NIC Volunteer Leadership

Kelly Cook Andress began her career in senior housing in 1989 at Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. where she was Vice President for Development and Finance. She helped define the company that came to define the industry. She has been closely involved in the development of more than 20 communities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic; developing, acquiring and operating senior communities at all levels of independence and care. Seeing the evolution in senior housing move towards cookie-cutter, Wall Street-driven corporations, Kelly was inspired to forge a new definition of senior living; rooted in a dedication to building communities with the flexibility to adjust around residents as their desires and needs change.

As NIC’s president, Ray Braun oversees overall strategy, volunteer leadership governance, organizational performance, culture, and mission delivery.
Prior to joining NIC, Mr. Braun served as the Dean of the Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business at Bowling Green State University where headed all aspects of the college’s vision, strategic direction, planning, operations, and budgeting. Prior to his deanship, Mr. Braun served as the president and CEO of Cogdell Spencer and president of Health Care REIT, Inc. (now Welltower) where he was inducted into the Stifel Nicolaus Senior Housing & Healthcare Real Estate Hall of Fame.

Additionally, Mr. Braun served as a board member to NIC during 2000 – 2007 serving as its chair for the last two years of his term. During his term, he served as the NIC MAP Task Force Co-chair, helping to bring data transparency to the sector.

Mr. Braun holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Economics from Bowling Green State University.

In his role as Executive Chairman, Chip Gabriel oversees strategic alignment, new business development and partner relations. An integral part of Generations leadership since 1989, Chip brings an entrepreneurial spirit and passion for integrating technology, health care and intergenerational experiences into Generations campuses. He loves the process of visioning and creating new communities and has overseen the development of over 3,500 units of senior housing. Most fulfilling for Chip is that his life’s work positively impacts the lives of residents and staff – in his words, “our job is to make people happy!”

Tana Gall is responsible for all aspects of operations and growth at the 70 Merrill senior living communities in 20 states – Merrill Gardens and Truewood by Merrill. Gall has over 20 years of experience in senior living leadership roles, and she is focused on creating a culture where the 4,000 team members and 7,000 residents who live and work at Merrill thrive. Under Gall’s leadership, the company is recognized as one of the most respected providers of senior living in the country. Gall recently led the launch of the Truewood by Merrill communities with a focus on seniors in the underserved middle market.

Gall is an industry leader, serving as a member of the Argentum Board of Directors and she was previously the leader of the Argentum Executive Director Leadership Institute. She is focused on bringing new leadership to the industry and was instrumental in the establishment of the Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living at Washington State University. Based on her career accomplishments, she was asked to join the Bellevue College Healthcare Management and Leadership Advisory Board. Gall was also invited to join the International Women’s Forum, a group that includes more than 7,000 accomplished women from 33 countries. She was named a Woman of Distinction for 2021 by McKnight’s Senior living, an award that honors women in senior living who inspire and impact the lives of residents and team members. Gall volunteers with Treehouse, a Washington state organization supporting children in foster care, and is a part of the Husky Leadership Institute at the University of Washington, guiding students to become change agents in their communities.

Gall is a graduate of the University of Washington.

Beth Burnham Mace is a senior advisor to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) focused exclusively on monitoring and reporting changes in capital markets impacting senior housing and care investments and operations.  

Mace served as Chief Economist and Director of Research and Analytics during her nine-year tenure on NIC’s leadership team. Before joining the NIC staff in 2014, Mace served on the NIC Board of Directors and chaired its Research Committee. She was also a director at AEW Capital Management and worked in the AEW Research Group for 17 years. Prior to joining AEW, Mace spent 10 years at Standard & Poor’s DRI/McGraw-Hill as director of its Regional Information Service. She also worked as a regional economist at Crocker Bank, and for the National Commission on Air Quality, the Brookings Institution, and Boston Edison.  

Mace is currently a member of the Institutional Real Estate Americas Editorial Advisory Board. In 2020, Mace was inducted into the McKnight’s Women of Distinction Hall of Honor. In 2014, she was appointed a fellow at the Homer Hoyt Institute and was awarded the title of a “Woman of Influence” in commercial real estate by Real Estate Forum Magazine and Globe Street. Mace earned an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree from the University of California. She also earned a Certified Business Economist™ designation from the National Association of Business Economists. 

Ryan is responsible for directing the company’s day-to-day operations and fiscal functions, overseeing business performance, investments, strategy and growth initiatives. In an effort to help residents in Living Life on Purpose®, Ryan guides the development and implementation of operational and financial strategies and systems, including planning and forecasting processes, financial analysis, sales & marketing, resident programming, facilities management, acquisitions and new developments projects. Prior to joining New Perspective Senior Living, Ryan served as Vice President of Equity Research for two multibillion-dollar financial services firms located in New York and Minnesota. Previously, Ryan was engaged in equity research, investment banking, and mergers and acquisitions at Piper Jaffray in Minnesota. Ryan graduated from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota with a bachelor of arts in finance, and a minor in economics. He holds professional certificates from the Erickson School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in the following disciplines of the Seniors Housing and Care executive education program: Seniors Housing Executive, Finance, Sales and Marketing. Ryan is active with industry associations and is a member of the Assisted Living Federation of America, CFO Executive Roundtable, and sits on the Operator Advisory Board for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing. 

