Discovery Senior Living names VP of operations, general counsel
Gottfried Ernst has been named vice president of operations, and Timothy Cesar has been named general counsel at Discovery Senior Living.
Ernst previously was vice president of hospitality for True Connection Communities. Cesar formerly was vice president of legal for Brookdale Senior Living.
Ernst also has experience at Brookdale, having joined the company in 2001. There, he designed and deployed award-winning dining service programs across more than 600 communities and helped lead the company’s efforts to integrate the systems of the former Horizon Bay and Emeritus Senior Living communities.
At Discovery, Ernst will help solve operations challenges, including technology and systems integrations; local, state and federal regulatory compliance; and budgeting and forecasting. He also will help steward the company’s proprietary “Experiential Living” operating model to help maximize its effects across the portfolio.
Cesar, a career healthcare law specialist, will manage legal and regulatory issues, licensing, employment and contract law, corporate compliance and other responsibilities in his new role. He previously was on the healthcare and litigation teams at Axley Brynelson LLP in Wisconsin.
During his tenure with Brookdale, Cesar helped create and lead the company’s legal department. He also managed all litigation and claims in addition to advising on risk management.
Retirement Unlimited names Bryan Lamartin VP of operations; Jamie Houston is executive director of Heatherwood
Bryan Lamartin has been promoted to vice president of operations at Retirement Unlimited Inc.
Lamartin joined RUI in 2012 and has held roles in marketing and sales. He most recently was executive director for Heatherwood in Burke, VA.
In his new role, Lamartin will be responsible for the day-to-day operations and oversight of RUI’s Virginia communities, Wellington at Lake Manassas in Gainesville, Bay Lake in Virginia Beach, The Hidenwood in Newport News, Woodland Hills in Roanoke and Heatherwood.
As the senior leader for these communities, Lamartin will work to ensure the success of each community and provide added support and attention where needed, including on-site direction for the executive directors.
Additionally, RUI has announced that Jamie Houston has returned as executive director for Heatherwood.
Houston has a history with RUI as executive director of several of their Northern Virginia communities. She has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, with a background in nursing, marketing and business development. She will report to Lamartin.
Selectis Health appoints Randy Baker president and chief operating officer
Randy Barker has been named president and chief operating office, as well as a member of the board of directors, of Selectis Health, formerly Global Healthcare REIT, Greenwood Village, CO. He has more than 15 years of senior executive experience as CEO, COO and strategic development for companies in the medical and technology industries.
Barker founded or co-founded numerous companies, and he was involved in their sales or mergers. He most recently co-founded EmpathiHR, a video-based learning management / content management platform hybrid. Barker also co-founded mobile, cloud-based software platform Graphium Health used by hospitals and surgery centers. He also was co-founder, partner and COO of business intelligence consulting firm Miller & Associates and creative technology firm Dedo Interactive; both were acquired by Chenega Corp. in 2015.
Barker has provided management and control procedure consulting services to Selectis for the past three months. Before that, he acquired 751,341 shares of global common stock through open market purchases.
Health Care Association of New Jersey names Andrew Aronson president and CEO
Healthcare law attorney Andrew P. Aronson has been named president and CEO of the Health Care Association of New Jersey, where he previously was a board member.
Aronson started his private law practice in 2000 after serving as both a legal specialist in regulatory affairs and director of long-term care licensing and certification for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. He previously served as director of the Nursing Home Advocates of New Jersey and as in-house counsel for Autumn Lake Healthcare, a multi-state provider of assisted living and nursing home services.
Aronson will represent the association’s membership of nonprofit and for-profit assisted living communities, nursing homes and facilities for individuals with disabilities. He also will act as a liaison with the organization’s national affiliates, the Washington, D.C.-based American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.
He succeeds Stuart H. Shapiro, who had been interim president and CEO since October.
Genacross Lutheran Services Foundation appoints Michael George executive director
Michael A. George has been appointed executive director of the Genacross Lutheran Services Foundation. He will be responsible for leading and strengthening a comprehensive fundraising program.
Genacross Lutheran Services of Toledo, OH, provides a continuum of senior living services, youth and family care services, as well as outpatient services in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.
George most recently was vice president for philanthropic services and advancement at the Greater Toledo Community Foundation, where he led the fundraising department and was a member of the executive leadership team. He also formerly was director of development and annual fund at Lourdes University.
George, a certified fundraising executive, also is past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Northwest Ohio Chapter and is a member of the Toledo Estate Planning Council and the Society of Financial Services Professionals.
Waltonwood Cotswold names Christy Yost resident care manager
Christy Yost was named resident care manager for Charlotte, NC-based Waltonwood Cotswold.
Yost has 10 years of experience in senior living, having previously worked in medical surgical and pediatrics nursing before transitioning to senior living. In her new role, she will be responsible for the well-being of assisted living and memory care residents. As a registered nurse, she will assist with training certified nursing assistants and medical technicians, as well as coordinate resident travel for doctor appointments, medication management and nutrition management.
Yost began her career in nursing before switching to senior living, working in memory care and acute rehabilitation. She worked her way up from a supervisor to an assistant director of nursing at a long-term care community in New York.
Goodwin House elects Vipin Sahijwani to board of trustees
Finance and investment expert Vipin Sahijwani has been elected to the Alexandria, VA-based Goodwin House board of trustees.
Sahijwani is CEO and chief investment officer at Lynx Investment Advisory, a Washington, D.C.-based independent investment advisory firm specializing in asset allocation, investment manager research and performance analysis. He chairs the Lynx Investment Committee, leads the manager selection efforts and manages the Lynx Global Real Asset Fund.
A chartered financial analyst and financial risk manager, Sahijwani has more than 18 years of experience in portfolio management, investment modeling, market analysis and econometrics. He joins regional leaders in health policy, financial services, insurance and other fields of expertise on the GHI board.
Sahijwani is on the board of Heritage Housing Partners, a non-profit committed to providing affordable housing in Howard County, MD. He also is on the board of the Public Religion Research Institute, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research at the intersection of religion, values and public life. He is a member of the community leadership board of the YMCA in Howard County.
Green House Project announces three appointments to board of directors
Jeffrey Ash, Ed.D., associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the University of Maryland School of Nursing; Joycelyn Elders, M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General; and Karyne Jones, president and CEO of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging and the NCBA Housing Management and Development Corporation, have been appointed to the Linthicum, MD-based Green House Project board of directors.
Ash oversees diversity and inclusion initiatives in partnership with colleagues across the University of Maryland, Baltimore, campus. He also is an assistant professor in the nursing school’s Department of Partnerships, Professional Education and Practice. Previously, he was a clinical associate professor and director of internships at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Erickson School of Aging Studies.
Elders was the 15th Surgeon General as well as the first African American and only the second woman to head the U.S. Public Health Service. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. In 1995, she returned to the University of Arkansas as a faculty researcher and professor of pediatric endocrinology at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Now retired from practice, she is a professor emeritus at the UA School of Medicine and remains active in public health education.
Jones served eight years in the Texas Legislature, serving on the appropriations, state-federal relations, corrections and urban affairs committees. She also was vice chair of the House Democtractic Caucus and was a member of the Black and Mexian American legislative caucuses. She also is an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law.
LeadingAge bestows RWJF Award for Health Equity to Linda Coleman of HumanGood
Linda Coleman, vice president of resident services at Pleasanton, CA-based affordable housing provider HumanGood, has received the 2020 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Equity from LeadingAge.
Launched in 2015, the RWJF Award for Health Equity celebrates individuals who have changed systems and policies at a local level to increase the chance that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to live the healthiest life possible.
Since 2012, Coleman has directed HumanGood’s 70 resident service coordinators, three life enrichment coordinators and two wellness nurses, who promote health and wellbeing among residents. She has forged partnerships with health plans and health providers, engaged in health planning at the local level, participated in research and enlisted student nurses from San Francisco State University to help HumanGood residents remain healthy.
As a result of Coleman’s outreach, an increasing number of HumanGood resident service coordinators now serve on municipal and county commissions and committees. They provide the perspectives of residents living in affordable housing to bodies including the Long Beach Aging Services Collaborative, Health Plan of San Mateo Cal Medi-Connect Advisory Committee, the Alameda County Older Adults Commission, and the Our Counties Senior Services Coalition steering committee.
Coleman helped secure funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that allowed three HumanGood communities to participate in a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of HUD’s Integrated Wellness In Supportive Housing, or IWISH, model. During the demonstration, the communities reduced participants’ unnecessary emergency department visits by 60% and reduced nursing home placements by 90%.
