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Jon Lundberg to retire as CEO of Ebenezer Senior Living
President and chief executive officer Jon Lundberg has announced his retirement from Ebenezer Senior Living and its parent company, Fairview Health Services. He will step down in September.
Lundberg, who initially joined Ebenezer in 2007 as chief operating officer, assumed the role of president and CEO in 2017. Before joining Ebenezer, Lundberg held several administrator roles with organizations such as the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, Walker Methodist and Minnesota Masonic.
A national search is underway to identify a successor.
Edgewood Healthcare promotes two
Brendan Weidler has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Colleen Schneider was named executive vice president and chief nursing officer, at Grand Forks, ND-based Edgewood Healthcare, which owns or operates more than 64 independent living, assisted living and memory care communities with more than 4,100 beds in seven states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho) and employs 3,300 people.
Before becoming chief operating officer, Weidler was Edgewood’s chief nursing officer and executive vice president, providing clinical oversight for the care delivered across all Edgewood communities. He attended Minot State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree while playing college football and serving as team captain for two seasons.
Schneider joined Edgewood in 2013 as the clinical services director at the Alexandria, MN, community. In 2015, she became the executive director in Alexandria, and then she transferred to Edgewood Sartell, Sartell, MN, as senior executive director in 2020. Schneider received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from North Park University.
Wesley Homes adds three to executive team
Kevin McNamara has been named vice president of operations at Wesley Homes, and Ken Klotz has been named executive director at the company’s Des Moines community. Additionally, Kelly Pajinag has been named executive director of Wesley Health and Home Care.
McNamara brings more than 20 years of senior living and health services experience to his role. Klotz is a 20-year senior living and memory care expert. Pajinag brings his home health and hospice leadership to Wesley with a focus on driving profitability, strategic planning, business development, and resident/patient satisfaction.
Transforming Age promotes Alicia Hoppers to VP of affordable housing
Alicia Hoppers has been named vice president of affordable housing at Transforming Age.
Hoppers joined Transforming Age two years ago. She came to Transforming Age through the organization’s affiliation with DASH (Downtown Action to Save Housing) and also has worked for Catholic Housing Services of Western Washington.
Hoppers holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and an MBA from Western Governors University.
National Church Residences names Margaret Gibson VP of marketing and sales
Margaret Gibson has been named vice president and sales at National Church Residences.
Gibson has a background in physical therapy, sports medicine, outpatient orthopedics/neurology, skilled nursing/rehab and home health settings. She comes to the organization from Synchrony Health Services, an affiliate of Trilogy Health Services.
Kendal at Oberlin promotes two to leadership team
Lisa Wilken has been named director of hospitality services, and Ryan Stalzkowski has been named director of facility services at Kendal at Oberlin, a Kendal Corporation affiliate in Oberlin, OH.
Wilken was Kendal at Oberlin’s dining room operations manager before taking the interim director’s position in September. A 16-year Kendal veteran, she is a past graduate of The Kendal System’s Leadership Fellows Program.
Stalzkowski joined Kendal in 2003 as grounds manager. He also is a graduate of the Kendal Leadership Fellows program and in 2017 received the designation of facility management professional from the International Facility Management Association.
Silver Birch at Cook Road names Cathy Vasil executive director
Cathy Vasil has been named the executive director at Silver Birch at Cook Road, Fort Wayne, IN.
Vasil joins Silver Birch at Cook Road with two decades of healthcare expertise and experience in senior living. Her previous experience includes working directly with residents across 15 senior communities, directly managing three urgent care clinics as a multi-site manager, working as a wellness coordinator and managing a small pediatric and family practice as an office manager/medical biller and coder.
RUI Development adds two new development project managers
RUI Development has added John Erickson and Andrew Chester as development project managers.
Erickson has spent the past 15 years in the field of construction, with previous titles such as energy usage analyst and branch manager. Chester has been working in real estate development and construction since graduating from Virginia Tech’s School of Construction.
Emerald Heights names Sue Rowell marketing and sales director
Sue Rowell has been named marketing and sales director at Emerald Heights, an Emerald Communities location in Redmond, WA.
