Send your personnel news to Lois Bowers at [email protected].
Franciscan Ministries welcomes new VP of sales and marketing
Brad Barnett has joined Franciscan Ministries, Lemont, IL, as new vice president of sales and marketing.
Before joining the Ministry, Barnett was the senior vice president of sales and marketing for Elegance Living, where he led business development and lead acquisition strategies to drive occupancy. He oversaw sales performance and objectives, profitability and overall sales strategy for 39 communities with a combined revenue of almost $200 million.
Barnett brings more than 15 years of executive sales and marketing experience across several industries, including senior living and hospitality. His hospitality experience includes leadership roles at HRI Lodging & Metwest Terra Hospitality, Schulte Hospitality Group, Dream Hotel Group, Highgate Hotels and HEI Hotels & Resorts.
He earned his undergraduate degree from Northern Arizona University.
The Ciena Group names Amy La Fleur SVP of operations
Amy La Fleur has been named senior vice president of operations at The Ciena Group, including Ciena Healthcare and Laurel Health Care Co.. La Fleur brings with her more than 25 years of operational experience in the Midwest.
La Fleur’s senior living background includes executive-level roles with Daas Healthcare and SavaSeniorCare, eight years with Trinity Health Senior Communities and 15 years with HCR ManorCare. In addition to her position with The Ciena Group, La Fleur is an adjunct faculty member at Madonna University and is a previous board member for LeadingAge Michigan.
A graduate of Eastern Michigan University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, LaFleur replaces Barbara Lombardi as senior vice president of operations for The Ciena Group.
Lombardi retired in April after 27 years with Laurel Healthcare Co. and six years with The Ciena Group.
Pathway adds VP of operations, VP of sales and marketing
Shea Krause is returning to Chicago-based Pathway to Living as vice president of sales and marketing, and Alex Germain-Robin is joining as vice president of operations. Both will report to Jeff Floyd, who joined the firm as senior vice president, senior living operations earlier this year.
Krause returns to Pathway to Living, having served briefly as regional director of sales in 2019. She will be responsible for the strategic direction of the firm’s metric-centered sales strategy, driving results and improving performance across Pathway to Living’s portfolio. Previously, Krause was director of sales at Discovery Senior Living and, prior to that, she was regional director of sales at both Pegasus Senior Living and Enlivant Senior Living.
Germain-Robin has experience throughout many Midwest and East Coast markets similar to those in which Pathway to Living currently operates. He will be responsible for building and developing operational initiatives, processes and procedures to support the firm’s strategic direction and growing national portfolio. Previously, he was regional director of operations at Discovery Senior Living and prior to that, was vice president of regional operations at Pegasus Senior Living and vice president of operations at Enlivant Senior Living.
MBK Senior Living promotes Diana Engle to VP of health and wellness
Diana Engle has been promoted to vice president of health and wellness at MBK Senior Living. In this new role, she will oversee resident care services and signature wellness programs to deliver a holistic approach to resident care.
Engle has 27 years experience in the senior living industry and joined MBK Senior Living in September 2018 as the regional director of resident enrichment. Last May, she was promoted to national director of wellness programming. MBK credits her as being instrumental in developing enrichment programming, implementing new systems and technology, providing department training and policy updates, and supporting the resident enrichment teams across the company’s portfolio of 35 communities.
Engle holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from Sonoma State University and a Master of Science degree in family and human development from Arizona State University. She is a member of the California Assisted Living Association’s Education Committee.
The Springs at Bozeman names new executive director
Joshua Fogg has been appointed executive director of The Springs at Bozeman in Montana. In this role at The Springs Living, Fogg will oversee all aspects of the community, which approximately 175 older adults call home. The community opened in 2020 to provide independent living, assisted living and memory care services.
Fogg has more than 15 years of senior living experience, most recently as vice president of
integration and operations for Civitas Senior Living in Fort Worth, TX. Before that, he worked for Blue Harbor Senior Living as an executive director for communities in Texas and New Hampshire. Fogg started his career in senior living in 2006 as an assistant administrator at Pine Rock Manor in Warner, NH.
Fogg has an undergraduate degree in management from Keene State College in Keene, NH.
Juniper appoints two new regional directors in Colorado
Juniper Communities, Bloomfield, N.J., has announced two new regional director additions in Colorado.
Susan Ritty is regional director of wellness for Colorado. Before joining Juniper, she spent more than 10 years as a regional and national nurse managing up to 20 senior living communities in multiple states.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Penn State University and an assisted living facility administrator license. She also is a dementia specialist, an infection preventionist and a nurse educator in assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing.
Telia Wendell is now Juniper’s regional director of operations for Colorado.
Wendell has been working in senior living for nine years. She has an undergraduate degree in kinesiology and nutrition and a Master of Public Health degree. Additionally, Wendell holds an assisted living administrative certificate and served for the past four years as a member of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Assisted Living Residence Informal Disputes Resolution committee.
Siena Lakes promotes Suzanne McAllister to director of sales
Suzanne McAllister has been promoted to director of sales at Siena Lakes, an Erickson Senior Living managed retirement community in Naples, FL. McAllister brings more than 14 years of senior living experience to the leadership position.
McAllister joined Erickson in 2008 as a personal moving consultant at Maris Grove in Glenn Mills, PA. In this role, she launched the community’s Erickson Realty and Moving Services program. In 2017, McAllister relocated to Florida to assist the sales and marketing team at Devonshire in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Two years later, she joined the Siena Lakes sales team as sales counselor and personal moving consultant and was instrumental in helping open the community in 2021.
She holds a Master of Education degree from Wilmington College in Wilmington, DE, and a Bachelor of Science in business from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Former Marine hired as executive chef at Texas senior living community
Larry Atwater is the new executive chef at Sage Oak of Denton, a boutique-style assisted living and memory care community in Denton, TX. The community is set to open in June.
Atwater, born in Brussels, is a former U.S. Marine. After graduating with honors from Le Cordon Bleu, earning a degree in restaurant management, he began his professional cooking career with Omni Hotels. He developed and refined his culinary techniques, executing a wide variety of fine dining cuisines for multiple outlets, including hosting corporate events and weddings.
In 2017, Atwater became the executive chef for a high-end retirement community in Dallas, developing custom menus to fit specific dietary needs and collaborating with local vendors to gather the freshest ingredients.
East Ridge Residence hires Jessica Harthorn as community relations director
Former news anchor Jessica Harthorn has joined East Ridge Residence in Chattanooga, TN, as its new community relations director.
Before East Ridge, Harthorn was a morning anchor for WTVC NewsChannel 9’s Good
Morning Chattanooga. She spent 16 years in television news, where her work was recognized with several awards in Michigan, New York, Tennessee and Wyoming. Harthorn also was an adjunct professor for the Department of Communication at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
She is a Michigan native and graduated from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI, with a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication/media studies.
Monarch Communities appoints care manager for New York senior living community
Jodi Bellantoni, LPN, has been named care manager for Monarch Coopers Corner, a senior living community in New Rochelle, NY, overseeing all resident daily care. The community is currently under construction and is scheduled to open this fall.
Bellantoni previously was director of resident and family services at The Club at Briarcliff in Briarcliff, NY. She also had served as director of nursing for the Bristal in Armonk, NY. She earned her LPN from Southern Westchester BOCES in Valhalla, NY, and completed coursework at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
2 Discovery employees appointed to Argentum’s 2022 LEAD Program cohort
Discovery Senior Living team members Christian Steil and Savannah Rogers will be part of the second-ever Argentum Leadership Advancement & Development Program cohort after their nominations were chosen by the program’s steering committee in April
Steil, regional director of sales for the Discovery Commons National Brand, and Rogers, divisional director of culinary for Discovery regional management company Morada Senior Living, were nominated by top-ranking Discovery executives to take part in the selective, half-year educational and networking cooperative, which is presented by seniors housing industry association Argentum.
The LEAD program is designed to provide emerging leaders a skill-building and development curriculum with first-hand executive insights, salon sessions, a team-based leadership project, and the opportunity to forge relationships with other emerging leaders in the senior housing space.
Heidi LaVanway, Discovery’s vice president of marketing was a member of the inaugural LEAD Program cohort in 2020-2021. The 2022 group will first assemble in person and kick off program-sponsored activities at the Argentum Senior Living Executive Conference, May 16 to 18 in Minneapolis.
