Brett D. Lee

Brett D. Lee to join Capital Senior Living as EVP, chief operating officer

Brett D. Lee will join Dallas-based Capital Senior Living as executive vice president and chief operating officer effective Aug, 14, the company announced Friday.

Lee will report to CEO Lawrence A. Cohen and succeeds Keith Johannessen, who passed away in December after battling cancer.

“We are excited to have someone with Brett’s outstanding leadership abilities and strong record of operational success within the healthcare services sector join our company,” Cohen said. “He is a passionate and committed healthcare executive with a results-oriented focus. His experience as a clinician, clinical leader and executive will be a tremendous asset to our management team and our residents.”

Lee currently is CEO of the North Texas and Dallas markets of Tenet Healthcare Corp., overseeing five hospitals, a new joint venture with Baylor, Scott & White Health, 20 ambulatory sites, three freestanding emergency departments and a physician network.

His experience also includes serving in senior leadership positions in four of the nation’s top 10 children’s hospitals. Lee was COO at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, COO at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, vice president of operations and clinical services at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, and vice president of operations at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.

More than one-fourth of Capital Senior Living’s 129 senior housing communities, 33 of them, are located in Texas, according to its website. The company has locations in 22 other states as well, with a total capacity of serving approximately 16,500 residents. Indiana (16), Ohio (15) and Wisconsin (nine) are the additional states where the company has the most communities.

Among several awards, Lee was named the National Young Healthcare Executive of the Year by the American College of Healthcare Executives in 2011.

He received his undergraduate degree in physical therapy from the University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health, a Master of Health Science degree in health finance and management from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, a Master of Science degree in leadership development from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in allied health and physical therapy from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Sciences.

Bill Howell promoted to director of operational development at The Goodman Group

Bill Howell has been promoted to director of operational development within The Goodman Group company JBG Design & Development. He will be based at the company’s corporate office in Chaska, MN, and will oversee all aspects of the $70 million Stillwater, MN, senior living campus scheduled to open late next year.

“We are pleased to welcome Bill at our home office in Minnesota,” said Craig Edinger, CEO of The Goodman Group, which develops and manages senior living communities. “Bill is a proven operations leader, both during his years with The Goodman Group and within various positions of the senior living and healthcare industry. I am confident he will contribute greatly to the success of our Stillwater senior living campus development.”

Since 2013, Howell has been working for The Goodman Group in the United Kingdom. He has held several positions within the company, the most recent being director of operations in the United Kingdom.

Howell has more than 20 years of experience in all areas of long-term care operations, development and management. Before The Goodman Group, he was the business operations manager for a healthcare nonprofit. He also was the group operations manager for skilled nursing and residential properties after working as an executive director for several senior living organizations.

Howell has an undergraduate degree in health policy and management from Pennsylvania State University.

Manuel Navarro promoted to director of culinary operations at Watercrest

Manuel Navarro has been promoted to director of culinary operations for Vero Beach, FL-based Watercrest Senior Living Group.

He brings 24 years of culinary experience to his new position. Navarro joined Watercrest in 2015 as director of dining services and executive chef of Watercrest Lake Nona Assisted Living and Memory Care, where he led the dining services team through startup and growth. He also won two culinary competitions during that time, the 2017 Nona Chamber Festival Burger Showdown and the 10th Annual Senior Living Options Chef Competition in Viera, FL.

Navarro began his career working in the kitchen with his father and went on to graduate with honors from the InterAmerican University Culinary Program. He studied at Disney’s Culinary Academy in Florida and had experience working as an executive chef and food and beverage director before joining Watercrest.

Shelly Ann Lau joins Covenant Village of Florida as healthcare administrator

Shelly Ann Lau has joined Covenant Village of Florida, a continuing care retirement community in Plantation, FL, as healthcare administrator. She reports to the community’s executive director, Doug Fennema.

Lau oversees the daily operations at the senior living community’s 60-bed skilled nursing center. She manages a staff of 150.