Susan Barlow is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business, product development, capital formation and along with Kathryn Sweeney, setting the long-term strategic direction for Blue Moon Capital Partners. Susan is Chairperson of the Management and Investment Committees. She has over 30 years of experience advising institutional real estate clients on branding, strategy implementation, product development and capital formation.

Previously, Susan was Managing Director and Head of Global Client Relations for RREEF, a global institutional real estate investment manager wholly owned by Deutsche Bank. At RREEF, she directed the activities of the firm’s 60-person global client relations team and led the firm’s product development, client relations, sales, marketing and investor communications. She was a member of the global Executive Committee responsible for managing RREEF and also, a member of the Infrastructure Executive Committee, Private Equity Executive Committee and Board of Directors of Rosen Real Estate Securities.

Susan co-founded a real estate fund-of-funds investment management firm allocating capital to small and mid-size operating companies. Previously, she was the CEO and President of a strategic advisory firm assisting real estate operating partners and investment managers in developing investment vehicles and capital formation strategies for the institutional marketplace. Early in her career, she founded the institutional real estate consulting practice for Callan Associates, one of the largest independently owned investment consulting firms in the United States.

Susan earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Science degree from Black Hills State University.

Aaron Becker is a senior managing director and the head of seniors housing and healthcare production at Lument, leading the firm’s national efforts in providing capital funding for the senior living and healthcare sectors. Aaron works out of the Radnor, PA office.  

Since joining Lument’s predecessor Lancaster Pollard in 2011, Aaron has completed more than $1.9 billion in transactions across the entire capital platform.  

Prior to joining legacy firm Lancaster Pollard, Aaron worked at Sixpoint Partners, a global investment banking boutique specializing in alternative asset distribution and strategic advisory services. Before that, he was a vice president in Merrill Lynch’s Healthcare Finance IB Group, where he structured public bond offerings, private placements and derivatives with a par amount exceeding $3 billion. 

Aaron earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Indiana University and an MBA degree with honors from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He holds general securities representative (Series 7 and 63) and investment banking representative (Series 79) licenses.

As senior managing director and head of living sectors for Cushman & Wakefield, Zach supports a team of nearly 125 professionals located throughout the U.S. His primary focus is driving growth initiatives for CWK’s living real estate sector through the advancement of client care, data analytics, product development and talent recruitment. Property types covered include apartments, affordable, co-living, manufactured housing, self-storage, student housing and senior living. 

With nearly twenty years of industry experience, Zach has completed over $75 billion in third-party valuation assignments throughout the U.S. Services provided include third-party market valuations, underwriting due-diligence, Net Asset Valuations (NAV) for non-traded REITs, market studies, and feasibility analyses of single assets to large portfolio transactions. 

Zach began his professional career in commercial real estate banking with First National Bank. In 2004, he began specializing exclusively in the appraisal of seniors housing real estate with HealthTrust, LLC. Zach joined CBRE in 2012 to launch a seniors housing & healthcare specialty practice and most recently was at JLL where he established their alternative real estate sectors for valuation advisory. 

As NIC’s president, Ray Braun oversees overall strategy, volunteer leadership governance, organizational performance, culture, and mission delivery.
Prior to joining NIC, Mr. Braun served as the Dean of the Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business at Bowling Green State University where headed all aspects of the college’s vision, strategic direction, planning, operations, and budgeting. Prior to his deanship, Mr. Braun served as the president and CEO of Cogdell Spencer and president of Health Care REIT, Inc. (now Welltower) where he was inducted into the Stifel Nicolaus Senior Housing & Healthcare Real Estate Hall of Fame.

Additionally, Mr. Braun served as a board member to NIC during 2000 – 2007 serving as its chair for the last two years of his term. During his term, he served as the NIC MAP Task Force Co-chair, helping to bring data transparency to the sector.

Mr. Braun holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Economics from Bowling Green State University.

Ms. Brosig joined the firm in 2009 and is a Managing Director and the Firm’s Chief Impact Officer. With a background in technology, energy, and business operations, Ms. Brosig oversees the measurement, management, reporting and enhancement of the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. Key areas of focus include climate risk and resiliency, carbon emissions reduction, DEI and human health and wellness. 

She began in the environmental arena as a resident student associate, where she was tasked with designing a closed gas system for a particle detector in order to eliminate the emissions of over four tons of Freon into the atmosphere every year. Her first job post-college was as an associate scientist studying inertial confinement fusion. Fusion, while far from commercially viable, could potentially become a clean energy source. There she worked in the department of material science’s cryogenics division and used holographic interferometry to determine how heavy hydrogen targets reacted to extremely low temperatures. This research led to improved alternative energy experimental results.  

