Senior living operator Pathway to Living is entering a new chapter.
Longtime CEO and co-founder Jerry Finis and COO Maria Oliva are stepping away from their roles, the company announced Thursday. In his “semi-retirement,” Finis is remaining a senior advisor and partner in the company, while Oliva is retiring on Feb. 1.
Executive Vice President of Senior Living Justin Dickinson is taking the reins and assuming day-to-day management of the company, while Jeff Floyd — who joined the company as senior vice president of senior living operations — is succeeding Oliva.
The leadership change comes not only at a crucial time for Pathway to Living — which in June added 22 communities in a transaction with Welltower (NYSE: WELL) — but also for the senior living industry as it continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
But with a recovery at hand and new paths to forge in the months and years ahead, Finis and Oliva thought now was a good time to welcome new leadership and pass the torch. Both say they are proud to leave the organization where it is today, with 49 communities, innovative operating practices and more growth planned down the road.
“Leadership was always going to change and grow in the organization, and frankly, Covid … kicked us into ‘senior housing 2.0’,” Finis said. “I thought it was just the right time.”
And Oliva, who led operations for the company for 17 years, feels confident she is leaving the company in good hands. In particular, she is proud of the company culture she’s helped foster over the years, and believes it will help propel the provider forward for years to come.
“Culture has contributed to the organization’s success, and I think it certainly got us through some difficult years, especially the last couple,” Oliva said.
Passing the torch
Discussions for a leadership transition at the Chicago-based company began prior to the pandemic, but were put on hold while the company dealt with Covid in early 2020.
But they picked back up soon after, culminating in the hiring of Justin Dickinson as senior vice president of investments last August. From the outset, the plan was for Dickinson to take a broader leadership role within the company. Dickinson previously worked as senior vice president of acquisitions and investments for Anthology Senior Living, which is the senior housing arm of CA Ventures.
Pathway’s roots date back to the development of two communities in Illinois in 1997. Under Finis, Pathway’s original mission was in affordable senior housing, but that later evolved into a focus on private-pay senior housing — and more recently, on a portfolio with different sub-brands serving particular price points, including Azpira Place, Aspired Living and Victory Centre. Further evolution came when real estate firm Waterton bought a controlling stake in Pathway to Living in 2019.
Under his new duties as EVP, Dickinson says he will continue to further Finis’ legacy while seeking out more co-development opportunities and potentially some acquisitions in the markets where the company operates. He recently provided further insight into Pathway’s growth strategy while speaking at the Senior Housing News BUILD event in Chicago.
“Jerry has done a fantastic job over the years of putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, and by that I mean all the various components of the operating team and the model are in place,” he told Senior Housing News this week. “[I will be] working with the existing team to fine-tune processes and procedures, and like everyone else in the industry, chip away at occupancy and margin.”
Dickinson believes that there are more opportunities for Pathway to play in the active adult space — something that Oliva has also made a priority in the past. He also plans to continue the company’s focus on the middle-market, and build on Finis’ expertise in forging new and creative financing structures to meet that need.
“Having a lower cost of capital will directly allow us to, in theory, charge a lower rate structure for the same product,” Dickinson said. “[We will be] keeping an eye on costs, potentially partnering with other other developers on a very select basis to develop the right product at the right price.”
Staffing is another top area of focus for Dickinson, not to mention the rest of the senior living industry. On that front, the company is exploring a recruiting process outsourcing model, wherein hiring will be handled by a third-party company that specializes in health care. The company is also exploring using more gig-economy job platforms such as MyCNA or Matchwell.
Floyd comes to the organization with 35 years of experience in the senior housing and care industry, including at ManorCare — the company that later merged with Health Care and Retirement Corporation in 1998 to become HCR ManorCare — Sunrise Senior Living, Enlivant and most recently, Discovery Senior Living.
He plans to spend the next few months getting acclimated with the company and its operations, from sales and marketing to HR and IT. Beyond that, he sees two immediate hurdles: staffing and inflation.
“When I think of short term challenges … it’s to stabilize the workforce and find out what costs are going to look like,” Floyd told SHN.
Above all else, Dickinson and Floyd plan to take a new perspective to build on the company’s existing operations.
“What I hope Jeff and I can bring to the table here is a fresh way of looking at what has historically been a successful operating model that Jerry’s has set up,” Dickinson said. “I’m really looking forward to diving into the details and focusing on efficiencies, moving forward with a fresh lens.”
Next steps for Finis, Oliva
Finis has spent the last quarter century leading Pathway, but now he is embarking on a new challenge: figuring out what comes next. And although he will continue to support the company, he hasn’t made up his mind about what else he’ll do with his time.
“I’ll figure out the rest later,” he said.
When looking back at his time at the company, he said he’s most proud of how Pathway and other industry leaders helped spearhead more affordable senior housing communities in the early 2000s.
“We thought that was, as an industry and from my side, pretty innovative,” he said.
For Oliva, retirement will bring more time to spend with family and handle “some pretty important life events that have taken the backseat for a while.” She is proud of her work building Pathway’s “Viva” operating framework, and that the company has delivered on its “bold mission” over the years.
In particular, she helped spearhead the trend of co-locating resident wellness centers in senior living well before the rest of the industry.
“I’m most proud of the fact that residents and families that choose a Pathway community do so because of that culture and the mission,” she said. “[And] the opportunity to lead some amazing teams, both people that joined Pathway early on and moved on to greater opportunities in senior living, as well as the teams that continue to deliver on the promise of Viva as the company grows.”
Longer-term, Oliva is still figuring out her next steps — but she’s in no rush, either.
“I’m looking forward to this new chapter,” she said.
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