Stuart B. Almer

Stuart Almer appointed president and CEO of Gurwin Jewish

Stuart B. Almer has been appointed president and CEO of Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Fay J. Lindner Residences assisted living, the Gurwin Home Care Agency and the Gurwin Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Commack, NY, effective Jan. 1.

Almer currently is administrator/chief operating officer at Gurwin and will succeed Herbert H. Friedman, current and founding executive vice president and CEO. Friedman will remain with Gurwin as president/CEO of the newly established Gurwin parent corporation, Gurwin Healthcare System, and of Fountaingate Gardens, Gurwin’s proposed independent housing community.  Additionally, he will have input on strategic planning through 2018.

Almer’s career spans more than 30 years. Since joining the Gurwin team in 2015 from Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation, he has been responsible for the day-to-day operations of Gurwin’s 460-bed nursing and rehabilitation center. In that time, he spearheaded the creation of a 60-bed memory care unit, expanded the adult day care program to include a social program for those with mild to moderate dementia and has influenced change in the facility’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ rating to five stars, among other highlights.

William Holman named CEO of Ginger Cove

William “Bill” M. Holman (at left in the accompanying photo) has been appointed CEO of independent, not-for-profit life-care retirement community Ginger Cove, Annapolis, MD, effective Jan. 8. He succeeds Edgar E. Mallick Jr., Ph.D. (right), who is retiring after a 42-year career, the past 14.5 of them at Ginger Cove.

Homan’s appointment follows a national search process during which more than 100 individuals expressed interest in the position, according to Ginger Cove.

Holman has been president and CEO of Sagepoint Senior Living Services in La Plata, MD, since 2011. During his tenure, Sagepoint opened a small-house memory care unit, expanded an in-home care agency, planned for construction of a 60-apartment assisted living building and earned a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for skilled nursing. Before serving as president and CEO, Holman was Sagepoint’s vice president and chief financial officer.

Holman is an adjunct professor at the Erickson School of Aging Services and has presented at national and regional conferences. In addition to completing several doctoral-level classes in public policy at Johns Hopkins University, he holds a master’s degree in management of aging services from the University of Maryland and undergraduate degrees in finance and accounting, respectively, from Frostburg University and Towson State University.

Jason Kohler joins LCB Senior Living as chief operating officer

Jason P. Kohler has joined Norwood, MA-based LCB Senior Living as chief operating officer.

In this newly created position, he will oversee the six-year-old company’s operations as the company plans to grow from its current 16 communities in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut to new locations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey.

Most recently, Kohler was vice president and senior director of operations at Life Care Services in Atlanta, where he oversaw the company’s 42-community rental portfolio and helped during expansion of the portfolio. Over the course of his career, Kohler has gained experience in almost every aspect of the industry, participating in operations, sales and personnel management while also contributing to development and acquisitions, planning and optimizing enterprise business systems and affecting policy and procedures.

Kohler is president of the Georgia Senior Living Association. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Baltimore and an undergraduate degree in health services administration from the University of Central Florida.

James Parker named COO of MorningStar Senior Living

James W. Parker has been named chief operating officer of Denver-based MorningStar Senior Living, a 14-year-old developer and operator with more than 30 senior living communities and 3,000 units under operation or development.

“We chose Jim after an extended national search for the ideal candidate and are now honored to position him in this key leadership role,” said Ken Jaeger, founder and CEO of of the company.

Parker has more than 30 years of operational and development expertise in the senior housing industry. For the past 10 years, he has worked in leadership within the operations, finance and development of Spectrum Retirement Communities, most recently as senior vice president of development and capital markets. In support of its communities, his transaction experience covers the breadth of investment profiles, including complex repositioning of turnaround properties, ground-up development, operations and acquisitions of stabilized core assets.

Earlier in his career, Parker served for 10 years as chief financial officer for Continuum Health Partnerships, an owner/operator, manager and developer of assisted living and skilled nursing facilities in multiple states.

