The April Boot Camp runs from April 12-30, 2021. For three weeks, participants will unveil new tools and resources in the hybrid self-guided and live virtual learning course. Live virtual interaction with fellow participants and subject matter experts will take place on Thursday, April 15, 22, and 29 from 3:00 – 5:00 P.M. EST. Learn about April’s speakers below!
Holly Ballarotto is Chief of Staff at Brandywine Living. Brandywine is the leading provider of luxury senior living in the Mid-Atlantic region, including assisted living, independent living, and memory care. Holly is a member of Brandywine’s Executive Committee and is actively involved in a wide range of business activities impacting company operations and growth, including sales and marketing, recruitment, workforce training, and education, new community development, and more. She also leads numerous corporate branding initiatives, expanding and managing the company’s website and social media presence.
Holly graduated with a B.S. in Recreation and Leisure Studies from the University of Georgia, following which she began her career working in guest relations at the Ritz Carlton. She went on to join the Event Services Team at SmithBucklin, an association management company, where Argentum (formerly ALFA), the largest national senior living industry association, became one of her key clients. Today, Holly is an active participant in Argentum as a member of the LEAD Steering Committee and Women in Leadership Committee. She is also a member of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) where she was recently selected to the Future Leaders Council.
Dwayne J. Clark is a thought leader and innovator in the rapidly-growing assisted living industry, as well as an accomplished author, playwright, restaurateur, filmmaker, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Clark is the co-founder and CEO of Aegis Living, a company of 2,300 employees across the West Coast, serving residents in 30 assisted-living communities with ten new in development. Dwayne is nationally known for the quality of projects he manages, as well as his innovative flair. He has been involved in the development or management of over 200 senior housing projects and been recognized for individual and corporate leadership and citizenship including Glassdoor’s Top 50 Best Places to Work in 2017 amid 600,000 companies as well as the Top 15 Places to Work with the Best Work/Life Balance in 2017. Dwayne founded Queen Bee Café, Seattle’s only not-for-profit coffee, crumpet and ‘crumpwich’ shop with two locations that support local neighborhood charities with 100% of profits. The Queen Bee has been featured in Evening Magazine and Canada’s Food Network with several more locations in development to nurture the communities where Aegis Living operates. In 2014 he founded True Productions, a production company aimed at telling true stories by collaborating with fearless, engaging storytellers through film, stage and books. This year he has released his own new book called Big Life with entertaining and inspiring advice to his children and grandchildren about how to live a happy life. He is also working on a book on longevity with Aegis Living’s chief medical officer called 30 Summers Left. Other current projects include the transition of his popular biography, My Mother, My Son into a motion picture by EFO films with renowned Hollywood director Irwin Winkler. Recently, he also produced the documentary Full Court: The Spencer Haywood Story, about the iconic Seattle Sonic and NBA Hall of Famer and executive produced award-winning Big Sonia, Gold Balls and several other films.
Dwayne is a sought-after speaker on senior living, industry and current events and appears regularly in print and broadcast media as a contributing commentator.
Alex Massopust is responsible for shaping and leading the accounting team, along with treasury management duties and managing the various monthly, quarterly and annual financial reporting requirements. Since joining the seniors housing industry in 2012, Alex has gained extensive knowledge and experience within budgeting, forecasting, and staffing tools for this sector.
Alex is an active member of the Future Leaders Council for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing (NIC) and is the current Treasurer for Care Providers of MN and the Team Member Helping Hand Fund.
Prior to joining New Perspective, Alex was a Financial Consultant for Merrill Corporation and started his career as an auditor with Baker Tilly. Alex is a CPA (inactive) and a graduate of the University of Kansas.
Susannah Myerson is a Vice President with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.’s Senior Housing Finance (“SHF”) group, a specialized lending division that provides financial products and services to senior housing owners and operators. She is primarily responsible for underwriting new loan opportunities and working with clients to evaluate properties, understand market conditions, and project future cash flows. Prior to Wells Fargo, Susannah led the West Coast office of ProMatura, a leading research and consulting firm specializing in the age 55+ market. She partnered with organizations to conduct market studies and consumer research to assess the feasibility of new developments, products and services. Susannah also has experience in senior housing operations, having worked in the areas of finance and development with national senior housing providers including Watermark Retirement Communities and Sunrise Senior Living. Susannah has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Arizona. She serves as the Vice-Chair of the Future Leaders Council of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC). She lives with her husband and children in Tucson, AZ and volunteers with several local organizations, including the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and the Early Childhood Development Group.