While at Harrison Street, she worked on the Galvin Electricity Initiative, which was a campaign to transform the United States power system into one that was reliable, efficient and clean. She was involved in ensuring this effort, which later became the Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal (PEER) program was able to scale via acquisition from the U.S. Green Building Council. 

Before joining the industry, Ms. Brosig held positions at Motorola, Argonne National Laboratory and KMS Fusion, Inc. Ms. Brosig holds several patents and publications, and was awarded Best Presentation at the annual MOOT CORP® Global Business Plan competition. She is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt. 

Ms. Brosig has a BS in Physics from the University of Illinois, an MSEE from The Ohio State University, and an MBA from Northwestern University.  

Mitch Brown is Principal Consultant for Senior Housing Consulting.  With more than 25 years of experience in all facets of senior housing he now provides strategic guidance to investors, developers and operators of active adult and full service senior living communities. Prior to forming his own consulting firm Mitch served as Senior Managing Director for Greystar’s Active Adult platform and was the Chief Development Officer for Kisco Senior Living, a full-service senior living owner and operator.  He served as the Chair of the ULI Senior Housing Council for several years and has been an active member of the American Seniors Housing Association for over 20 years.  He holds a BA degree from The Evergreen State College and earned his MA from UCLA’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning.  

Mr. Bufford founded Trilogy Health Services, LLC in 1997 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer and President. Trilogy, an Eight-time honoree on Louisville Business First Fast 50 list is a leading owner, operator and developer of senior healthcare campuses throughout Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. In March 2017, Trilogy opened its 107th campus in Evansville, Indiana. During the course of its 20-year history, Trilogy has experienced consistent growth primarily through the development of new campuses and opportunistic expansions of existing ones. Trilogy’s integrated senior health communities offer a range of care, including independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing services. 

Prior to Trilogy, Bufford served as the Executive Vice President, Business Development for Centennial HealthCare Corporation. Before joining Centennial, he served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Transitional Health Services of Louisville, Kentucky. He also held various positions with The Cardinal Group including Chief Financial Officer. Bufford also served in other positions with an HMO and started his career as an auditor with Arthur Young & Company, CPAs. Bufford is a member of the University of Louisville School of Nursing Philanthropy Council and has previously served as on the boards of University of Louisville Letterwinners Club and the University of Louisville Alumni Association. He has also served as a Board member of the Trilogy Foundation, e+Healthcare L.L.C., Indiana Health Care Association, Leading Age – Kentucky and the American Seniors Housing Association. Bufford graduated from the University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting in 1981. In 2015, he was inducted into the University’s College of Business Entrepreneurial Circle of Fame and was honored as Alumnus of the year in 2016. Bufford also served as Head Basketball Manager on the University of Louisville 1980 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship team. Bufford and his wife, Susan, have been married 33 years and have three children. David (Rachel, Hayden and Hunter), Jonathan and Clinton.  

Joe Daniels is the Vice President, Business Development for Direct Supply. Based out of Milwaukee, WI, Joe sits as a member of the Aptura senior leadership team, helping to drive the strategy and go-to-market initiatives for the Aptura business. Joe’s connections and relationships in the industry run deep. Having been in the seniors housing profession for many years, he works closely with the most influential operators, owners and lenders in the senior care space. Joe is the former Chair of the NIC Future Leaders Council, leads the board of the Developers Collective and co-chairs the Senior Living Executive Operators Forum – both unique events of their kind. 

Ben Firestone co-founded Blueprint in 2013. As Chief Executive Officer, he oversees Blueprint’s management team and provides strategic direction for the firm. He is also responsible for managing established relationships and new client development. With nearly two decades in the seniors housing and care industry, Ben brings a uniquely strategic perspective to his professional relationships and transactions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is an alumni of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) Future Leaders Council and currently serves as a member of NIC’s Planning Committee. He and his family split their time between Chicago and Boca Raton, Florida, while staying close to his St. Louis roots. 

Tana Gall is responsible for all aspects of operations and growth at the 70 Merrill senior living communities in 20 states – Merrill Gardens and Truewood by Merrill. Gall has over 20 years of experience in senior living leadership roles, and she is focused on creating a culture where the 4,000 team members and 7,000 residents who live and work at Merrill thrive. Under Gall’s leadership, the company is recognized as one of the most respected providers of senior living in the country. Gall recently led the launch of the Truewood by Merrill communities with a focus on seniors in the underserved middle market.

Gall is an industry leader, serving as a member of the Argentum Board of Directors and she was previously the leader of the Argentum Executive Director Leadership Institute. She is focused on bringing new leadership to the industry and was instrumental in the establishment of the Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living at Washington State University. Based on her career accomplishments, she was asked to join the Bellevue College Healthcare Management and Leadership Advisory Board. Gall was also invited to join the International Women’s Forum, a group that includes more than 7,000 accomplished women from 33 countries. She was named a Woman of Distinction for 2021 by McKnight’s Senior living, an award that honors women in senior living who inspire and impact the lives of residents and team members. Gall volunteers with Treehouse, a Washington state organization supporting children in foster care, and is a part of the Husky Leadership Institute at the University of Washington, guiding students to become change agents in their communities.