Accolade names Brookdale’s Cindy Kent to board of directors
Cindy R. Kent, executive vice president and president of senior living at Brookdale Senior Living, has been named to the board of directors at personalized health and benefits solution company Accolade.
Kent, also the former president and general manager of the 3M infection prevention division, has extensive experience in leading healthcare and business operations. At Brookdale, she oversees day-to-day operations of senior living, with responsibility for revenue and profitability growth.
Kent formerly was named one of Savoy Magazine’s 2020 “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America.”
California Long Term Care Insurance Task Force appoints 2 senior living executives
Michael Mejia, Atria Senior Living senior vice president of operations, and Karl Steinberg, M.D., president-elect of AMDA–The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, are among appointees to the new California Long Term Care Insurance Task Force.
The task force was established within the California Department of Insurance to address the long-term care services and insurance needs of older Californians.
Mejia leads Atria’s operations in the western United States, overseeing operations at 43 Atria communities in California, including 33 with memory care neighborhoods. At Atria, he has overseen operations in Texas and Kansas as regional vice president, and he has served as senior vice president in the central, southeast and southwest divisions.
Mejia, a member of the California Assisted Living Association board of directors, is a representative of residential care facilities for the elderly on the task force.
Steinberg has been a skilled nursing facility and hospice medical director in San Diego County for more than 25 years and cares for patients in assisted living communities, small board-and-care facilities and nursing homes.
A delegate to the American Medical Association and the California Medical Association, Steinberg represents long-term care health professionals on the task force.
The task force, created by legislation, will explore how a statewide long-term care insurance program could be designed and implemented to expand options for people interested in insuring themselves for functional or cognitive disabilities that require long-term services and supports. Members will meet over the next two years to prepare a feasibility report by Jan. 1, 2023.
Health Dimensions Group names Sarah Gustafson executive vice president of finance
Sarah Gustafson has been named executive vice president of finance for Minneapolis-based post-acute, long-term care and senior living consulting and management firm Health Dimensions Group.
In the role, Gustafson provides leadership and direction to HDG’s finance and accounting teams. She is responsible for implementing long-term financial strategies, managing financial forecasting and budgeting, and overseeing the preparation of financial reporting. She is a member of the executive leadership team.
Gustafson, a certified public accountant, brings more than 15 years of healthcare finance experience to the position. Before joining HDG, she was vice president and system controller for an integrated healthcare system with operations in three Midwest states. She oversaw the financing of an $800 million building project and led the organization’s accounting services, annual audits, bond financing, financial reporting, financial systems, and tax and debt services.
ATI Physical Therapy appoints Ryan Wilson as chief commercial officer
Ryan Wilson has been named chief commercial officer at ATI Physical Therapy of Bolingbrook, IL.
Wilson has more than a decade of experience spearheading sales and strategy for multi-billion dollar consumer health businesses. In his new role, he will be responsible for enterprise-wide sales and marketing efforts, including customer acquisition and retention strategies.
Before joining ATI, Wilson was chief customer officer and senior vice president of sales for Bayer Consumer Health, North America, where he helped streamline the corporate and customer strategy. He also formerly was chief growth officer and senior vice president of sales and marketing for Brookdale Senior Living. He has spent the majority of his career in the consumer health marketplace, including working more than a decade for Johnson & Johnson.
Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co. appoints Justin Ferdinand to senior leadership role
Justin Ferdinand has been named vice president and general manager of the Parks Healthcare Products business for Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co., based in Hickory, NC.
Operating under the HSM Diversified Products and Services division, Ferdinand will lead the drive for additional growth of the company’s healthcare product portfolio, which has expanded into personal protective equipment, including disposable face masks and gowns.
Ferdinand comes to HSM with 25 years of experience in leadership roles at several manufacturing companies serving the healthcare industry, including Velcro USA, Hill-Rom Holdings, Fastenation and Hoowaki. He has worked to drive top-line growth through product additions and channel expansions into healthcare segments including memory care, long-term care, home care, diagnostics, hospital-oriented products and chronic disease, as well as the orthopedic and surgical segments.
Parks Healthcare Products operates out of its 50,000-square-foot facility in Claremont, NC, where the business produces face masks, Level 1 and 2 gowns, therapeutic mattresses and adjustable beds for use in healthcare.
