February may be the shortest month of the year, but it was still chock-full of promotions, new hires, and professional recognitions of senior living movers and shakers.
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Lenbrook Promotes Chris Keysor to President & CEO
Lenbrook, a senior living community in Atlanta, has promoted Chris Keysor to the position of president and chief executive officer effective Jan. 1. Keysor has served as chief financial officer of Lenbrook since 2010, and was named president-elect last July when Becky Webster announced her plans to retire by the end of 2013. Also as a part of this planned succession, Lenbrook has promoted Tonya Bodie from director of finance to chief financial officer and Beth Richardson from health care administrator to vice president of operations-health services.
Keysor began his career as a certified public accountant in the healthcare and life sciences practices of KPMG Peat Marwick, progressing on to become a partner at BDO Seidman in Atlanta. He later became the national principal-in-charge of the senior living practice for LarsonAllen, the largest national accounting firm specializing in the senior living sector. He has also held senior management positions with CareLink Management Inc., a post-acute care subsidiary of a 1,500-bed hospital system, and with BB&T Capital Markets’ healthcare group. He is a graduate of the University of Florida with a bachelor’s in accounting.
Bodie has over a dozen years of experience in senior living community finance and joined Lenbrook in 2012 as its director of finance from the Healthcare Capital Finance and Strategy Group of Dixon Hughes Goodman, LLP. Dixon Hughes Goodman is the largest firm based in the south offering accounting, tax and advisory services to healthcare system and senior housing providers. Prior to that, she worked for BDO Seidman, another established accounting consulting firm with heavy emphasis on healthcare advisory services. She holds a bachelor’s in business administration with a major in finance from Georgia State University.
Richardson joined the Lenbrook leadership team in June 2011 as its healthcare administrator, overseeing the full continuum of quality health care provided at Lenbrook, from the healthcare clinic to the specialized rehabilitative services, personal care, memory care and skilled nursing onsite at Lenbrook. Her career in senior healthcare services began as the administrator for Attic Angel CRCC and then as nursing home administrator for the Oakwood Lutheran Homes Association in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a licensed nursing home administrator and a certified aging services professional from the University of North Texas. She holds a bachelor’s in healthcare administration from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire.
Emeritus at Wildwood Names Tammy Cain Executive Director
Emeritus Senior Living has named Tammy Cain as Executive Director of the company’s newest senior living community, Emeritus at Wildwood. This new community will open its doors in Fall 2014.
Cain has been with Emeritus for seven years and has more than 25 years of healthcare experience. Most recently, Cain served as Senior Executive Director for Emeritus, assisting several communities in the central Florida area.
LTC Properties Elects James Pieczynski to Board
LTC Properties, Inc. (NYSE:LTC) has announced that James J. Pieczynski has been elected as a new member of the Board of Directors of LTC effective March 1, 2014, increasing the total number of directors from five to six and total independent directors from three to four.
Pieczynski is Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of CapitalSource, Inc. (NYSE:CSE), a publicly-held commercial lender that provides financial products to small and middle market businesses nationwide and provides depository products and services in southern and central California.
Pieczynski brings more than 25 years of health care real estate portfolio experience to the Board and financial expertise. Prior to joining CapitalSource, he served as LTC’s President, CFO, and as a member of the Board of Directors from 1993 to 2001. Prior to joining LTC, Pieczynski was the Director of Development for American Medical International, Inc. (now Tenet Healthcare Corporation).
Highland Springs Names Jamie Bruning as Pastoral Ministries Coordinator
Highland Springs, an Erickson Living retirement community, named Jamie Bruning as the Pastoral Ministries Coordinator.
Bruning has been an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for nearly fifteen years. In 2011-2012, she served as the Interim Pastor at Christ The Servant Lutheran Church in Denton, Texas and, previously, as the Youth and Family Ministry Coordinator for the Northern Texas–Northern Louisiana Mission Area.
