Barry Portnoy

Barry Portnoy, founder and chairman of The RMR Group Inc., dies

Barry Portnoy, founder and chairman of holding company The RMR Group Inc., with management ties to Five Star Senior Living, Senior Housing Properties Trust and other companies, died Feb. 25.

Portnoy founded the alternative asset management company now known as The RMR Group LLC in 1986 and served as chairman and a managing director of its parent company, The RMR Group Inc., since its inception. He also was a managing trustee or managing director of Five Star Senior Living Inc., Senior Housing Properties Trust, Government Properties Income Trust, Hospitality Properties Trust, Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, Select Income REIT, Tremont Mortgage Trust, TravelCenters of America LLC and RMR Real Estate Income Fund. Additionally, he was a director of Sonesta International Hotels Corp., RMR Advisors LLC and Tremont Realty Advisors LLC.

Since its founding, RMR LLC has grown under the leadership of Portnoy and his son, Adam Portnoy, to its current size of approximately $30 billion of total assets under management, and its managed companies grew to realize combined annual revenues of approximately $11 billion in 2017. As of Dec. 31, assets under management included more than 1,400 properties, and RMR employed more than 550 real estate professionals in more than 35 offices throughout the United States; the companies managed by RMR LLC collectively had approximately 52,000 employees.

Five Star Senior Living is among the companies that RMR LLC provides management services to. Senior Housing Properties Trust is among the companies managed by RMR LLC. RMR, Five Star Senior Living and Senior Housing Properties Trust all are headquartered in Newton, MA.

Adam Portnoy will continue to lead The RMR Group Inc. as its president and CEO and as a managing director. He also serves as a managing director or managing trustee of almost all of the companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services.

Jeremy D. Falke joins Capital Senior Living as SVP of human resources

Jeremy D. Falke has joined Capital Senior Living Corp. as senior vice president of Human Resources.

In this newly created role at the Dallas-based company, Falke will be responsible for the company’s human resource strategies, including talent management and development, growth and integration success, employee engagement and company culture development for over 6,500 employees nationwide. He will report to CEO Lawrence A. Cohen.

Falke previously served as the vice president of talent, culture and performance systems for Tenet Healthcare, where he was responsible for all talent planning, development and cultural programming and transformation for an organization with more than 75 acute-care hospitals and 450 outpatient facilities, employing more than 125,000 people. Before this role, he served from 2004 until 2012 as the chief human resources officer for Creighton University Medical Center, a part of Tenet Healthcare in Omaha, NE.

Falke has received many awards for his service, including 2016 Best Organizations for Leadership from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership and several accolades from HR.com, including 2017 Lead Award Winner for Best Experienced/Senior Leaders Program, Best Use of Team Building, Innovation & Deployment of Leadership Programs, Best Mentoring Program and Best Use of Executive Coaching.

He received an undergraduate degree in business management from University of Phoenix-Scottsdale campus, and an MBA with a concentration in healthcare management from the University of Nebraska in Omaha.

Cathy DeAngelo promoted to VP of sales and marketing at Jefferson’s Ferry

Cathy DeAngelo has been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing at Jefferson’s Ferry life plan community in South Setauket, NY.

In this role, she directs overall sales and marketing activities, including meetings with prospective residents and families, tours of the community, coordination of informational events, and working with government officials, chambers of commerce and senior service organizations in the community. She also encourages community groups to use Jefferson’s Ferry as a meeting place and has coordinated volunteering efforts among staff members.

“In the five years since Cathy joined Jefferson’s Ferry as the director of sales and marketing, she and her team have averaged over 96% occupancy with a high of over 98%, an industry-high level of occupancy, while implementing new programs and services that set Jefferson’s Ferry apart from other senior living options in our local community,” Jefferson’s Ferry President and CEO Robert E. Caulfield said.

DeAngelo has had a 30-year career in healthcare, including 13 years marketing life plan communities. Prior to joining Jefferson’s Ferry, she was part of the marketing team at Covenant Village of Cromwell, a life plan community in Connecticut.

Michele Berti promoted to VP of human resources at Jefferson’s Ferry

Michele Berti has been promoted to vice president of human resources at Jefferson’s Ferry life plan community in South Setauket, NY.

As vice president, Berti has overall responsibility for human resources activities, including recruitment, training, employee development, benefits and compensation. Jefferson’s Ferry employs 350 full- and part-time employees serving more than 425 residents.

Berti joined Jefferson’s Ferry in 2016 as director of human resources. Prior to that, she was the assistant director of human resources for United Cerebral Palsy-Suffolk County.

Berti has a Master of Public Administration degree from the Michigan State University and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Summer Blizzard joins Morning Pointe Senior Living as director of business optimization

Summer Blizzard has joined Morning Pointe Senior Living as director of business optimization.