Gall is a graduate of the University of Washington.

Bre Grubbs is Leisure Care’s Chief Strategy Office as well as a Partner in the company.  In her current role, Bre guides strategy for Leisure Care’s business development, sales and marketing, and human resource initiatives.  Her focus is on collaboration with all company disciplines and external partners, guiding her teams in utilizing data, market research, and community-level experiences to maximize performance and drive responsible growth.  Leisure Care’s philosophy of making a positive impact on the company’s residents, families, employees, and business partners is a driving force in all Bre does.   She’s extended this philosophy to her contributions outside of the office as well, with the goal of sharing the career opportunities that existing in senior living with a broader audience.  In support of these endeavors, she is Chair Emeritus of the Steering Committee for Washington State’s Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living, the first operations-focused, hospitality-guided senior living program in the US.  She is also actively involved with the NIC, serving on the Fall Conference Planning Committee and the Future Leader’s Oversight Committee.  Outside of work, Bre can be found at a baseball field, watching her teenage son play or taking in a Mariner’s game with her family.   

Dave has over 20 years of healthcare real estate experience across debt, equity, and capital markets. He joined GE Capital’s Healthcare Financial Services business in 2004, which was subsequently acquired by Capital One in 2015.  During his tenure within the business he has held various leadership positions including running both their capital markets syndication efforts as well as the underwriting and portfolio management teams. Dave now is on the Senior Housing originations team focusing on business development throughout the southeast.  

J. Justin Hutchens is the Executive Vice President, Senior Housing, North America for Ventas, Inc.

A member of the Ventas executive leadership team, Hutchens is responsible for the Company’s North American Senior Housing portfolio, which includes more than 700 properties that provide high-quality environments for approximately 60,000 seniors and represents 53% of the Company’s net operating income (NOI).

With more than 25 years of experience in the U.S. and the U.K. including successful C-suite operations in both publicly traded and private equity-backed investments, Hutchens joined Ventas from HC-One where he served as Chief Executive Officer. During his HC-One tenure, he led the company during a significant period of refinement and growth resulting in Britain’s largest residential and nursing care home operator with more than 300 communities in England, Scotland and Wales. Hutchens’s prior roles include serving as Chief Operating Officer of Emeritus, a senior living company that was the largest operator of assisted living in the U.S. during his tenure; Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President of National Health Investors; and President of HCP (now Healthpeak Properties, Inc.). He began his career in senior care operations.

A frequent speaker on investment practices, company performance and senior housing and care operations, Hutchens was recognized in Forbes Magazine’s Top 20 “Most Powerful CEOs Age 40 and Under” list for four consecutive years.

Hutchens serves on the Board of Eclipse Senior Living (ESL). He earned his Bachelor of Science – Human Services from the University of Northern Colorado and his Masters of Science in Management from Regis University.

Michelle R. Kelly joined National Health Investors Inc. (“NHI”) in September 2017 and currently serves as Senior Vice President Investments. In this role, Michelle is responsible for identifying new business opportunities, managing existing client relationships and strengthening NHI’s brand throughout the industry.

Michelle has over 21 years of experience financing and investing in the senior housing and skilled nursing industries. Most recently, she spent over 6 years at Welltower Inc. beginning with a focus in asset management and transitioning to business development. Prior to joining Welltower, Michelle spent over 10 years at GE Capital in its Healthcare Financial Services business focused primarily on debt for seniors housing and skilled nursing. She held positions of increasing responsibility within underwriting, portfolio management and originations during her tenure at GE. Michelle began her career with Heller Financial as a member of its Associate Development Program, ultimately joining its healthcare real estate business.

Michelle was an inaugural member of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care Future Leaders Council and served as Chairperson of that organization from fall of 2011 to fall of 2012. Michelle earned her BS in Finance degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Beth Burnham Mace is a senior advisor to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) focused exclusively on monitoring and reporting changes in capital markets impacting senior housing and care investments and operations.  

Mace served as Chief Economist and Director of Research and Analytics during her nine-year tenure on NIC’s leadership team. Before joining the NIC staff in 2014, Mace served on the NIC Board of Directors and chaired its Research Committee. She was also a director at AEW Capital Management and worked in the AEW Research Group for 17 years. Prior to joining AEW, Mace spent 10 years at Standard & Poor’s DRI/McGraw-Hill as director of its Regional Information Service. She also worked as a regional economist at Crocker Bank, and for the National Commission on Air Quality, the Brookings Institution, and Boston Edison.  