In her leadership position at Highland Springs, she will oversee the Pastoral Ministries Department that serves residents of all faiths by facilitating worship services, offering counseling and coordinating activities that foster spiritual growth. She will also maintain a leadership role on the Interfaith Advisory Council and the Philanthropy Committee.
Bruning holds a B.A. from Texas Lutheran College of Seguin, Texas and a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Seminary of St. Paul, Minnesota. A resident of Garland, she volunteers as a Stephen Minister at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Plano.
ViiNetwork, Inc. Names Fred Altimont as President of ViiMed
ViiMed, powered by ViiNetwork, Inc., recently named Fred Altimont as the new President of ViiNetwork Inc, where he will lead ViiMed’s Sales, Marketing, and Business Development teams within the healthcare market space. Prior to ViiMed, Altimont was the Director of Federal Health Solutions for McAfee/Intel. He focused on providing solutions that enabled the interoperability of health data. He aligned its policies on protecting patient data at rest, in motion, over medical devices, within critical infrastructure and vulnerability management. Prior to McAfee/Intel, Altimont was an executive at Microsoft, leading its Federal Healthcare Programs.
Altimont devised and implemented a development strategy that fostered sales and capture efficiency. He created a 36-month strategic plan that improved efficiencies in communication between patients and their care teams, while improving documentation and workload capture within Agencies and Citizens. In 2011, Altimont was a Circle of Excellence-Platinum Club Award Winner. He grew the pipeline to over $20M, including cloud solutions, tier 1 applications, unified communications, data center and virtualization, and collaboration environments. At Microsoft, his effort was focused on driving interactive solutions within its Federal space, specifically Military Health, United States Department of Veteran Affairs and Department of Defense.
ViiMed is a SaaS that combines workflow management and asynchronous video-based communication together to deploy a system-wide and integrated solution for patient engagement, care coordination and telehealth delivery for health systems and ACOs.
Brookdale Community Grand Court Findlay Names New ED
Grand Court Findlay, a Brookdale community, has named a new executive director to lead the team of associates who provide excellent senior care at the independent and assisted living center. With 26 years of healthcare experience, Kay Ravizee started in her new position in January.
Ravizee comes to Findlay from the Detroit area where she was previously the administrator at a senior care and rehabilitation center. She holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Detroit and has a wide range of management and leadership experience.
Integral Senior Living Names New Chief Executive Officer
Integral Senior Living, a senior living community manager, recently announced that Collette Valentine has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer/Chief Operating Officer for ISL, where she will continue to provide strategic direction and oversight of day-to-day management, operations and marketing for ISL and will increase her duties in overseeing long-term growth and objectives for the company and its communities. In addition, Valentine will continue to work with Tracee DeGrande, President and Chief Financial Officer, to oversee new development for the company. Sue Farrow, current CEO of ISL, will take on the new role of Owner and Managing Director of ISL, continuing to work collaboratively with Valentine and DeGrande.
Valentine came to ISL in 2010 as the Vice President of Operations and Marketing. In 2012 she was promoted to COO for the company. Prior to joining ISL, Valentine was with Merrill Gardens for almost five years, serving as Vice President of Operations. Prior to this she was with Atria Senior Living Group as a Regional Vice President of Operations.
Throughout her eight year career at Atria, she held a variety of positions including: Divisional Operations Specialist, Regional Director of Operations, Regional Sales and Marketing Director, as well as Executive Director and Community Sales Director at an Atria/ARV community. She began her career with Harrah’s Entertainment as a Hotel Sales Manager. She is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a degree in Business Management and is RCFE certified.
Lynn Bunnell Named Regional Community Life Manager for Pathway
Lynn Bunnell has been named Regional Community Life Manager for Pathway Senior Living, LLC where she will be responsible for overseeing the overall programming and approach to daily living that supports Pathway’s signature “live-life-to-the-fullest” VIVA! philosophy. She will play a key role in furthering Pathway’s mission to create life-enriching environments where seniors can lead engaging, meaningful and purpose-filled lives.
