Meet Chris Winkle, CEO of Sunrise Senior Living. A Buffalo, N.Y. native, Winkle began in the CEO role in 2014 after serving as the company's chief operating officer—a position that brought him to Sunrise in 2013. Prior to joining Sunrise, he served as CEO for MedQuest, Inc., an outpatient operator of diagnostic imaging services. A graduate of Case Western Reserve, he previously served as president and CEO for Mariner Health Care, Inc., and as chief operating officer for Integrated Health Services and held various

Meet Watermark Retirement Communities Chairman David Freshwater and President/CEO David Barnes. With a background in finance and architecture, Freshwater happened upon senior living development early in his career after starting a market research firm that took a look into the fledging industry and challenged the conventional wisdom. He later teamed with Barnes, and together they have grown the company from one community to more than 50. Today, with communities in 21 states, the Watermark team continues to develop and manage

Meet Sean Kelly, CEO of Kendal Corp. out of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1971 on the strength of a $300,000 grant from a Quaker organization in Philadelphia, Kendal quickly established itself as a leading not-for-profit provider of senior living communities, programs and advocacy and empowerment services. In January of 2016, Kelly took the reins as president and CEO after eight years as Kendal's senior vice president of development and 11 years prior to that with Connecticut-based Retirement Living Services.

Meet George V. Hager Jr., CEO of Genesis HealthCare, based in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The company started in 1985 as Genesis Health Ventures, led by Michael Walker. Today, Genesis runs more than 440 centers across 30 states, offering care services in both short- and long-term as well as care for Alzheimer’s and both assisted living and independent living. Hager came on board in 1992 when Genesis was worth $200 million. During his tenure at the company, including as CEO starting

Meet Brian Jurutka, president and CEO of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). Jurutka took the position of president in August 2015 following a role as senior vice president with digital analytics company comScore, and assumed the CEO position of NIC as part of a planned succession following the transition of NIC Founder Robert Kramer from CEO to strategic advisor. With three years in NIC leadership, Jurutka has vastly expanded his knowledge of the senior housing and

Meet Anja Rogers, CEO of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Senior Star. Rogers has been with the company, founded by twin brothers William and Robert Thomas, since its inception in 1989 and has since held leadership roles that have helped take Senior Star from one property to 14—and counting. Now spanning properties in six states, Senior Star owns and operates communities that offer independent living, assisted living and memory care with a particular focus on research around the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. We sat down

Meet Sarabeth Hanson, CEO of Harbor Retirement Associates, based in Vero Beach, Florida. The company operates 30 communities in seven states and is partnering on the construction of eight more communities in seven additional states. Having started her career as a teacher, Hanson quickly found her calling in senior living while working for an independent assisted living provider in Connecticut. She then rose the ranks in operations while working for a national provider and has since advanced to the CEO role

Meet Jeff Fischer, president of Irvine, Calif.-based MBK Senior Living. As a division of Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co., LTD, the company embraces "Yoi Shigoto" or "the good work" as part of its core values, now spanning six states and 34 owned and managed properties. With an eye toward growth, MBK recently completed its largest-ever portfolio transaction with the acquisition of nine WESTliving senior living communities in Arizona, California and Washington. With an admittedly accidental start in senior living, Fischer began his career

Meet Jerry Finis, co-founder and CEO of Pathway to Living, based in Chicago. The company started in 1997 with the development of two communities in Illinois, and today counts 29 senior living communities comprising more than 2,000 assisted living units and more than 600 senior apartments. The company has established its track record of working with government financing agencies as well as private funding sources in order to create both affordable and private-pay senior living products for its residents. The company

Meet Tim Buchanan, founder, CEO and president of Legend Senior Living, based in Wichita, Kansas. Buchanan started the company in 2001 after a successful foray into senior living through his co-founding of a previous company: Sterling House. Today, Legend Senior Living has 35 communities spanning 2,300 units of independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing in Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida, Colorado and Texas. We sat down with Buchanan to learn about what sets his company apart, what it was like to grow his

