Movers & Shakers: Hutchens Exits New Senior Board; Discovery Names Resident Experience VP

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Hutchens Officially Steps Down From New Senior Board

Justin Hutchens has left New Senior Investment Group’s (NYSE: SNR) board of directors a little under a week after Ventas (NYSE: VTR) announced it had hired him.

At the time of his resignation, Hutchens was a member of the New Senior board’s audit and investment committees, according to a Feb. 24 filing with the SEC.

Hutchens, who stepped down as CEO of UK-based home care provider HC-One, is joining Ventas to lead its senior housing division.

Discovery Names Assistant VP of Resident Experience

Discovery Senior Living has hired Jolene Moore to work as its new assistant vice president of resident experience.

She joins Discovery after five years at Vi, where she was the corporate director of lifestyles. In her new role, Moore will oversee program process and implementation across Discovery Senior Living’s portfolio.

The hiring comes as Discovery strives to enhance its lifestyle and care services by as part of a concept the provider calls its “experiential living” model.

Brookdale Appoints Healthcare Exec to Board

Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) has appointed Jordan R. Asher as an independent director on its board of directors.

Asher is the chief physician executive and senior vice president of Sentara Healthcare an integrated delivery health system based in Norfolk, Virginia. He will draw upon his experience to advise Brookdale amid the evolving healthcare landscape, the company said.

His initial term is scheduled to end at the company’s 2020 annual meeting of stockholders. Brookdale’s board now has nine directors.

Radiant Senior Living Names VP of Sales and Marketing

Radiant Senior Living has named Brooke Saxon-Spencer as its new vice president of sales and marketing.

In her new role, Saxon-Spencer will oversee sales and marketing efforts for Radiant’s 19 senior living communities.

Additionally, Farmington Square Salem, a 103-unit Radian Senior Living community in Salem, Oregon, named Jessica Penland as its new executive director.

Penland first began working with Radiant Senior Living in 2011. She was recognized as Radiant’s Administrator of the Year in 2017 and 2019.

Maxwell Group Promotes Biyyala to VP of Business Development

Maxwell Group has promoted Dushyanth Biyyala to vice president of business development for its 15-community portfolio.

He first joined Maxwell Group in 2018 in the role of finance associate. Before that, he worked at Jefferies, where he was an analyst in the company’s real estate, gaming and lodging group.

Pegasus Teams Up With University of Texas Professor

Pegasus Senior Living is welcoming University of Texas Professor Dr. Sandra Petersen to its health and wellness team.

Petersen will help guide Pegasus as its rolls out a new dementia care program called Connections. In the past, she has focused on topics such as assisted living, memory care, hospice, home care, psychiatric nursing and primary care.

Pegasus also named Edward Esguerra as the new memory care director at its The Farrington at Tanglewood community in Houston.

Balfour Names VP of Construction

Balfour Senior Living has named Chris Smith its new vice president of construction.

Smith first joined Balfour in 2018 as its director of construction and asset Management. In particular, Smith has handled projects for Balfour that include overseeing the execution of senior living projects in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Longmont, Colorado.

Overall, Smith has 20 years of experience in construction management.

Executive Rejoins Watermark Retirement Communities

John Toro is now Watermark Retirement Communities’ national director of capital and plant operations.

Toro previously worked as Watermark’s regional director of plant operations in the U.S. West and Southwest between 2015 and 2017. He has also had similar responsibilities for other providers during his two decades in the senior living industry, most recently working as the national director of plant operations for Senior Lifestyle Corporation.

Spring Hills Appoints Senior VP of Strategic Development

Spring Hills Senior Communities has welcomed Joseph R. Laudisio as the company’s new senior vice president of strategic development.

Laudisio has spent more than 25 years focusing on strategic development and building organizations with providers in the health care industry.

Watercrest Community Under Construction Names Executive Director

Watercrest Senior Living Group appointed Joy Patterson as executive director of the Watercrest Fort Mill community that is under construciton in Fort Mill-Indian Land, South Carolina.

Patterson first joined Watercrest last year, helping with pre-operational management of another community, Watercrest Columbia.

Neuroscientist Joins Team at Inspir Carnegie Hill

Inspir Carnegie Hill, the Maplewood Senior Living highrise due to open soon on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has appointed Dr. Wendy Suzuki to its advisory board.

Suzuki is a professor of neural science and psychology at New York University’s Center for Neural Science, the CEO of BrainBody and a former TEDTalk presenter. As part of her role on the advisory board, she will provide guidance on developing wellness programs for residents.