Bunnell has more than 30 years experience working in a variety of settings, including long term care with senior adults, inpatient and partial hospital mental health and chemical dependency programs, and community programs for all ages. She is a Certified Therapeutic Recreational Specialist and has over 20 years experience as a Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor. Bunnell has a master’s degree in Adult Education from Northern Illinois University and bachelor’s degrees in both Therapeutic Recreation and Psychology from the University of Illinois in Urbana.
Most recently, Bunnell worked as an Activities Consultant, helping activity directors in long term care facilities with program improvement and compliance with regulatory standards. Bunnell was also the lead instructor for the 36-Hour Activity Director Course offered at Harper College.
Leisure Care Expands Corporate Team With New Hires, Promotions
Seattle-based Leisure Care, a One Eighty brand and one of the nation’s largest privately-held senior housing management companies, continues to expand its team through internal promotions and strategic new hires.
With Leisure Care for nearly 22 years, Debra Taylor was recently promoted from Corporate Wellness Manager to Corporate Health and Wellness Director. She will oversee Leisure Care communities’ health and wellness and assisted living departments to ensure that they continually meet and exceed state regulations through program compliance and director training.
Previously, Taylor served as Health and Wellness Director for various Leisure Care communities before becoming Leisure Care’s Corporate Wellness Manager two years ago.
David Catherman joins the Leisure Care team as the Information Technology Director. Catherman has more than 13 years of IT experience. He recently served as the IT Manager at Aegis Living, and before then, was the chief operating officer and managing partner at Axonous Technology Group in Bellevue. His experience with IT-related solutions will strengthen Leisure Care’s IT-infrastructure as the company continues to expand.
With a proven track record of success, Julie Tastad returns to Leisure Care to fill the role of Corporate Compliance Manager. Tastad is charged with ensuring that company policies and procedures support operational goals, objectives and regulatory mandates while mitigating risk and finding effective and creative ways to introduce changes and train teams. She joins Leisure Care from LHC Group, where she was a Patient Care Representative.
Prior to LHC Group, Tastad worked for Leisure Care for more than 17 years, most recently as Senior General Manager in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Tastad is a licensed administrator and also participates in the NW Alzheimer’s Association speaker bureau.
Chris Peterson has been with Leisure Care for more than six years, most recently as a Technology Strategist. Peterson’s new position as Product Manager will include responsibilities such as managing, developing and evaluating product and project development strategies for new and existing Leisure Care communities as well as the corporate office. Prior to Leisure Care, Peterson worked in the IT department at the University of Washington Health Sciences Library.
Jessica Hart joined Leisure Care from Securitas Security Services as a Human Resources Specialist. Hart has more than 10 years of human resource and management experience in housing and hospitality. She will manage employee benefits, billing, training and administration.
Stephen Moravick Joins SearStone as Executive Chef
SearStone, a continuing care retirement community in North Carolina, has hired Stephen Moravick as its first executive chef. With more than 20 years of hands-on experience as a line cook, sous chef and chef, Moravick will oversee all kitchen operations for the community including daily meals and special events.
Chef Moravick most recently served for three years as executive chef at retirement community The Cedars of Chapel Hill. Prior to that, he served in such prestigious roles as executive chef at the North Carolina Executive Mansion and for seven years in various positions at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla.
He has also served as guest chef at the Pinehurst Country Club Food and Wine Festival and various local fundraisers, and as a guest judge at numerous culinary competitions throughout North Carolina.
Chef Moravick earned an Associate of Science degree in culinary management from Florida State College at Jacksonville. In his spare time, he enjoys running and the outdoors.
Mark Ordan Named CEO of Planned Simon Property Spinoff
Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG), a global leader in retail real estate, announced today the appointment of Mark Ordan as Chief Executive Officer of Washington Prime Group, Inc. which will be an independent, publicly traded REIT, comprised initially of SPG’s strip center business and its smaller enclosed malls. Washington Prime Group’s mission is to own stable, quality retail properties that effectively serve the communities in which they are located. Washington Prime Group is expected to initially own or have an interest in 98 diversified retail real estate assets.