Meet Joel Nelson, president and CEO of longtime senior housing owner and operator LCS. Nelson took the helm of Des Moines, Iowa-based LCS in January 2018, following a long tenure under former CEO Ed Kenny, who now serves as chairman of LCS’s board of directors. Nelson, who began his career in hospital administration, has been with the company for more than 30 years and has most recently held positions as chief operating officer and chief development officer. As the chief executive of

Meet Stephanie Handelson, CEO of Harmony Senior Services, a subsidiary of Roanoke, Virgina-based real estate developer Smith/Packett. With a career that began in food and beverage operations and quickly led to rising the ranks at Sunrise Senior Living, Handelson then served for several years in leadership positions with Benchmark Senior Living, most recently having served as chief operating officer. Now tasked with driving operations for Harmony, which currently has 21 communities and 10 more under construction, Handelson is focused on guiding the company's growth

Meet Lucinda “Cindy” Baier, president, CEO and director of Brookdale Senior Living. Having joined the company as chief financial officer in 2015, Baier was appointed CEO in Feburary 2018 upon the conclusion of a strategic review of the company that netted several leadership changes. With personal experience in caring for aging family members and a background in corporate finance, Baier has held executive roles with Navigant Consulting, Inc., Central Parking System, Inc., and Movie Gallery, Inc., among others. We sat

Meet Dan Mendelson, president and founder of Avalere Health. Founded in 2000, Avalere is a solutions company dedicated to helping health care organizations make better decisions. Based in Washington, D.C., the company develops strategies based on data and has worked with companies across the health care spectrum, including life sciences, managed care and providers including those delivering senior housing and care. Mendelson grew the company from its inception and sold Avalere in 2015 to Inovalon in a $140 million transaction.

Meet Milo Pinkerton, founder, president and CEO of Heritage Senior Living, based in West Allis, Wisconsin. Pinkerton brought a combined background in real estate and architecture, along with a personal vision for senior living, to his founding of Heritage. After a family background in which his father managed a handful of apartments, he first started his own real estate company, MSP, in 1988. After starting out doing affordable multifamily properties, he channeled his passion for creating housing into becoming a

Meet Kai Hsiao, CEO of Elmcroft by Eclipse Senior Living, based in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Hsiao recently took on the CEO role for Eclipse on the heels of a deal in which Ventas REIT transitioned the 70-plus-property Elmcroft portfolio to the new operating company. Hsiao has held previous roles in senior living including most recently serving as Senior Managing Director, Senior Housing Properties at HCP, Inc. and prior to that as CEO of Holiday Retirement. His background outside of senior housing, however, is

Meet Michael Schonbrun, founder and CEO of Balfour Senior Living, based in Louisville, Colorado. The company was founded in 1997 by Schonbrun and his wife, Susan Juroe, through the development of a single community near Boulder, Colorado. Today, the company owns and manages four luxury senior living communities that are focused on lifestyle and amenities—one of which is located in Denver and exemplifies the urban model of senior housing development. With a background in government and health care research management,

Meet Dale Watchowski, president, CEO of American House Senior Living Communities and REDICO, a national commercial real estate investment and development company. REDICO and American House are affiliated companies headquartered in Michigan. American House was founded in 1979 by Bob Gillette, who retired in 2008 at partnered with Watchowski at that time. Watchowski has grown the company from 27 communities to more than 50 today, in locations in the Midwest and Florida, offering independent living, assisted living and memory care.

Meet Rick Matros, chairman and chief executive officer, and CEO of REIT Special Forces for Sabra Health Care REIT (NASDAQ: SBRA), based in Irvine, Calif. Sabra is a publicly held real estate investment trust that has more than 500 skilled nursing, senior housing, hospitals and other health care assets across its portfolio. The company recently completed a deal to acquire Care Capital Properties, expanding its skilled nursing portfolio and presence across the U.S. and making it a more than $7 billion

Meet Paul Dendy, CEO of Milestone Retirement Communities, LLC, based in Vancouver, Wash. Milestone began in 2008 with six communities and today manages more than 80 communities in 18 states nationwide including independent living, assisted living and memory care. The company owns and operates communities, in many cases through third-party management contracts that may not carry the Milestone brand. With an accounting and business background, Dendy has a long history in seniors housing. His career in the space began in