Mace is currently a member of the Institutional Real Estate Americas Editorial Advisory Board. In 2020, Mace was inducted into the McKnight’s Women of Distinction Hall of Honor. In 2014, she was appointed a fellow at the Homer Hoyt Institute and was awarded the title of a “Woman of Influence” in commercial real estate by Real Estate Forum Magazine and Globe Street. Mace earned an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree from the University of California. She also earned a Certified Business Economist™ designation from the National Association of Business Economists. 

Arick Morton is the CEO of NIC MAP Vision, the senior housing industry’s leading data, analytics, and underwriting platform. Trusted by 5,000+ customers and built exclusively for the senior housing and care sector, NIC MAP Vision provides comprehensive nationwide supply & demand metrics on 35K+ properties, including Active Adult, IL, AL, Memory Care, Nursing Care and CCRCs with over 15 years of comprehensive, time-series market data at the metro level. 

Arick is responsible for setting the strategic vision of the product, ensuring operational execution, and delivering increasing value to the senior housing industry. During Arick’s tenure, NIC MAP Vision has enjoyed substantial growth with a rapidly expanding array of products and data sets. 

Prior to becoming CEO of NIC MAP Vision, Arick co-founded VisionLTC, which merged with NIC MAP Data Service in 2021 to become NIC MAP Vision. Arick had the privilege and honor of growing up in the senior housing industry and co-founded a senior housing operating platform that has now grown to 30+ communities. Arick has a background in health care analytics and technology product development, working at the Advisory Board Company to launch new data and analytics products to help health systems navigate a post-health care reform world. 

Prior to entering operations in Senior Housing, Sevy’s investment banking career spanned a decade of lending and structuring debt solutions for Senior Housing & Healthcare. She began her career in Public Finance at Natcity Investments and moved to Chicago as an SVP for 5/3 Securities. Later at Merrill Lynch Capital she focused solely on balance sheet lending in Senior Housing. In 2009, she and her family changed their career directions as they saw a larger need in the affordable and publicly funded sector, as the growing demands in senior housing lacked private pay funds.  

With her banking experience, she focused on identifying viable properties, producing lenders and investor pro forms & budgets that provided turn-around plans, including assistance in securing & structuring debt for the properties in areas that support alternatives to private-pay assisted living. 

Priority Life Care currently focuses on 3rd party management partnerships and provides all services available to our seniors in Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care communities. Their focus historically has been on buildings that require significant turnaround that includes licensing, rehab, additions of specialty care units and census growth. These 12+ years of operational expertise has since lent to operations of new developments, receivership appointments by financial institutions and operations of high-end private pay market rate communities further expanding PLC’s focus of supporting Independence of Seniors throughout the country. 

As a family owned & operated business, she, her family, and management team have worked to create a family-centric model that permeates to the building level. Culture, career advancement & evolving training platforms are part of the cornerstone for co-workers who join the PLC team. 

As CEO, Sevy is also charged with leading the company in pursuit of its purpose to support independence. She strives to empower and inspire her management team as well as Community level employees to be mindful of the importance of their roles serving their residents in their homes daily. 

Kurt Read, Principal, RSF Partners, oversees RSF’s fund and corporate development. RSF is a real estate private equity firm that is actively investing its latest fund, RSF Partners VII ($450 million in committed equity), in senior living and opportunistic commercial real estate.  Over the past two decades RSF has managed over $1B in equity commitments in seven discretionary funds.  Mr. Read has opportunistically invested in operating intensive real estate assets and companies for over 30 years and has been a director of a number of private and public senior living and hospitality companies including the Forum Group, Inc., Omega Healthcare, Inc. and Bristol Hotels and Resorts.  Mr. Read is the immediate past chair of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC) Board and is Chairman of the Board of NIC MAP Vision, the leading data provider to the senior living industry.

Matt Ruark is a Senior Vice President, Head of Commercial and Healthcare Mortgage Production in the Real Estate Capital Market Group of KeyBank. Additionally, Matt leads the Investor Placement team, which he started at Key in 2011. As Head of Commercial and Healthcare Mortgage Production, Mr. Ruark oversees multiple teams of mortgage bankers and analysts. The teams work with all of KeyBank’s corporate real estate offices nationally in the origination of permanent debt placements. These groups originated more than $4 billion of fixed and floating rate permanent mortgages in 2019. Matt is also part of the Commercial Mortgage Group’s management team.

Additional responsibilities internally at KeyBank include: Diversity & Inclusion Co-Champion for the Corporate Bank and Advisory Committee Member for the Commercial/Corporate Bank.

Mr. Ruark has worked in the Commercial Mortgage Banking industry for more than 20 years. Responsibilities throughout his career have included originating debt and equity financing for private and public real estate owners through relationships with a variety of capital sources, including insurance companies, investment banks, governmental agencies, commercial banks and credit institutions.

Mr. Ruark has served on the NIC Planning Committee for the past two years (2019, 2020). He has previously served on the Olathe Kansas Economic Development Council board, The Northeast Industrial Association board, Kansas City Industrial Council, and was an affiliate member of the Kansas City CCIM Chapter. Matt is a graduate of Kansas City’s Chamber of Commerce Centurion Leadership Program, and was recognized by Ingram’s magazine in 2007 as one of Kansas City’s “40 Under 40” business leaders.