Ordan brings to the new enterprise a progressive and successful career leading public companies at the nexus of real estate and consumer demand in retailing, retail real estate and healthcare. Most recently, Ordan was CEO of Sunrise Senior Living, having led its successful turnaround and eventual sale to Health Care REIT and KKR. Prior to Sunrise, Ordan guided the turnaround of The Mills Corporation as its CEO, and then led its sale to Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management.
Ordan was founder and CEO of Fresh Fields which he sold to Whole Foods Market. He served on the board of Federal Realty Investment Trust for 10 years and was non-executive Chairman from 2001 through 2006 when he led the Board of Director’s restructuring of the senior management team.
Ordan received his BA from Vassar College and has served on its Board of Trustees for 15 years. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives outside Washington, DC with his wife and family.
Ecumen Names New Regional Director of Home Care, Hospice, & Adult Day Services
Terry Mahar, a healthcare executive with more than 34 years of experience, has been named to the newly created post of regional director of home care, hospice and adult day services at Ecumen in Shoreview, Minn., a leading provider of senior housing and aging services in Minnesota and other parts of the Midwest.
Mahar comes to Ecumen from Eide Bailly, where for the past 15 years he was a healthcare consulting senior manager in the Sioux Falls, S.D., office, specializing in home health, hospice, private-duty care, acute hospital care and skilled nursing.
Prior to his job at Eide Bailly, Mahar worked for the Altru Health System in North Dakota as manager of their home care, hospice and personal care group, where he grew the business and improved its financial performance. He began his career as a registered nurse at United Hospital in Grand Forks, N.D., then moved into United’s home health and hospice division, first in direct care and then as a hospice patient care coordinator. He has clinical experience in skilled nursing, home health, hospice, personal care services, and coronary and intensive care.
Currently, Ecumen has four home care agencies — in Duluth, Litchfield, Mankato and the Twin Cities. Kendrick said in addition to growing and improving the current agencies, Mahar will also be evaluating opportunities to open new home health care agencies at other Ecumen sites.
Mahar has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in nursing from the University of North Dakota. He served as president of the North Dakota Hospice Organization for seven years and on the board of directors of the Grand Forks Senior Citizens Association for eight years. Mahar and his family live in Brandon, S.D.
Ecumen Promotes Matt McNeill to DIrector of Business Development
Matt McNeill has been promoted to director of business development at Ecumen in Shoreview, Minn., a leading provider of senior housing and aging services in Minnesota and other parts of the Midwest.
McNeill joined Ecumen a year ago as regional sales and marketing manager. Prior to that he was corporate director of marketing for Walker Methodist and has worked at StoneArch Creative in Minneapolis, Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin and University of Chicago Hospitals. He has over 10 years of strategy development, marketing planning and sales team leadership, as well as advertising agency and business development background.
McNeill has a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations and a minor in marketing from Marquette University.
ConnectedLiving Hires Industry Veterans as New CIO, COO
Senior-focused technologies and engagement provider ConnectedLiving recently announced the hiring of Lili Dwight as Chief Information Officer and Anne Doyle as Chief Operating Officer and SVP of Business Operations. Dwight and Doyle both bring years of industry and healthcare experience to ConnectedLiving.
Doyle brings a strong background in health care and elder services to her leadership of the Operations and Business Development teams. She was most recently COO at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts after more than a decade as an executive at Fallon Community Health Plan and Tufts Health Plan. She directed the state-wide launch of the Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, an innovative Medicare and Medicaid model of care for frail elders.
Doyle also brings government and finance experience from previous positions in the Massachusetts Medicaid Division, the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, and Deloitte Consulting.
Dwight has been a gerontology technologist for more than 20 years. She has focused on developing hardware, software, and Internet products to enhance operations for service providers through supporting residents’ independence, and holds numerous patents in these areas. She has been a CIO at both technology companies and senior living providers. Dwight is President and Founder of Gerontological Solutions, Inc. (GSI), as well as a founder of the LeadingAge HackFest.