Parker earned an undergraduate degree in accounting and an MBA from the University of Northern Colorado. He is active in the Colorado Health Care Association, the Alzheimer’s’ Association, the Arthritis Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Ben Thompson named executive vice president of Maxwell Group / Senior Living Communities

Maxwell Group Inc. / Senior Living Communities LLC, Charlotte, NC, have appointed Ben Thompson as executive vice president. Thompson, who previously had served in a variety of roles with the company, now will oversee and provide direction for all operating functions, including human resources, programming, wellness, dining, development, construction, design, facility services and procurement.

Thompson joined Maxwell Group / Senior Living Communities in 2012 as an operations analyst. He has since served as vise president of special projects, vice president of procurement and, most recently, as vice president of development.

He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he earning undergraduate degrees in economics as well as management and society.

Maxwell Group/ Senior Living Communities develops, owns and manages retirement communities and other related senior living care entities in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Nick Valencia joins Integrace as vice president of talent management

Nick Valencia has been hired as vice president of talent management at Integrace, headquartered in Sykesville, MD.

A human resources executive and general counsel with expertise in all areas of human resources and employment law, Valencia will apply his nearly 30 years of experience to direct all Integrace human resources functions. His primary goals will be to identify and recruit new talent as well as to create and direct opportunities to strategically develop the organization’s existing colleagues in a way that aligns with the mission, vision and values of Integrace.

Valencia joins Integrace from Dunbar Armored, where he had worked as vice president of human resources and general counsel since 2005. He also is a former in-house attorney for Constellation Energy Group in Baltimore, where he managed employment law-related matters from 1999 to 2005.

Valencia is a member of the bars of Maryland and Washington, D.C., and has an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law. He is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management.

Integrace oversees the Maryland retirement communities of Bayleigh Chase in Easton, Buckingham’s Choice in Adamstown and Fairhaven in Sykesville, providing assisted living, skilled nursing, short-term rehabilitation and more. The not-for-profit also operates the Sykesville-based Copper Ridge community and Integrace Institute, as well as two memory clinics in Easton and Sykesville.

Integrace Institute at Copper Ridge promotes Tabassum Majid, Ph.D., to executive director

Tabassum Majid, Ph.D., has been promoted to executive director of the Integrace Institute at Copper Ridge, a Sykesville, MD, non-profit organization dedicated to educating and creating evidence-based care practices for families and professionals supporting individuals living with neurocognitive change.

Majid joined the Integrace Institute in August 2016 as director of research. In her time with the organization, she has led and expanded Integrace’s research and educational initiatives in the areas of care practices, technologies and treatment for those living with and supporting individuals with neurocognitive disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, concentrating in an interdisciplinary approach to neurodegenerative disorders of the aged. She then gained expertise in the pathology, imaging and biology of dementia from both pre-clinical and clinical perspectives in Houston, where she earned her Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine. Majid then returned to Maryland to complete a fellowship at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, researching care management decisions with caregivers and individuals with dementia, which is providing an evidence base to evaluate both health services and social programs tailored to the needs of both caregivers and their care recipients at Integrace communities.

Majid is a member of the Maryland Governor’s Council on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders.

Bridgette Walshe is new executive director at Beacon Hill

Bridgette Walshe has been named the new executive director at Beacon Hill, a Lifespace Communities Inc. life care community in Lombard, IL.

In her new position, she is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations of the entire senior living community, which features 360 residential living apartment homes and a variety of services and amenities for its more than 500 residents as well as on-site health services, memory support and skilled nursing suites.

Walshe comes to Beacon Hill with more than 15 years of leadership experience in senior living and healthcare. She most recently was executive director at a Dallas-area senior living community, where she oversaw operations and marketing. Before that, she held director and administrative roles at several other retirement communities throughout Texas.

Walshe succeeds Blaire Goldstein (pictured), who is the new executive director at Oak Trace, a sister community located in Downers Grove, IL. Goldstein will oversee the current $150 million redevelopment and expansion of the community, which currently features 247 residential living apartment homes and a variety of services and amenities.

Kyle Douthit named executive director at Lyndale-Abilene Memory Care

Kyle Douthit has been appointed executive director for Lyndale-Abilene Memory Care, an expansion of Sagora Senior Living’s Lyndale-Abilene in Fort Worth, TX.