Mr. Ruark earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska (Finance, major and Mathematics, minor), and an MBA from Rockhurst University (dual focus Finance and Marketing).

Kenneth C. Segarnick is Chief Corporate Officer of Brandywine Living, a premier provider of high-end senior living, including assisted living, memory care, and independent living. As a member of Brandywine’s executive management team, Ken oversees operational and enterprise growth of the company’s platform – currently expanding to 30 communities in seven states with capacity to serve over 3,000 residents.

Ken has guided the company through substantial portfolio growth; during his tenure, Brandywine has more than tripled in size and established its position as a brand leader for quality and hospitality-driven senior living services throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Previously the predecessor company’s Assistant General Counsel, Ken rose to Managing Director of Business Development & General Counsel in 2006, and played a key role in reshaping the business by facilitating an exit of the skilled nursing and ancillary service divisions to increase concentration in the private pay sector. Ken assumed his current role in 2010 upon the closing of Brandywine’s initial venture with Welltower, Inc. (NYSE: WELL), an S&P 500 company, and recapitalization of the company’s former primary stockholder, Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm.

Prior to Brandywine, Ken practiced law with the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth Paxson, before joining United Messaging, a venture backed enterprise email hosting and solutions provider. As United Messaging’s Vice President & General Counsel, Ken developed an

expertise in the then-burgeoning area of workplace email privacy and testified before the U.S. Congress on privacy legislation.

Ken is chair of the Operator Advisory Board for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) and a member of the NIC Board of Directors. He is also past co-chair of the planning committee for the NIC Spring Investment Forum, a premier industry conference attracting over 1,400 senior care and financing executives.

Ken holds a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

As senior managing director and head of living sectors for Cushman & Wakefield, Zach supports a team of nearly 125 professionals located throughout the U.S. His primary focus is driving growth initiatives for CWK’s living real estate sector through the advancement of client care, data analytics, product development and talent recruitment. Property types covered include apartments, affordable, co-living, manufactured housing, self-storage, student housing and senior living. 

With nearly twenty years of industry experience, Zach has completed over $75 billion in third-party valuation assignments throughout the U.S. Services provided include third-party market valuations, underwriting due-diligence, Net Asset Valuations (NAV) for non-traded REITs, market studies, and feasibility analyses of single assets to large portfolio transactions. 

Zach began his professional career in commercial real estate banking with First National Bank. In 2004, he began specializing exclusively in the appraisal of seniors housing real estate with HealthTrust, LLC. Zach joined CBRE in 2012 to launch a seniors housing & healthcare specialty practice and most recently was at JLL where he established their alternative real estate sectors for valuation advisory. 

Sebastian Brown oversees RSF’s senior housing group. Prior to joining RSF Partners, Mr. Brown was a Director of Asset Management with Hudson Americas, the asset management division of Lone Star Funds. During his tenure with Hudson, he managed more than $2 billion of assets, with experience in both real estate equity investments and distressed loans. Prior to Lone Star, Mr. Brown completed over 250 senior housing appraisals and market studies while at James Brown Associates, and he led over 100 acquisitions and development projects during his three-and-a-half years at Canyon Creek Development. Mr. Brown received a BS from Oregon State University in Science and has a professional designation of MAI with the Appraisal Institute. 

Passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of seniors, Julie brings decades of experience to the position of Executive Vice President, Senior Living. She is responsible for leading Ryan’s senior living practice and strategy execution on a national level. Having worked as a financial and market analyst and acquisitions specialist, as well as providing operational due diligence in takeovers, development, capital and asset management, Julie draws on her wide-range of expertise to balance competing priorities and provide strategic, operational and managerial leadership. During her career, Julie has developed and acquired over $655 million of senior living communities and participated in raising and deploying a $112 million multi-asset private equity fund. Determined, goal-oriented, analytical—and widely respected for following through on commitments—she focuses on providing support and direction to team members across multiple disciplines and geographic areas, while enhancing value and profitability for customers. Julie is motivated by developing thoughtful environments that strengthen communal bonds, and she finds it extremely satisfying to see and meet the people who live and work in the settings she helps create.

J. Justin Hutchens is the Executive Vice President, Senior Housing, North America for Ventas, Inc.

A member of the Ventas executive leadership team, Hutchens is responsible for the Company’s North American Senior Housing portfolio, which includes more than 700 properties that provide high-quality environments for approximately 60,000 seniors and represents 53% of the Company’s net operating income (NOI).

With more than 25 years of experience in the U.S. and the U.K. including successful C-suite operations in both publicly traded and private equity-backed investments, Hutchens joined Ventas from HC-One where he served as Chief Executive Officer. During his HC-One tenure, he led the company during a significant period of refinement and growth resulting in Britain’s largest residential and nursing care home operator with more than 300 communities in England, Scotland and Wales. Hutchens’s prior roles include serving as Chief Operating Officer of Emeritus, a senior living company that was the largest operator of assisted living in the U.S. during his tenure; Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President of National Health Investors; and President of HCP (now Healthpeak Properties, Inc.). He began his career in senior care operations.

A frequent speaker on investment practices, company performance and senior housing and care operations, Hutchens was recognized in Forbes Magazine’s Top 20 “Most Powerful CEOs Age 40 and Under” list for four consecutive years.

Hutchens serves on the Board of Eclipse Senior Living (ESL). He earned his Bachelor of Science – Human Services from the University of Northern Colorado and his Masters of Science in Management from Regis University.

Kelsey P. Mellard is the CEO and Founder of Sitka, a virtual, value-based multi-specialty network that is expanding the scope of primary care. With years of experience across the healthcare system, she has been a leader in healthcare innovation across companies within the healthcare, government, and technology industries. Kelsey is deeply committed to improving the delivery of healthcare across the nation while ensuring access for everyone.

Prior to founding Sitka, Kelsey led Health System Integration for Honor, a technology-backed home care company. Before Honor, she led the development of the Post-Acute Care Center for Research, where she served as its Executive Director. Earlier in her career, she also served in VP roles at naviHealth, UnitedHealth Group and was on the initial team to establish the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS. Prior to working in the federal government, she worked directly within the healthcare delivery system as a consultant at the Advisory Board Company to a variety of hospital systems and as an Administrative Fellow at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. Kelsey began her career at Kaiser Family Foundation.

Kelsey sits on the board of Crossover Health and volunteers with the National Investment Center for Senior Housing (NIC) board and the Rock Health Foundation board. She has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, and TechCrunch. She received her Bachelor of Science in Community Health from Winona State University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Kansas. During her free time, she enjoys the great outdoors with her partner George, son Dalman, and puppy Arlo.

Arick Morton is the CEO of NIC MAP Vision, the senior housing industry’s leading data, analytics, and underwriting platform. Trusted by 5,000+ customers and built exclusively for the senior housing and care sector, NIC MAP Vision provides comprehensive nationwide supply & demand metrics on 35K+ properties, including Active Adult, IL, AL, Memory Care, Nursing Care and CCRCs with over 15 years of comprehensive, time-series market data at the metro level. 

Arick is responsible for setting the strategic vision of the product, ensuring operational execution, and delivering increasing value to the senior housing industry. During Arick’s tenure, NIC MAP Vision has enjoyed substantial growth with a rapidly expanding array of products and data sets. 

Prior to becoming CEO of NIC MAP Vision, Arick co-founded VisionLTC, which merged with NIC MAP Data Service in 2021 to become NIC MAP Vision. Arick had the privilege and honor of growing up in the senior housing industry and co-founded a senior housing operating platform that has now grown to 30+ communities. Arick has a background in health care analytics and technology product development, working at the Advisory Board Company to launch new data and analytics products to help health systems navigate a post-health care reform world. 

Richard joined Yardi in April 2014 and serves as the Senior Director of the Senior Living Sales team. Prior to this, Rich worked at AgingCare.com, a website for family caregivers. Rich began his technology career supporting organizations such as the United Nations, NYSE, and Citigroup. Born and raised in New York City, Rich is married with two children.

Education:  

MBA Strategic Management, 1999 – Pace University, The Lubin School of Business – Strategic Management Concentration  

BS Business Management with Minor in Computer Technology, 1992 – College of Staten Island (City University of New York)  

Prior to entering operations in Senior Housing, Sevy’s investment banking career spanned a decade of lending and structuring debt solutions for Senior Housing & Healthcare. She began her career in Public Finance at Natcity Investments and moved to Chicago as an SVP for 5/3 Securities. Later at Merrill Lynch Capital she focused solely on balance sheet lending in Senior Housing. In 2009, she and her family changed their career directions as they saw a larger need in the affordable and publicly funded sector, as the growing demands in senior housing lacked private pay funds.

With her banking experience, she focused on identifying viable properties, producing lenders and investor pro forms & budgets that provided turn-around plans, including assistance in securing & structuring debt for the properties in areas that support alternatives to private-pay assisted living.

Priority Life Care currently focuses on 3rd party management partnerships and provides all services available to our seniors in Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care communities. Their focus historically has been on buildings that require significant turnaround that includes licensing, rehab, additions of specialty care units and census growth. These 12+ years of operational expertise has since lent to operations of new developments, receivership appointments by financial institutions and operations of high-end private pay market rate communities further expanding PLC’s focus of supporting Independence of Seniors throughout the country.

As a family owned & operated business, she, her family, and management team have worked to create a family-centric model that permeates to the building level. Culture, career advancement & evolving training platforms are part of the cornerstone for co-workers who join the PLC team.<p>As CEO, Sevy is also charged with leading the company in pursuit of its purpose to support independence. She strives to empower and inspire her management team as well as Community level employees to be mindful of the importance of their roles serving their residents in their homes daily. 

