This story has been updated with more details on Thursday, Aug. 15
LCS CEO Joel Nelson will step down next year, and current LCS President and COO Chris Bird will become the company’s fifth leader in its 53-year history.
Under the planned leadership transition, effective Jan. 1, 2025 and announced today, Bird will lead the company’s operations as president and CEO. Nelson will remain chairman of the LCS board of directors and a member of the company’s investment committee.
Nelson said his successor is “exceptionally qualified” to lead LCS to its “next chapter of growth.”
“One of the key decision points when we hired Chris seven years ago was his belief in and commitment to the LCS culture and values,” Nelson said in a news release about the transition. “I am excited to leverage Chris’ experience, energy, and passion to continue evolving the LCS strategy into the future.”
Bird added that LCS “wouldn’t be where we are today” without Nelson at the helm.
“He has led LCS through tremendous growth and championed some of our most valuable initiatives,” Bird said in the news release. “I have profound gratitude for all he has invested to make our organization one of the best in the senior living industry.”
Nelson told SHN on Thursday that he feels most proud to have helped with the launch of LCS Real Estate, something he called a “strategic move” that drove the company’s growth since 2011.
In the last decade, Nelson oversaw the evolution of the LCS business model from life plan community and third-party management to becoming a “much more diverse company,” which helped the company “meet the needs of a much broader market,” Nelson told SHN.
When asked about the timing of the transition, Nelson said he felt the company was “well-positioned for this transition,” and core to that is the overall confidence in Bird’s future leadership, something he called a “win-win” for the organization’s future.
“We are all starting to see changes in consumer needs and wants, and we have been preparing for our product to evolve to meet those needs,” Nelson told SHN. “To accomplish this, we will need ‘real’ change in business and service delivery technology. I also believe we have an incredible opportunity as an industry to better position who we are, what senior living is, and why it matters.”
That’s due to what Nelson said was a misunderstanding of the industry’s offerings and benefits.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize the supply need. Simply stated, the unmet need that is projected will force change throughout our industry, and those who balance change, innovation, and technology will be very successful,” Nelson added.
LCS operates 132 communities in 31 states and is the third-largest senior living provider in the U.S., according to the 2024 Argentum Top 150 Providers list.
Nelson has worked at LCS since 1986. After serving in multiple executive roles, Nelson was tapped to launch LCS’ real estate business, LCS Real Estate in 2011. He was promoted in 2015 to work as president and COO, and later was named CEO in 2018. Nelson has also served as chair of the Argentum Board of Directors since May 2022.
“As I reflect on my career with this announcement, I am humbled by all we’ve accomplished and thankful for the people and partners that have helped to make it all possible. I can’t imagine a higher purpose and any better people to spend nearly 40 years of my life with,” Nelson said.
Bird is taking the reins after nearly two years as president. He first ascended to the role in 2022 after working as executive vice president and COO. Bird first joined LCS in 2018 to lead the company’s rental senior housing operations.
In a 2022 SHN Changemakers interview, Nelson highlighted his role in launching LCS Real Estate as something he was “most proud of.” He noted it was “transformational for the company,” leading to the expanded growth of the LCS universe of companies, from LCS Development and beyond.
“As CEO, it’s critical that I get the next generations prepared to continue the legacy of LCS,” Nelson said in the 2022 interview. “Being able to pivot and adapt to new changes is a lot easier than trying to fight it and go against the grain. When they come, execute as best you can, learn from those mistakes, and apply those in the next round of changes.”
In January, LCS launched a new data platform to aid operations. This comes as the organization surpassed pandemic-era occupancy levels in 2022 and saw a record number of sales for its life plan communities in 2023.
“We’re pretty excited about the investment we’ve made with our data science group and the insight analytics group, which are driving us to make data-driven decisions,” Bird told SHN earlier this year. “Not that we didn’t before, it’s just now more refined than it ever was.”
Companies featured in this article:
