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Merrill Gardens names Tana Gall president and acquires Blue Harbor Senior Living
Tana Gall has been named president of Seattle-based Merrill Gardens. She will lead the company in all aspects of operations when she assumes leadership responsibilities at the end of the year, succeeding David Eskenazy, who announced his retirement last month.
In addition, Merrill Gardens has acquired Blue Harbor Senior Living, a senior living management company in Portland, OR, where Gall has been the CEO for the past three years. Blue Harbor was owned by Fortress Investment Group of New York.
Blue Harbor manages 21 communities in 13 states. “With the acquisition of Blue Harbor, we nearly double the size of Merrill Gardens, and Tana’s expertise will be critical as we innovate new ways to best serve our senior population,” Bill Pettit, president of the R.D. Merrill Co., parent company of Merrill Gardens, said in a statement.
Gall previously was president of Merrill Gardens from 2013 to 2015, when she led the company through a major divestiture of a large group of communities and implemented the rollout of major technology and operating platforms. She left to form her own consulting company before she was recruited to lead Blue Harbor.
She also spent 19 years at Seattle-based Leisure Care Senior Living, rising to the rank of president.
Moving forward, Merrill Gardens will be engaging in a strategy to produce a new Merrill brand for the Blue Harbor communities. The plan is to run the company as two brands, catering to different needs in the senior market.
Masterpiece Living welcomes Eloy Lopez as chief operating officer
Eloy Lopez has joined Denver-based Masterpiece Living as chief operating officer. He brings more than 16 years of expertise to the role.
Eloy was the founder, president and COO of Beatport, a digital music company where he directed a three-phase global marketing strategy that increased revenue to more than $39 million annually. He then was president and COO of Digitally Imported, accelerating revenue growth and increasing paid, unique subscribers by 257% in one year.
Arrow Senior Living Management names Tracy Cecil regional director for St. Louis
Tracy Cecil has joined St. Charles, MO-based Arrow Senior Living Management as regional director for operations for the St. Louis region. She is responsible for almost 400 units at The Boulevard Senior Living at St. Charles, The Boulevard Senior Living at Wentzville and the soon-to-open Kingsland Walk Senior Living in University City.
Cecil brings 20 years of healthcare experience, including time as a senior living administrator for independent, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing communities, to the role.
She earned her undergraduate degree in healthcare management from Lindenwood University, and her associate’s degree in applied science, occupational therapy, from Meramec Community College.
Commonwealth Senior Living adds two new regional vice presidents
Ann Bowe and Derrick Mathis, LALA, have joined Charlottesville, VA-based Commonwealth Senior Living as regional vice presidents.
Bowe is regional vice president of Hampton Roads. In this role, she will oversee the operations at Commonwealth Senior Living at The Ballentine (Norfolk, VA), Commonwealth Senior Living at Churchland House (Portsmouth, VA), Commonwealth Senior Living at Hampton (Hampton, VA), and Commonwealth Senior Living at Williamsburg (Williamsburg, VA).
Bowe has 20 years of experience working in the senior living industry. Most recently, she worked with Heartland Hospice.
Mathis is regional vice president of Northern Communities. He will oversee the operations at Commonwealth Senior Living at Front Royal, Front Royal, VA, and new communities in Harrisburg, PA; Hagerstown, MD; Cockeysville, MD; Bel Air, MD; and Berryville, VA.
Mathis has been executive director of Commonwealth Senior Living at Charlottesville since 2018. He has more than 15 years in the senior living industry.
Heron’s Key appoints Tristan Lester health services administrator
Tristan Lester has been named health services administrator at Gig Harbor, WA-based Heron’s Key life plan community, a member of Emerald Communities. He will oversee the daily operations of assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing.
Before Heron’s Key, Lester was an executive director for Life Care Centers of America.
He earned an undergraduate degree in business hospitality from Michigan State University.
The Springs at Sherwood names Sara Sievers executive director
Sara Sievers has been promoted to executive director of The Springs Living senior living community in Sherwood, OR. She will oversee all aspects of the senior living community, including independent living, assisted living and memory care.
The announcement comes as the company prepares to expand the community with 20 additional assisted living apartments opening this month and 73 new independent living apartments scheduled to open in the spring.
Sievers recently completed the company’s Executive Director in Training program, a requirement for those applying to an executive director position at a Springs community. Previously, she was resident relations manager at The Springs at Clackamas Woods in Milwaukie, OR, where she was responsible for supporting the day-to-day lifestyle needs of 140 residents in independent living.
Sievers has worked in senior living for more than nine years and earned an undergraduate degree in human development from Warner Pacific University in Portland, OR.
Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association announces new president/CEO
Jared Kosin, J.D., M.B.A., will begin serving as president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association on Nov. 14. The nonprofit trade association’s membership includes assisted living facilities, nursing homes, acute care hospitals and behavioral health facilities.
Kosin currently is the associate administrator of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Before that, he was the executive director of the Office of Rate Review at Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services. Other past experience includes policy and legislative leadership for the Colorado speaker of the house and Michigan Senate majority leader.
He will succeed Becky Hultberg, who announced in August that she will depart ASHNHA in December to lead the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. The ASHNHA Executive Committee conducted a nationwide search for Hultberg’s replacement.
Kosin holds a juris doctor degree from Michigan State University College of Law, an MBA from the University of New Hampshire, and an undergraduate degree in English from the University of New Hampshire.
Prime Care Technologies hires Spencer Thomas as chief revenue officer
Spencer Thomas has been appointed chief revenue officer at Prime Care Technologies. With more than 10 years of sales and marketing leadership experience, he will oversee all sales and marketing functions for the company’s cloud services and affiliated software businesses.
Thomas brings more than a decade of leadership in workforce management and healthcare technologies and in bringing software-as-a-service products to market across long-term care and continuing care markets, including assisted living, home care and hospice.
He has an undergraduate degree in business administration and management as well as an MBA in marketing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Erdman hires Greg Markvluwer to lead real estate development strategy
Greg Markvluwer has joined Madison, WI-based Erdman as vice president real estate development. In this role, Greg will lead the development and execution of ERDMAN’s Real Estate Development strategy.
Before joining Erdman, Markvluwer was employed by Granger Group for 19 years. There, he was responsible for underwriting, structuring and financing all new development opportunities, including a senior living portfolio and Metro Health Village, a $1 billion, 180-acre campus.
Hord Coplan Macht announces adds David Segmiller, FAIA, NCARB, as principal
David Segmiller has joined Hord Coplan Macht as principal. He will be based in the company’s new office located in Charlotte, NC, expanding the firm’s services to the Southeast region with practice areas in senior living, healthcare, higher education, K-12 schools, housing and mixed-use.
Segmiller specializes in designing facilities for aging populations. He has more than 30 years of design experience and has served as the lead instructor for senior living development at the Erickson School for Aging Studies and as an adjunct faculty member in the real estate master’s degree program at Johns Hopkins University. He also has served on the LeadingAge Business Firm Advisory Committee, and many of his projects for seniors have received design awards from various industry award programs.
Segmiller has a Master of Science in Real Estate degree from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Architecture degree from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from Miami University.
Vitas Healthcare appoints Rory Farrand as national director of palliative care
Rory Farrand has been named director of Vitas Palliative Care of Vitas Healthcare.
In her new role, she oversees the operations of VITAS’ palliative care initiatives enterprise-wide to formalize, broaden and expand palliative care services and solutions to Vitas patients, families and healthcare providers. Her key objectives include embedding goals-of-care conversation expertise into the palliative care specialty and serving as an industry advocate for legislative and regulatory action toward community-based palliative care delivery models.
Farrand’s varied career spans clinical research, assisted living management, Alzheimer’s/dementia care, geriatric psychiatry and nursing and executive management of clinical operations for national companies that specialize in palliative care. Most recently, she was regional vice president of clinical operations for Nashville, TN-based Aspire Health, specializing in home-based palliative care, and was vice president of medical management for Pittsburgh-based Pennsylvania Health & Wellness (Centene Corp.), responsible for managing and expanding health and behavioral care.
Farrand is a board-certified adult nurse practitioner, has an advance practice nursing certificate in palliative care and is a member of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association and the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association.
She holds master’s degrees in nursing from Boston College, expressive therapy from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, and psychology from Washington State University in Pullman, WA, along with an undergraduate degree in psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Touchtown hires director of finance and human resources
Amber Trusik has been named director of finance and human resources for Pittsburgh-based senior living community technology company Touchtown. Trusik’s hire follows the company’s March acquisition by global hospitality company Uniguest.
In addition to typical finance and human resource responsibilities, Trusik also will continue to oversee the smooth integration of Touchtown’s processes with the parent company and help the company stoke their continued growth.
Before joining Touchtown, Trusik was an associate at the private equity firm Grouse Ridge Capital. There, she focused on investments in early-stage startups and assisted in investing in distressed companies. She was responsible for the evaluation, execution and strategic management of the firm’s investment portfolio.
Trusik also has roots in management and startups, having also served as the director of financial planning and analysis at Boltech Manning, an international industrial services company, and spending several years in financial management and accounting roles at Seegrid, a Pittsburgh-based self-driving vehicle startup.
Trusik has an undergraduate degree in financial management from Franklin University and is pursuing an MBA from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in finance.
Bank Leumi appoints John DePledge as head of asset-based lending business
John DePledge has been hired to head Bank Leumi USA’s New York-based asset-based lending business. In this role, he will manage the continued expansion and growth of the bank’s asset-based lending practice, launched last year.
DePledge has had a 30-year career in corporate finance. He most recently was business head and national sales manager for Citibank’s asset-based lending unit, where he led product development and closed more than $2.5 billion in new business.
Before Citibank, DePledge was head of business development at TD Bank, where he established the company’s Mid-Atlantic asset-based lending lending capability. He also has worked in various capacities for LaSalle Business Credit, People’s United Bank, Citytrust Bank and Associates Commercial Corporation.
DePledge is the president of the Secured Finance Network, formerly known as the Commercial Finance Association, and serves on the Secured Finance Foundation Board of Directors. Previously, he served on the board for the Philadelphia chapter of Turnaround Management Association, and he is a past president of the chapter.
DePledge earned an MBA in finance from Sacred Heart University and an undergraduate degree in accounting from Franklin Pierce University.
Assurance hires of risk management professional Kerry Klecic
Kerry Klecic has joined Schaumburg, IL-based insurance brokerage Assurance as a risk management consultant. He will provide solutions for several industries, including senior living, manufacturing, social services and construction.
Klecic graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in broadcast journalism. He holds his commercial lines coverage specialist designation and is also a board member for the Milwaukee Chapter of Financial Executives International.
Send personnel news to Editor Lois A. Bowers. Please include a high-quality color photo.