Lau is a certified and seasoned healthcare administrator with 11 years of experience. Before joining Covenant Village, she was administrator for HCR Manorcare in Southeast Florida, where she oversaw operations of various skilled nursing and assisted living communities. She has experience in financial, operations and customer service leadership and served two years as the member relations supervisor at United Healthcare, Sunrise, FL.

A graduate from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, she has an undergraduate degree in health administration and is a licensed nursing home administrator. She is a member of the American College of Health Care Administrators, Assisted Living Member Association in Miami and the Florida Healthcare Association.

Rob Black and Sean McNee join Newmark Knight Frank

Rob Black and Sean McNee have joined commercial real estate advisory firm Newmark Knight Frank in San Diego, part of BGC Partners Inc., as senior managing directors focused on the senior housing and care industry.

“There is no better time for NKF to build upon its burgeoning healthcare practice,” said NKF President James D. Kuhn. “With the graying of America, this niche has become, along with technology, a growth area in real estate.”

Black brings 21 years of commercial real estate experience to NKF. He comes to NKF from Cushman & Wakefield, where he worked exclusively in the senior housing and care industry. Although  assisted living and memory care community sales have been his mainstay, Black also has knowledge and experience with the disposition of independent living communities, continuing care retirement communities (also known as life plan communities) and skilled nursing facilities.

McNee is a 17-year commercial real estate veteran who has dedicated his entire career to the senior housing and care industry. He has experience in both the dispositions as well as the operations side of the industry through his time as part of senior housing brokerage teams at Eastdill Secured, Grubb & Ellis and, most recently, Cushman & Wakefield. He has been involved with more than $2 billion in senior housing transactions.

Ayodele “Ayo” Yusuf of Perkins Eastman named to AIA New York’s Civic Leadership Program

Ayodele “Ayo” Yusuf, an associate at international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman, has been named a candidate in the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ 2017-18 Civic Leadership Program.

As part of this one-year mentorship program, 10 emerging professionals in the architectural field are selected and tasked with working with public officials, hosting public forums, leading focused discussions and other events designed to strengthen AIANY’s leadership, the profession and the organization’s role in the public realm, as well as to hasten the professional development of the candidates themselves.

“This accolade is more than well-deserved,” said Bradford Perkins FAIA, chairman and CEO of Perkins Eastman. “Ayo has continually demonstrated great vision and leadership both within and outside the firm. In particular, Ayo played an integral role in establishing our firm as an industry leader in resiliency planning and design in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, with many communities in the region benefitting from that resource. It’s certainly fitting that AIANY is recognizing Ayo as an emerging leader in our field.”  

Yusuf has 10 years of experience as an architectural and urban designer, beginning with EE&K Architects and then with Perkins Eastman, following the two companies’ merger in 2011.

With work in 46 states and more than 40 countries, Perkins Eastman’s portfolio includes senior living, transportation and public infrastructure, high-end residential, commercial, hotels, retail, office buildings, corporate interiors, schools, hospitals, museums and public sector facilities.

Always Best Care names national and regional Caregivers of the Year for 2017

Roseville, CA-based Always Best Care Senior Services, a senior care franchise system providing assisted living placement services, non-medical in-home care and skilled home healthcare, has announced the winners of its annual Caregiver of the Year Awards.

The company bestowed nine awards, recognizing caregivers who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to the care of their clients and their families, at its bi-annual franchise conference in Miami. The annual program was launched in 2013.

Donnissha Moulden of Fallston, MD, was named National Caregiver of the Year and Regional Caregiver of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic Region. She also had been honored regionally as a caregiver in 2016. Both Moulden and 2016 National Caregiver of the Year Joshlyn Smith were recognized at the conference in Miami.

Always Best Care also honored the following regional Caregivers of the Year:

  • West Region: Martha Jones, Vacaville, CA
  • Southwest Region: Michael Shelby, Englewood, CO
  • South Region: Camella Stallworth, Fleming Island, FL
  • Carolinas Region: Carol McCray, Wake Forest, NC
  • Midwest Region: Maggie Spencer, Brookfield, WI
  • New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Region: Veronica O’Neill, Bethlehem, PA
  • Central Region: Annette Kramer, Mishawaka, IN

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