Balfour Hires Hospitality Veteran Riggs as First CFO

Balfour Senior Living has hired Trip Riggs as its first-ever CFO.

Riggs joins the Louisville, Colorado-based senior living provider from Vail Resorts Hospitality and Vail Resorts Real Estate, where he worked as divisional CFO. His prior experience also includes working in operations, hotel ownership and development, and public accounting.

In taking on his new role, Riggs will draw upon his experience in the hospitality sector as Balfour grows beyond its current portfolio of nine communities in the Denver area and one in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He will initially work to better understand the senior living industry, while supporting the growth of Balfour’s brand and platform.

“I believe the senior living industry is embracing innovation right now, and I am looking forward to leveraging my experience to elevate the Balfour Experience in all of our communities,” Riggs said in a press release about his hiring.

Riggs is the latest person to take on a newly created executive role at Balfour. A little more than two years ago, the company hired Phill Barklow as its first COO.

Trip Riggs / photo via Balfour Senior Living

Balfour, a relatively small provider on the national stage, has made a name for itself within the industry by building high-end, highly amenitized communities for affluent clientele. And, the company is expanding into new markets backed by the partnership and capital of an industry behemoth: Toledo, Ohio-based real estate investment trust Welltower (NYSE: WELL).

The company’s founder and CEO, Michael Schonbrun, has set a vision for Balfour to be the “most admired senior living company in America.”

“We think the boomers are going to want a more vibrant community to be in, that they feel there’s new life, new adventures, new friendships, new things to learn,” Schonbrun told Senior Housing News earlier this year. “They don’t just want to be in a tranquil, boring, beige environment. That’s our bet and it’s been paying off, and I think it’s only going to be increasingly a winning strategy going forward.”

Balfour is not the only senior living company which is looking to the hospitality industry to fill key roles. Another is Denver-based Solera Senior Living, which has filled community-level manager and corporate staff positions with former hospitality leaders.