She also will conduct pilot programs for BrainBody with residents at two Maplewood Senior Living communities.

Florida Life Plan Community Names Executive, Associate Directors

Cypress Cove, a life plan community in Fort Myers, Florida, has announced a new executive director and a new associate executive director.

Tim Ficker — who worked as the community’s executive director from 2009 to 2013 — has resumed his former role with the company. He first returned last October, and has agreed to stay in the leadership role for a longer period. Ficker has 25 years of experience in senior living executive leadership.

The move came a little more than a week after the community’s appointed Mary Franklin, former director of resident services, to the position of associate executive director.

Oakmont Announces Executive Director for California Community

Margie Veis is now the executive director of Oakmont of Simi Valley, an Oakmont Senior Living community due to open this summer in Simi Valley, California.

Veis previously worked at the senior living provider’s Oakmont of Valencia community which opened last year. She has more than 30 years of experience in the senior living industry.

Mather Appoints Two New Senior Vice Presidents

Not-for-profit Mather has named two new senior vice presidents to work on its executive “possibilities team.”

Langley will work with Mather as senior vice president of community initiatives and of the Mather Institute. In that role, he will oversee community resources, help conceive new programs and practices and guide the Mather Institute’s applied research initiatives.

David Murlette, who is now working as Mather’s senior vice president and managing director of senior living, oversees the operations of the organization’s senior living residences.

Langley has worked in executive positions with services provider Sodexo, while Murlette has managed life plan communities across the country.

California Community Welcomes New CEO

Baywood Court, a nonprofit senior community in Castro Valley, California, has appointed Matt Neal its new CEO.

Neal succeeds former CEO Bruce Udelf, who is retiring after seven years in the role. He has more than 20 years of experience as a senior operations leader.

Acts Announces Board Appointments

Acts Retirement-Life Communities has added William Reynolds and Michael Kelly to its board of directors.

Reynolds is a resident of The Evergreens, an Acts community in Moorestown, New Jersey. He previously worked as a teacher and administrator in public and private schools, and at the University of Pennsylvania. He also had a 20-year career as founder and senior partner in Reynolds & Schaeffer Associates, Inc., a management and consulting firm.

Kelly, meanwhile, is a recently retired investment banker with B.C. Ziegler and Company. There, he led the firm’s non-profit senior living finance activities in the Mid-Atlantic.

South Carolina Community Welcomes Medical Director

Rolling Green Village, a life plan community in Greenville, South Carolina, has announced a new hire as part of its partnership with Prisma Health: Dr. Alan Thompson.

In his new role, Thompson will help guide the care offered at the community’s skilled nursing and rehabilitation center. Specifically, he is focused on enhancing the clinical skills of nurses at the community while improving recovery times.

Thompson has more than 15 years of industry experience.

D.C. Life Plan Community Names Sales, Marketing Director

Knollwood, a Washington, D.C. life plan community for older adults who were senior civil servants and those who served as U.S. military officers named Carol Ann McCormick as its new director of sales and marketing.

She previously has worked with senior living nonprofits throughout the U.S., including in Connecticut and Maryland.

Forthcoming Community in Colorado Names AL Director

The Ridge Pinehurst, a senior living community due to open in Lakewood, Colorado this spring, has hired Elizabeth Girling to the role of assisted living director.

In her new role, Girling will help plan, coordinate, supervise and manage assigned residences on campus. She also will identify and interpret resident needs and manage the services to in line with community goals and standards.

Girling, who has nine years of senior living experience overall, most recently worked at Christian Living Communities.

CBRE Hires Senior Housing Finance Leader

CBRE has hired Joshua Hausfeld as an executive vice president to work within the company’s national senior housing practice.

In his new role, Hausfeld will specialize in agency loans for health care and senior housing properties across the care continuum. He will lead CBRE’s national HUD 232 origination efforts. In doing so, he’ll work with CBRE’s other national senior housing professionals, Aron Will, Austin Sacco and Lisa Widmier.

Before joining CBRE, Hausfeld led the senior housing and health care finance group for SunTrust Commercial Real Estate as a managing director.

Springpoint Adds to Board of Trustees

Springpoint has appointed Mark Olear to a four-year term on its board of trustees.

Olear has more than 30 years of experience acquiring, developing and optimizing commercial assets across the U.S.. He is currently the chief investment officer and COO for Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE: GTY).