Senior Lifestyle Appoints Co-COOs in Leadership Restructure

Senior Lifestyle Corp. has named new co-COOs and a new chief clinical officer as part of a leadership realignment.

One of the new COOs, Justin Robins, is an internal promotion. The other, Jim Pusateri, most recently worked for Senior Lifestyle rival Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD).

Robins has had a 21-year career with Chicago-based Senior Lifestyle, the seventh-largest senior housing operator nationally, according to recent ranking from the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA). From his start with the company as an intern while in high school, Robins became interim COO last spring, after Lisa Fordyce left the company. His title now is co-COO and executive vice president.

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Pusateri will have the same title. He is a veteran senior housing executive who until this month served as Senior Vice President of Sales for Brentwood, Tennessee-based Brookdale, the nation’s largest senior living provider.

He and Robins will focus on “establishing and strengthening business partner alignment, optimizing performance, and fostering strategic growth,” the company stated in a press release issued Monday.

Paula Adams, a registered nurse who has led Senior Lifestyle’s clinical and compliance team, has been promoted to chief clinical officer. Under her leadership, the company has put more focus on ancillary services such as home health, hospice, and pharmacy. These types of offerings have become increasingly important for senior living companies, as a way of counteracting business pressures such as new competition.

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The leadership realignment includes the appointment of Hollie Kemp as Vice President of Resident Experience. Kemp created Senior Lifestyle’s “Embrace” memory care program, which this year won a “Best of the Best” award from provider association Argentum. Also, Amaka Aniefuna is joining the company as vice president of operations.

“With our new leadership in place, our teams will re-dedicate themselves to our service culture,” Senior Lifestyle President and CEO Jon DeLuca stated in the press release. “Our company is better poised for success today than at any time in our 32 year operating history.”

Earlier this year, Senior Lifestyle made headlines for being involved in a $745 million transaction, one of the largest for the industry in 2017. In that deal, private equity firm Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) acquired 26 Senior Lifestyle-operated properties from real estate investment trust Welltower Inc. (NYSE: HCN).

Written by Tim Mullaney

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