Ms. Nickels is a Senior Vice President focused exclusively on supporting the acquisition and asset management activities of the healthcare business of Artemis. She is responsible for the acquisition of both stabilized and opportunistic investments, as well as asset management of the firm’s healthcare assets. Ms. Nickels is based in Atlanta, GA.
Ms. Nickels has 9 years of experience in underwriting and acquisition of healthcare real estate and post-acute healthcare businesses. Previously, Ms. Nickels served in an acquisitions role for Formation Capital, most recently as a Vice President. She was involved in closing over $1.8 billion in transactions while with Formation. Prior to 2012, she worked in real estate acquisitions and development across all major asset classes including healthcare, first as an acquisitions Analyst for The JBG Companies and later as an Associate in the US Fund Investment Management group for J.E. Robert Companies (JER Partners).
Ms. Nickels attended the University of Virginia, where she received a BS in Commerce with concentrations in Finance and Management from the McIntire School of Commerce. Ms. Nickels is also an active member of the Future Leaders Council for the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry (NIC).
Emma is a Director at RSF Partners, a real estate private equity firm based in Dallas, TX. She is responsible for sourcing new investment opportunities and focuses primarily on senior living. Prior to RSF, Emma was a Portfolio Analyst at New Holland Capital, underwriting and managing investments in funds as well as direct investments in public equities and alternative asset classes. Before New Holland, she worked at Morgan Stanley specializing in interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives. Emma is skilled in French and German and has experience working in the UK and Europe. She received a BS in Economics from MIT and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Orbis Investment Management Fellow and an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Mike Segal is a Managing Director at Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors. Since Blueprint’s inception, Mike has played an integral role strategically positioning the firm’s seniors housing and skilled nursing offerings as well as coordinating the firm’s confidential marketing campaigns and sale transactions. Additionally, Mike helped to establish and is responsible for overseeing the firm’s processes associated with transaction execution, and he is actively involved in nearly every phase of the transaction process. Mike has several years of experience successfully executing seniors housing and care transactions (100+ valued over $1.0 billion), rapidly becoming the most active advisor in the skilled nursing and long-term care space over the past three years, representing a wide variety of clients including, but not limited to: REITs (public and non-traded); private equity firms; real estate developers; high net-worth investors; regional and national operators, and non-profit and/or faith-based organizations. Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Andrew currently holds the distinction of Partner at Birchwood Healthcare Partners, LLC. Birchwood is a boutique, private equity owner/operator specifically investing in the skilled nursing, seniors housing and post-acute space. Birchwood has real estate and operations spread across (26) SNFs and (5) AL/MC communities. Additionally, Birchwood owns and controls a long-term care management company called Campbell Street Services and owns three ancillary companies comprised of a home health, hospice and a nurse practitioner business that embeds nurses in skilled nursing centers to reduce rehospitalization rates and improve quality outcomes. Andrew’s primary responsibilities include business development and new deal origination as well as portfolio management oversight. Andrew directly supervises a team of three analysts and one associate at Birchwood and is also partly responsible for the strategic vision and direction of Birchwood along with the other three Partners within the firm. Andrew leads Birchwood’s investment committee meetings and initial deal review process and has been influential with all corporate hires as well as helping to build out Birchwood’s asset management infrastructure and operations-based reporting tools to help track up-to-date information within Birchwood’s post-acute investments. Andrew participates in the equity and debt raise process on new acquisitions and is directly responsible for helping the Birchwood management company, Campbell Street Services, grow their management business.
Jerry Taylor joined National Health Investors in December of 2015. As Director of Business Development, Jerry is responsible for the cultivation of new business relationships. Prior to joining NHI, Jerry worked in operations for two national scale senior living providers. Much of his time in operations was focused on multi-property sales and occupancy growth throughout the west. Jerry is also a licensed Residential Facility Administrator and holds a bachelor’s degree in business and health innovation from Arizona State University.