Meet Mitchell "Mitch" Warren, chairman, CEO and co-owner of Irving, Texas-based The LaSalle Group. The family-owned and -operated company was founded in 1990 by Melvin W. Warren, “Win,” on LaSalle Street in Chicago. Several years later, in 2000, Win partnered with another family member to refocus the company on senior living, and Mitch joined shortly thereafter to help run the family business. Today, The LaSalle Group is based in Irving, Texas, and works to design, develop, build and manage standalone

Meet Judd Harper, president of The Arbor Company, an Atlanta-based operator of 32 senior living communities in 10 states. Harper joined the company as a summer employee during his college years, and has since advanced to his current role as president. As a third-party operator of senior living communities, Arbor does not hold an ownership stake in its communities, which is an intentional decision among its owners. We sat down with Judd to learn about what he saw in senior

Meet Richard Brewer, President and CEO of Commonwealth Senior Living, a provider of independent living, assisted living and memory care services across 22 communities in Virginia. The Charlottesville-based company began through the acquisition of three properties in 2002 and has since expanded as a regional operator within the state. Brewer first learned about the business through the mentorship of the owner of a yacht, while serving as a member of that boat’s crew post-college. He has since served countless job

Meet Bill Pettit, president of Seattle-based R.D. Merrill Company, the parent company of Merrill Gardens, which has nearly 30 communities offering independent living, assisted living and memory care across six states. Family-owned and operated for four generations, Merrill Gardens started with a single community and brought Pettit on board from the banking industry to focus on growing and operating the business. We sat down with Pettit to learn about the metrics he’s tracking with respect to operations, why he sees

Meet Todd Novaczyk, founder and CEO of New Perspective Senior Living, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. After a successful career in owning and operating hotels and restaurants, Novaczyk sold his interest in those businesses in the mid-90s and was left to decide what to do next. Based on a personal experience, he and his family became interested in senior housing, and by the year 2000, New Perspective opened the doors to its first community. Today, at 20 properties and counting, the

Meet Greg Roderick, president & CEO of Portland, Oregon-based Frontier Management. With family roots in the skilled nursing business, Roderick learned many lessons about management and about life from his family at a young age. With strong mentorship and opportunities, including living firsthand in a senior housing community, he launched his own company in 2000. Today with 76 properties and several under development, Frontier continues to grow as a senior living owner and operator. We sat down with Roderick to

Senior housing has evolved over the last 20 years, and most agree that over the next 20 years, a completely new product will emerge. This shift is largely due to the aging of the baby boomer population—those born between 1946 and 1964. Today, baby boomers range in age from 53-71. By 2037, they’ll be 73 to 91, spanning the target demographic among senior housing operators. The senior housing of the future likely won’t be strictly based in healthcare, or strictly

Meet Jim Coughlin and Wendy Nowokunski, CEO and president, respectively, and co-founders of Burlington, Massachusetts-based Northbridge Companies. The senior living provider is known for being locally owned and operated, and today comprises a portfolio of 18 properties in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, having grown from roots as a single community. Coughlin and Nowokunski brought different strengths to their partnership, which they formed after meeting 18 years ago. Through ups and downs in the market and experience gained in both ownership

Meet Michael Grust, CEO of Solana Beach, California-based Senior Resource Group. With a career that began in homebuilding, Grust soon became interested in the operations behind senior living, which at the time, was very limited and consisted mainly of independent living and skilled nursing. Beginning with just a single community SRG has grown to 32 communities in six states today. We sat down with Grust to hear about what he sees as the biggest challenges the industry faces today, why

Meet Phil Fogg Jr., CEO and President of Marquis Companies, based in Milwaukie, Oregon. As a fourth-generation senior living operator, Fogg started in the business when he was just 12 years old, working for his family's company. At 25, he branched out to start his own company, and today runs a portfolio of 26 communities across Oregon, California and Nevada. Fogg's brother, Steve (pictured in slideshow below), is CFO for Marquis, which has been an early adopter of technology solutions for senior