Oakmont’s Terry Ervin receives CALA’s ‘Advocate of the Year’ award
Terry Ervin, vice president of operations for Oakmont Senior Living, has been named “Advocate of the Year” for 2021 by the California Assisted Living Association. The award honors CALA members who show an exceptional commitment to senior living advocacy, actively foster relationships with legislators and demonstrate a dedication to grassroots action.
Ervin recently was honored as part of CALA’s annual Assisted Living Advocacy Day and presented with the award during a virtual ceremony April 5.
As vice president of operations, Ervin oversees a group of Oakmont Senior Living communities where he leads executive directors and their support teams in operating at the highest standards of care and service while managing financial and occupancy expectations.
Seritage Growth Properties appoints Sabra’s Talya Nevo-Hacohen, and others, to board
Seritage Growth Properties, a national owner and developer of 170 residential, retail and mixed-use properties, has announced the appointment of Talya Nevo-Hacohen, Mitchell Sabshon and Mark Wilsmann to its board of trustees. These appointments follow the Seritage Board’s previously announced intent to identify additional trustee candidates to further enhance the Board’s investment and transaction experience.
Nevo-Hacohen is executive vice president, chief investment officer and treasurer of Sabra Health Care REIT. Since joining Sabra in 2010, she has overseen investments totaling $6 billion, and she recently played a pivotal role in Sabra’s and Sienna Senior Living’s formation of a joint venture to acquire 11 senior housing communities for $243 million.
Sabshon is CEO and president of Inland Real Estate Investment Corp. and CEO of multiple related non-listed REITs including Inland Real Estate Income Trust, a multi-tenant retail REIT; InPoint Commercial Real Estate Income, a commercial mortgage REIT and MH Ventures Fund II, a privately held manufactured housing community REIT.
Wilsmann was managing director and head of equity investments for MetLife Investment Management – Real Estate. Wilsmann helped build MetLife’s $32 billion direct property investment platform, which he and his team invested on behalf of the MetLife General Account as well as institutional investors including public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies.
Seritage also announced that Trustees David Fawer and Thomas Steinberg have resigned from the Seritage Board, effective on Nevo-Hacohen’s, Sabshon’s and Wilsmann’s appointments. Following these changes, the Seritage Board now has eight members, seven of whom are independent.
Chris Henger joins REES to lead senior living business development
REES Associates has hired Chris Henger to lead business development for its senior living
market. She will serve as an adviser to senior living operators as they plan for renovations of existing communities and the development of new communities.
Henger previously spent 12 years working in facility operations, sales and marketing for senior living organizations. Certified by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Assisted Living Association as a dementia practitioner and an assisted living manager, Henger has completed educational and training programs related to neuro-linguistic programming, memory care validation therapy and emergency preparedness for assisted living communities.
Fishman & Associates hires new three design professionals
Fishman & Associates, based in Venice, FL, has expanded its food service design team with the recent hiring of three executives: Nick Morales, Jamison Day and Tia Deines.
The firm provides food service design support to clients nationwide, including assisted living and retirement communities, healthcare facilities, hotels, country clubs, resorts, clubhouses, hospitals, schools, restaurants, churches and more.
The Fishman team has supported more than 360 senior living projects in 25 states. Its expertise includes kitchen design, bar and dining room layout, equipment specification, cost budgeting, refrigeration and fabrication for new and remodeled food service facilities.
M3 promotes Sara Kekula to director of senior living and social services
Sara Kekula has been named co-director of senior living and social services practice at insurance broker and risk management firm M3.
As director, her primary role will be to serve as a subject matter expert, strategist and thought leader and report on trends and issues impacting the senior living and social services industry. She will continue to place insurance products and counsel clients on risk management strategies and insurance planning.
Kekula joined M3 in 2012 and has held roles as a support specialist, account manager, senior account manager, account executive, and senior account executive. In 2020, Kekula was named a partner. She is a committee member of the Independent Insurance Agent of Wisconsin Emerging Leaders and a board member of Community Living Connections.
Send your personnel news to Lois Bowers at [email protected]. High-resolution color photos are welcome but not required.