Douthit currently is the executive director at Sagora’s University Place Senior Living community in Abilene and will move to the new location during construction.

He has been involved with memory care both personally and professionally for more than a decade. Alzheimer’s was diagnosed in his father, who died in October 2016 after 12 years with the disease. Prior to Sagora, Douthit worked with Alzheimer’s-specific and related communities in the positions of administrator, senior vice president of operations and chief operating officer.

Douthit holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Abilene Christian University.

Richard Mabe named executive director at Waltonwood Cary Parkway

Richard Mabe has been named executive director at Waltonwood Cary Parkway, a family-owned senior living community in Cary, N.C.

Mabe brings more than a decade’s worth of senior living experience to his role. He is a licensed nurse and worked in the emergency department for several years before starting a career in the senior living industry. Mabe held multiple positions, including resident care director and executive director of an assisted living and memory care community.

As executive director at Waltonwood Cary Parkway, he oversees the daily operations and future direction of the community, which provides residents with independent living, assisted living and memory care apartments as well as amenities.

Mabe has served on the advisory board of directors for the local senior center and has organized several fundraisers for the North Carolina Alzheimer’s Association.

Joyce Leavitt is new sales and marketing director at The Residence at Vinnin Square

Joyce Leavitt has joined The Residence at Vinnin Square, an LCB Senior Living independent living, assisted living and memory care community in Swampscott, MA, as sales and marketing director.

Leavitt’s experience in sales and marketing management includes work as a strategic media manager for Northshore Magazine Andover. She also has held roles in management with North of Boston Media Group in Beverly, MA, and Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, both in Beverly and Marblehead.

Thomas McInerney named CEO at MedOptions

Thomas McInerney has been named CEO at MedOptions, an Old Lyme, CT-based provider of behavioral health services to assisted living communities and skilled nursing facilities.

McInerney joined MedOptions in May as president and chief operating officer. In his new role, he succeeds Ed Mercadante, who is transitioning to the role of executive chairman of the MedOptions Board of Directors.

Before joining MedOptions, McInerney served in a series of senior executive roles with Employer Direct Healthcare LLC, a Dallas-based provider of surgical solutions to large, self-funded employers and their members. At EDHC, his roles included chief operating officer, CEO, board director and senior adviser.

Prior to joining EDHC, McInerney held several operational roles in the private equity industry, where he led the design and implementation of operating initiatives focused on improving efficiency and standardizing business processes in companies across several different industries. Previously, McInerney held several senior operating roles within the financial services sector.

McInerney completed his undergraduate education at Princeton University, majoring in history. He also holds an M.B.A. in finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Karissa Price-Rico, Ph.D., is new COO for EarlySense

Karissa Price-Rico, Ph.D., has been named chief operating officer at EarlySense.

Price-Rico has held a variety of healthcare positions over the past 20 years, including her most recent tenure as president of Healthways. Her career also has included serving as chief marketing officer of Intel-GE Care Innovations and as the co-founder and CEO of the Trusted Hands Network.

Her Ph.D. is in international political economy, and she earned it at Harvard University.

Kevin Adams joins HJ Sims as SVP of asset management

Kevin Adams has joined Fairfield, CT-based HJ Sims in its Orlando, FL, office as senior vice president of asset management. In this position at the privately held investment bank and wealth management firm, he is responsible for internal department services, including asset management, operations oversight, data monitoring, credit analysis and reporting.

Adams has more than 20 years of corporate finance and accounting experience, with more than eight years in real estate development finance, commercial real estate finance and asset management. Previously, he was a vice president of asset management at a real estate investment trust that managed more than $2 billion in healthcare assets. In that role, Adams led building and managing the asset management department in terms of the financial reporting and analysis that included the annual net asset valuation, investment analysis, watch asset monitoring and work-out analysis, standard operating procedure management, system integration, construction reporting and compliance, tenant credit analysis and loan and lease compliance.

Adams earned his undergraduate degree in finance from the University of South Florida and his MBA degree from the University of Florida.

Send personnel news to Senior Editor Lois A. Bowers. Please include a high-quality photo.