Meet Randy Richardson, president of Chicago-based Vi. The company, formerly known as Classic Residence by Hyatt, operates 10 continuing care retirement communities across the country. Richardson, who was recruited to Vi from outside the senior living industry, led the company through its growth and rebranding to Vi, post housing-crisis. Today, the company is highly focused on employee engagement, reducing turnover and providing a high-quality resident experience in desirable markets. We sat down with Randy to learn about what it was like

Meet Keven Bennema, co-founder, president and CEO of Charter Senior Living, based in Naperville, Illinois. After getting his start as a caregiver, Bennema rose the ranks in senior living operations, working for several large national providers. Now, with his own company under way at 9 properties and counting, he is working to bring his vision for senior living to fruition. We sat down with Bennema to hear his take on what drew him to senior living in the first place,

In interviews with industry thought leaders throughout the Leadership Series, executives across the senior living landscape have shared their personal stories, management hurdles and future outlook on senior housing and care. In April, several of those leaders gathered in Washington D.C. for a candid panel discussion on some of the greatest challenges they face today as CEOs. In speaking with PointClickCare’s General Manager for Senior Living Travis Palmquist during the Senior Housing News annual spring Summit, those executives drilled down

Meet Douglas Schiffer, president and chief operating officer of St. Louis, Missouri-based Allegro Senior Living. The company, which has ties dating back to the late 1800s, now owns and operates about a dozen senior housing communities in Florida and Kentucky. Schiffer, who began his senior housing career in finance and development, eventually took the helm as president of the company, after managing its operations for many years. A musical term with latin roots that means "lively," Allegro holds a strong focus

Meet Tana Gall, CEO of Portland, Oregon-based Blue Harbor Senior Living. Gall's 20 year-plus senior living career spans leadership roles with Leisure Care, Merrill Gardens, her own company 2Ten Consulting, and now, Blue Harbor. Launched in 2012 following a portfolio acquisition by Fortress, the company has grown from eight properties upon its founding to 25 today. Under Gall's leadership, the company continues to grow its national presence. We sat down with Gall to hear about how she personally interviews every single executive

Meet Rod Burkett, CEO of Gardant Management Solutions, based in Bradley, Illinois. With the senior housing options available today largely not able to meet the needs of the “middle market,” Gardant has pioneered a very viable model for meeting that need through Illinois’ state Medicaid waiver program. Originally founded as BMA Management, the company now counts more than 40 senior living properties. We sat down with CEO Rod Burkett to hear about his original ambitions for BMA/Gardant, how he views middle

Meet Terri Cunliffe, president and CEO of Covenant Retirement Communities, a longtime senior living provider dating back to 1886. Cunliffe began with CRC in 1988 as a community administrator and took the helm as CEO in 2015. Now with 15 communities in 10 states, the company has made strides in its approach to technology, navigating the ACO landscape and inspiring its staff over time. We sat down with Cunliffe to learn about what drew her to senior living in the

Meet Bob Kramer, founder and CEO of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care, or NIC, based in Annapolis, Maryland. As the data hub for the seniors housing industry through its NIC MAP service and provider of one of the industry’s largest annual conferences each year, NIC was founded as a non-profit to enable access and choice for America’s elders in seniors housing and care by informing debt and equity investors on seniors housing, and helping the industry

Meet Sue Farrow, founder and owner of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Integral Senior Living. Now with 60 contracts, the pure-play senior living management company has grown from a single memory care contract Farrow and her fledgling company signed in 2001 to what it is today. With experience across all facets of the senior housing business, Farrow has taken her expertise to grow the management platform from a small business in California to a presence across the United States. We sat down with Farrow in

Meet Dan Madsen, chairman & CEO of Seattle-based Leisure Care. Over the course of his 28-year career in senior living, Madsen has grown his role within Leisure Care from being the general manager of one community to being an owner. Paying close attention to hospitality organizations, Madsen has helped shape various brands under the company including expansion overseas. With a philosophy around putting people first, he has grown the culture of the company with a close focus on its employees. We