Rowell brings more than 30 years of senior living experience to the Emerald Heights community. She earned a Master of Science in counseling psychology from the University of West Alabama and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in gerontology with a minor in business administration from Central Washington University. She is also a certified senior adviser.
Ohio Assisted Living Association names Megan Kelley to board of trustees
Megan Kelley has been elected to the board of trustees of the Ohio Assisted Living Association.
She assumes a new board seat representing OALA provider member, United Church Homes, where she is vice president and general counsel. Kelley will call on her more than 12 years of public policy and government affairs experience in the senior living industry.
She is the former executive director of OALA.
Silverwave names Frank Wehr partner and COO
Frank Wehr has been named a partner and chief operating officer at Silverwave, a senior living management, consulting and asset management company based in Austin, TX.
Wehr has more than 35 years of experience in the senior living industry. Most recently, he was chief operating officer at Artis Senior Living.
Health Dimensions Group names Tom Stitt VP of consulting services
Tom Stitt has been named vice president of consulting services at Health Dimensions Group.
Stitt has 33 years of experience. For more than 17 years, he served in various roles at HDG, including vice president of finance and reimbursement. In 2015, Stitt joined Ascension Living, where he was national director of finance. In 2019, he rejoined HDG as vice president of consulting services. Prior to his time at HDG, Stitt’s experience included work at BDO Seidman as a manager, healthcare advisory services; West Suburban Hospital Medical Center as director of reimbursement; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois as senior reimbursement specialist.
Stitt is an alumni of Eastern Illinois University, where he earned an accounting degree.
Grow Your Occupancy promotes Danielle Merlino to COO
Danielle Merlino has been promoted to chief operating officer at Grow Your Occupancy, Brentwood, TN. She formerly was vice president of strategic development.
Merlino’s 20 years in the senior living industry spans operations, sales and marketing roles, from community relations director to vice president of sales and operations. She has spent time at Jaybird Senior Living, Five Star Senior Living, Provision Living, Peterson Health Care and Lutheran Life Communities.
Viventium names Navin Gupta CEO
Navin Gupta has been appointed CEO at Berkeley Heights, NJ-based Viventium, a software-as-a-service-based human capital management platform for senior living communities, retirement communities and nursing homes.
Prior to Viventium, Gupta served in several executive roles in the long-term care care and SaaS space, most recently as CEO at LifeLoop. He holds an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, a master’s degree in information systems from Florida State University, and a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from Bangalore University in India.
Craft & Communicate names Deanna Allen VP of business development
Deanna Allen has been named vice president of business development for national senior living marketing and public relations agency Craft & Communicate.
Before joining C&C, Deanna served the senior living industry as a marketing director for Legacy Retirement Communities in Ogden and Bountiful, Utah. She also formerly was a sales training manager at Care Access and a selling division manager at Encompass Health.
HeartLegacy adds four to sales and marketing team
HeartLegacy, a technology company specializing in video applications for businesses in senior care, multifamily housing, real estate and other markets, has added four people to its sales and marketing team.
Tara Samuels will serve as vice president of sales; Christie Freeze will serve as regional director of senior living sales; Steve Wunch will serve as a multifamily industry principal; and Tucker Tyree will serve as a content strategist.
Samuels joins the company with two-plus decades of multifamily experience. Freeze has prior roles on the operator, supplier and consulting sides. Wunch brings more than 30 years of multifamily experience on the operator and supplier sides. Tyree’s role is meant to strengthen company initiatives in category education, with the goal of providing actionable content to senior living and multifamily professionals.
Lutheran Senior Services CEO Adam Marles named a St. Louis Titan 100 for second year in a row
Adam Marles, Lutheran Senior Services president and CEO, has been recognized as one of the region’s top 100 CEOs via theSt. Louis Titan 100 program.
Presented by Wipfli LLP, the program celebrates St. Louis’ top 100 CEOs and C-level executives for their leadership, vision and passion.
Send your personnel news to Lois Bowers at [email protected]. High-quality color headshots are welcome but not required.