Blizzard will oversee the analysis of business and clinical systems, processes, data reporting and training across all departments. She joins Morning Pointe’s Chattanooga, TN-based home office team from Elmcroft Senior Living’s corporate office in Louisville, KY, where she held leadership positions in organizational development, marketing strategy, business analysis and information systems. Overall, Blizzard brings 10 years of medical and healthcare systems experience to her new role.

Blizzard has an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is co-chair of the Future Leaders Council of the National Investment Center for Senior Housing & Care.

Independent Healthcare Properties LLC, a Chattanooga, TN-based senior healthcare services company, is the developer, owner and manager of 30 Morning Pointe Senior Living and The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimer’s Memory Care Center of Excellence communities in five southeastern states.

Zach Gray appointed administrator at Glenbrook Health Center

Zach Gray has been named administrator for GlenBrook Health Center in Carlsbad, CA. GlenBrook provides healthcare services to the public as well as residents of La Costa Glen Carlsbad, the continuing care retirement community located adjacent to the health center.

As administrator, Gray will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of GlenBrook, including resident satisfaction, regulatory compliance, financial management and employee engagement.

A licensed administrator in California as well as several other states, Gray most recently was the associate executive director at Sedgebrook Retirement Community in Chicago and the administrator for the Residences at Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C.

He has an undergraduate degree in health studies from Georgetown University and a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University.

Gray has won numerous industry awards and recently participated in writing “The Role of Socioeconomic Status in Nursing Home Quality Ratings” for the Senior Housing & Care Journal with primary author Tamara Konetzka, Ph.D.

GlenBrook has a 94-bed skilled nursing center and 74 assisted living apartments. In addition, the health center offers memory care services.

Jan Park named executive director of Camellia Walk

Jan Park has been named executive director of Camellia Walk, an 83-unit Charter Senior Living community offering assisted living and memory care in Evans, GA.

Park, an operations specialist, is a licensed administrator in North Carolina and Virginia and an assisted living manager in Maryland. She earned a Master of Education degree from Norfolk State University.

Family-owned Charter Senior Living, based in Chicago, took over the management of Camellia Walk in July. The company manages 13 independent living, assisted living and memory care communities throughout the United States.

Allison O’Shea hired as executive director at Waltonwood Lake Boone

Allison O’Shea has joined Waltonwood Lake Boone in Raleigh, NC, as executive director. In her new role, she will oversee the daily operations and future direction of the community, which is expected to open in May and offer independent living, assisted living and memory care.

O’Shea brings 15 years of senior living experience to the community. She began in the profession as an activity director at a memory care community, and she subsequently has held multiple positions, including business office coordinator and assistant executive director. She also previously served as executive director of another senior living community in North Carolina.

“I graduated from Belmont Abbey College in Charlotte with a degree in therapeutic recreation and thought I would work with children,” O’Shea said. “However, when I started working with seniors, I realized this is where I need to be. I love bonding with residents and learning their life stories. It’s fascinating to hear where they’ve been and what they’ve accomplished in life.”

Brad Harker joins Bella Villaggio as sales and marketing manager

Brad Harker has joined Bella Villaggio, a WESTliving senior living community slated to open in the fall in Palm Desert, CA, as sales and marketing manager.

Harker has more than eight years of experience, having worked with community-based groups such as ACT1 and Desert Oasis Health Care. He also worked closely with the Eisenhower Medical Center and provided resources and solutions for many of the discharged patients and their families.

Bella Villaggio will have 108 independent and assisted living apartments, with 40 dedicated to memory care.

Donald Husi joins Ziegler as managing director

Donald L. Husi has joined investment bank and brokerage firm Ziegler as a managing director to its investment banking team in for-profit senior living corporate finance. He will be located in the firm’s Nashville, TN, office.

Husi has experience in operations, turnaround/distressed asset management, financial structuring and strategic planning spanning more than 32 years within the senior living, real estate investment trust and finance sectors.

Before joining Ziegler, he spent more than 16 years in operations with American Retirement Corp., which later was acquired by Brookdale Senior Living. He is a former licensed nursing home administrator in several states.

In 2001, Healthcare Realty Trust recruited Husi to be its vice president of senior housing investments; there, he managed a large portfolio of senior living assets and mortgages. Husi joined Red Capital Group in 2005 as a senior living loan production specialist.

Husi has an undergraduate degree in healthcare administration from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he serves on the healthcare administration program’s advisory board. He received a senior housing executive certificate from the University of Southern California-Davis School of Gerontology and the USC Marshall School of Business in 2016.

Husi also is a board member at the Center for Health Administration and Aging Services Excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is a member of the American Seniors Housing Association, the National Investment Center for Senior Housing & Care and the Nashville Health Care Council’s Leadership Health Care.

Send personnel news to Senior Editor Lois A. Bowers. Please include a high-quality color photograph.