Meet Justin Hutchens, president of HCP Inc. Prior to his current role, he was chief investment officer for the publicly held real estate investment trust, and previously held roles as CEO of National Health Investors and chief operating officer for Emeritus Corp. and Summerville Senior Living, among other industry positions. Now in the C Suite of one of the "Big 3" owners of health care real estate, Hutchens is applying his operations and financial experience toward HCP's growth path. We sat down with

Meet Thomas Wellner, president and CEO of Mississauga, Ontario-based Revera. The company is an owner, operator and investor in senior living with more than 500 properties across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, including ownership of a 76% stake in Sunrise Senior Living. With a background in healthcare through previous roles as co-CEO of LifeLabs, and president and CEO of CML HealthCare, Wellner brings a non-industry perspective to his senior living leadership, which began in 2014. We sat

Meet John Rijos, chairman and CEO of CPF Living Communities and co-founder/operating partner of Chicago Pacific Founders, an investment fund focused on senior housing. Rijos is a senior housing leader with strong hospitality roots who has recently reemerged in the industry with the new company that some are calling “the next” Brookdale. Rijos, who spent more than a decade as president of Brookdale and worked to grow the company’s portfolio from about 20 communities in 2000 to 650 communities, today

Meet Ken Jaeger, founder and CEO of Denver-based MorningStar Senior Living. Ken's senior living operations career spans more than 25 years, including a role as VP of Sunrise Senior Living from 1998 to 2002. There, he worked on new community launches—experience he later brought to his own startup: MorningStar. Today the company counts more than 20 communities in seven states, and it's still growing. Jaeger has also recently gained recognition from Ernst and Young as a recipient of the Entrepreneur Of

Meet Larry Cohen, CEO of Capital Senior Living (NYSE: CSU). As one of the handful of publicly-held senior living operating companies, Capital Senior Living went public in 1997, serving as Cohen's first experience working on an IPO. At the time, he was CFO—a position for which he had been approached while working for a large real estate company that had an interest in senior housing. He later took the CEO position in 1999. Since then, Capital Senior Living has grown its

Meet John Cochrane, President and CEO of Cornerstone Affiliates: the parent company of non-profit senior living companies American Baptist Homes of the West, be.group, Beacon Communities, Inc., and the for-profit firm Seniority, Inc. Cochrane recently took the helm of the organization following a coming together between be.group and ABHOW that created the largest nonprofit senior living provider in California, and placed the company among the largest non-profit senior living  providers in the nation. While he became involved in senior living

Meet Loren Shook, CEO, Chairman and President of Silverado Care, a specialized provider of at home care, hospice care and memory care communities. Across its portfolio of memory care communities, which now counts more than 30 properties, Silverado has risen as an industry leader and a national expert in care and housing specifically designed for memory care residents. In fact, the company’s emergency room visitation rate is less than 3% nationwide compared to reported statistics of many times that rate for

Meet Mark Parkinson, President & Chief Executive Officer of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living. Parkinson's background spans not only policy and government (he served as Lieutenant Governor of Kansas from 2007 to 2009 and served as Governor from 2009 to 2011), but he and his wife, Stacy, also owned and operated assisted living communities for more than 15 years. As the leader of an organization that serves more than 13,000 for- and not-for-profit nursing homes, assisted living residences,

Meet Patricia Will, co-founder and CEO of Houston, Texas-based Belmont Village Senior Living. From the company’s first community opening in 1998 to today at 24 operating properties and counting, Will has led Belmont Village from the early startup days through the launch of the operating company and first community opening to today as a thriving senior living pioneer. We sat down with Will to learn about why she got into senior living in the first place, some big lessons learned

This Customer Spotlight is brought to you by PointClickCare. Here, we explore a customer implementation of PointClickCare's Electronic Health Record solution including insight into the process and the leadership behind taking team members through the transition to a paperless platform. Meet Heather Fritz, assistant director of Cedar Creek Assisted Living Residence in Crystal River, Florida. Fritz started in assisted living in 1995 as a caregiver and has worked in the business ever since. She has been with Cedar Creek for

