summerville executive director of the community. Summerville’s role will expand regionally with the development of additional Autumn Leaves communities in the area. In his position, Summerville will assume responsibility for charting the company’s entry and growth in a new market, developing brand awareness, supervising community operations, and meeting the needs of seniors and their families.  Autumn Leaves of Sugarloaf exclusively serves families living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Prior to joining Autumn Leaves of Sugarloaf, Summerville was the executive director for Emeritus, a senior living community in Sandy Springs, where he led regional move-ins and total consensus growth. Earlier in his career, Summerville also served as community relations manager for Atlas Healthcare and Hospice. Summerville studied economics at the University of Georgia.

Ziegler Hires Senior Living Investment Banker

Ziegler recently announced the hiring of Tad Melton, who is joining the investment bank’s senior living investment banking team as a director in the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic region, operating from Ziegler’s newly established wealth management office in Richmond, Virginia.

Melton joins Ziegler after a highly successful career in healthcare and senior living finance with BB&T and UBS Paine Webber; bringing more than 16 years of investment banking experience to the Ziegler team. In that time, Melton has served as a day-to-day banker on approximately $2.75 billion of financings for CCRCs, assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities and hospitals, including startups, repositionings, refinancings, acquisitions and divestitures. A lifelong Virginian from Harrisonburg, Melton is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College, where he studied Economics and History.

The Heritage at Brentwood Welcomes New Executive Chef Jonathan King

The Heritage at Brentwood, a Life Care Services community, has named hospitality and fine-dining expert Jonathan King as Executive Chef. King brings a lifelong passion for cooking and more than 10 years of culinary experience to developing menus and creating exceptional cuisine for residents and guests at the independent senior living community.

The Heritage’s food and beverage team provide residents with several options to share meals and special occasions with friends and family, including room service, parties in private dining rooms and unique menus for special occasions.

King began cooking as a child, experimenting in the kitchen and watching cooking shows. After earning his degree in culinary arts at Volunteer State Community College, he completed a three-year apprenticeship at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention through the American Culinary Federation. King continued with Gaylord in various positions, as junior sous chef at Cascades American Café, senior sous chef and executive chef in room dining and Jack Daniel’s, and executive chef at Solario, Gaylord’s Mexican-theme venue, before overseeing culinary operations for the restaurants in the Delta Atrium. King also worked as sous chef at the popular Nashville restaurant Bound’ry.

The Palace Group Promotes Josh Cabrera to Executive Director for Newest Community

The Palace Group has promoted Josh Cabrera to the role of executive director of the new Palace at Coral Gables which will open in spring, 2013.

In this position, Cabrera will supervise the luxury community’s varied department managers including hospitality and food service, operations, maintenance and activities. He is responsible for implementing the policies and procedures established by The Palace Group to assure residents the highest level of customer service and care.

Cabrera brings nearly 15 years of senior housing experience to this leadership position having joined the company in 1999. He began his career at The Palace while attending Florida International University where he received a degree in business administration. He is also a licensed assisted living administrator.

Most recently Cabrera was the general manager of The Palace Gardens in Homestead, one of the company’s assisted living communities, having been promoted from Director of Administration and Customer Service for The Palace Renaissance, the company’s Kendall assisted living community. Cabrera has been the recipient of the company’s prestigious Manager of the Year award seven times.

UMRC Welcomes New Executive Director for Heritage Foundation

United Methodist Retirement Communities, Inc. (UMRC) a nonprofit leader in senior residential and healthcare services, has selected Wendy Brightman as the Executive Director of its charitable arm, the UMRC Heritage Foundation.

In her new position, Brightman will lead fundraising efforts and oversee the Foundation’s staff. The UMRC Heritage Foundation focuses on raising funds to support the benevolent care program for residents in need of financial assistance to remain in their UMRC home and to support additional operating needs of UMRC.

Brightman brings more than 12 years of fundraising and leadership experience to UMRC. Most recently, she served as Managing Director of Ele’s Place in Ann Arbor. Her previous experience focused on healthcare, social service and education development roles in Michigan and Ohio.

Oak Grove Capital Welcomes Paul Barrett as SVP in New Boston Office

Oak Grove Capital, a leading national provider of real estate financial services, announced that Paul Barrett has joined the St. Paul-based mortgage lender as senior vice president. Barrett will focus on new loan originations and will lead a new office that Oak Grove is opening in the Boston market.

Barrett’s experience over the past 25 years has bridged both the public and private sectors, ranging from community and business development, to economic policy, to capital markets and fund development. Prior to joining Oak Grove Capital, Barrett was the Northeast director for the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, a $4.5 billion fund that invests in multifamily housing developments across the country. Barrett has also previously held positions as the director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Rhode Island State Secretary of Economic Development, and the chairman of Bank Malden.