Meet Wendy Simpson, CEO and President of LTC Properties, Inc., a Westlake Village, Calif.-based real estate investment trust focused on senior housing and health care properties. Simpson became LTC’s CEO in 2000 after a career that started in public accounting and led her to specialize in health care. Since taking on the top leadership position for LTC, Simpson has overseen the company through the great recession and several ups and downs for health care REITs. After employing a strategy that

Meet Pat Mulloy. After happening upon the senior living industry purely by accident, Mulloy took his roots in law and government service to lead several senior living organizations. As CEO of Elmcroft Senior Living, Mulloy and his partner, company President Tim Wesley, led the company’s management team to purchase the company in 2014; making a mark both on Elmcroft and the industry. Today, they operate approximately 80 communities across 18 states. The Louisville-based operating company continues to target calculated growth

Meet T. Andrew “Andy” Smith, president and CEO of Brookdale Senior Living, the nation’s largest senior living operator. Though he came into senior living from outside the industry, he has for the last 10 years held roles in Brookdale, being named CEO in 2013 and president earlier this year. Smith has led—and continues to lead—Brookdale through the largest merger in industry history, in which Brookdale acquired Emeritus Corp. in a deal that closed in 2014. The company now lays claim

Meet David Schless, president of the American Seniors Housing Association, ASHA. Schless has been at the helm of the association since its inception when it initially spun off from a large multifamily housing association, the National Multifamily Housing Council. He has led the industry through rough patches and boom times, all while begin tasked with gaining membership over the years and collecting data to help drive business forward. We sat down with Schless to hear about some of ASHA’s top

Meet Eric Mendelsohn, president and CEO of National Health Investors, Inc., or “NHI.” Now at the helm of one of the industry’s major real estate holders, Mendelsohn got his start in senior living not in the REIT business, but working for Emeritus Corp. on its real estate portfolio and later on the company’s merger with Brookdale. We sat down with Mendelsohn to learn about the growth trajectory of NHI, why there are still plenty of opportunities for senior housing REITs

Meet Lynne Katzmann, founder and president of Juniper Communities. Juniper operates 18 communities across New Jersey, where the company is based, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Florida. An entrepreneur at heart, Katzmann comes from a long line of businesswomen and credits her upbringing in part for making her the successful businesswoman she is today. Taking a forward approach, Juniper is making strides with its approach to technology and staffing, among other areas that often challenge senior living providers. We sat down with

Meet Ed Kenny. With the second-longest tenure of any employee at LCS, Kenny truly has risen the ranks of senior living. Today, the company provides a number of functions across the nation including senior living management, development, real estate investment, home health and procurement services. Under his leadership, in 2010 LCS went from being an employee-owned company to pursuing a minority investment. Today it remains a privately held company. We sat down with Kenny to learn about changing the ownership

Meet James Balda, President and CEO of national industry association Argentum. Balda has led the association since early 2015 (when it was still called ALFA: the Assisted Living Federation of America), after an executive role with the National Restaurant Association. In his time at the helm, he has worked with the industry to lay out some pretty big plans for the future including a professional credentialing program for executive directors and developing new industry standards. He has also learned quite

Meet Brenda Bacon, co-founder, President and CEO of Brandywine Living and Board Chairman of Argentum. Bacon’s dual roles make her one of the most visible leaders in senior living: New Jersey-based Brandywine serves more than 2,800 residents across 27 communities, while Argentum is one of the largest national trade groups for senior housing operators. [Note: Bacon turns over the association reins this year to incoming Argentum Chairman Loren Shook, CEO of Silverado.] But while Bacon has long been at the helm of

Meet Arnold Whitman, founder and chairman of Atlanta-based Formation Capital. Whitman founded the company in 1999 after a “tsunami” of negative events, including the credit crisis of 1998, a change in the prospective payment system and a host of liability issues. Having spent 15 years in the senior housing business at that time, Whitman decided to shift his approach from debt to equity. With more than $6 billion in transactions to date, he hasn’t looked back. Today, Formation Capital is