Lucinda (“Cindy”) Baier is the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of Brookdale Senior Living, the nation’s premier operator of senior living communities. As of year-end 2020, the $3.5 billion company operates nearly 700 senior living communities and has the ability to serve approximately 60,000 residents through its independent living, assisted living, Alzheimer’s and other dementia care, and continuing care retirement communities and through its comprehensive network of services. The company’s 40,000+ employees are taking care of America’s seniors and, in 2020, Fortune magazine ranked Brookdale as one of the top 200 largest publicly listed employers in the country.

Ms. Baier became Brookdale’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors on February 28, 2018. From the beginning, she initiated the company’s operational turnaround strategy and developed the “Winning Locally” action plan. Within her second year, the company’s Net Promoter Score® increased 20%. In her third year as CEO in 2020, J.D. Power recognized the company as #1 in customer satisfaction (in a tie) in assisted living/memory care communities. As CEO, she led the company through the largest public health crisis in 100 years by prioritizing the health and well-being of its residents, patients, and associates. She focused the company’s efforts on increasing diversity, including the Board and executive leadership team approaching gender parity in 2020. Ms. Baier led Brookdale’s efforts to negotiate and restructure leases with its largest three REIT partners. She led the company through the sale of assets, including Brookdale’s interest in the unconsolidated entry CCRC ventures and the majority share of its home health, hospice, and outpatient therapy business. These deals unlocked significant value for Brookdale and shareholders. In 2022 Baier published her first book Heroes Work Here: An Extraordinary Story of Courage, Resilience, and Hope from the front lines of COVID-19 in which she shares how she and her team led Brookdale through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Baier has served more than a decade as a board member for public and private companies. Currently, she is on the board of directors of Argentum, the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC), and the Nashville Health Care Council, where she serves as Vice-Chair. She is a member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council, which identifies and connects diverse board candidates to NYSE-listed companies seeking new directors, and serves on the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Board.

A number of organizations have recognized Ms. Baier. Some of her awards and honors include Amazon Best Selling Author, CEO Forum Group’s 2021 Top 10 CEOs Transforming Healthcare in America; Nashville Medical News’ Class of 2021 “Women to Watch ”; Corporate Citizenship 2020 Award from the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board; one of McKnight’s 2020 “Women of Distinction”; and Nashville Business Journal’s “Most Admired CEO” list for two consecutive years.

Before becoming CEO of Brookdale, Ms. Baier was the company’s Chief Financial Officer beginning in December 2015. In addition to experience as a seasoned chief financial officer for several companies, she has been responsible for multi-billion-dollar operations, the chief executive officer for a publicly-traded retailer, and served as an executive officer of a Fortune 30 company.

Ms. Baier is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of Illinois State University, with Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Accounting.

Kai was previously Senior Managing Director – Senior Housing Properties at HCP Inc. (NYSE: HCP) a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests primarily in real estate serving the healthcare industry.

Prior to HCP, Kai served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Holiday Retirement, the second largest senior housing operator in the United States, growing the company’s occupancy, NOI and EBITDA through organic growth and acquisitions, recapitalizing the company through triple net and third-party management transactions, and centralizing operationally intensive functions. During his tenure at Holiday, Kai held several leadership positions, including overseeing operations, field support functions, acquisitions and new business strategy. Previous to Holiday, Kai worked at Macerich (NYSE: MAC), a retail REIT, where he worked in operations, marketing, and both ground up developments and redevelopments. And prior to Macerich, Kai worked at world-renown spa resort, Canyon Ranch, where he focused on new hospitality and real estate developments.

Kai serves as a member on the Argentum (previously known as the Assisted Living Federation of America, ALFA) Board of Directors and is on the Executive Board of the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA). He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Arizona.

Eclipse Senior Living is a national 3rd party manager of Independent, Assisted and Memory Care communities across the United States under various brands, including Elmcroft and Embark.

Lynne Katzmann is Founder and President of Juniper Communities, which invests in, develops and manages senior living and long-term care communities. With 20 properties in four states and more than 1200 employees, Juniper, has $65 million in revenues. Celebrating its 27th Anniversary, Juniper is ranked #14 by Crain’s New York on its Top 50 ranking of woman-owned companies for the New York tri-state area. Juniper is the only woman- founded, owned and led business among the top 40 national assisted living companies. Katzmann launched the business when she was 32, with six years’ experience in the health care industry and a PhD in economics. An active leader in the social entrepreneurship movement at its beginning, she was a firm believer in the so-called double bottom line: doing well by doing good. Katzmann leads an organization known for resident-centered, personalized care. Juniper’s priorities and its many award-winning innovations are consistent with her belief: “Aging and its challenges are a natural part of our life cycle. Quality of life in this third stage should be enjoyed to its fullest according to each person’s choosing. There is no reason that a frail body should not allow a life of joy and meaning.” Katzmann has been involved in the health care industry for almost 30 years, working in the public and private sectors in the United States and Europe. ​

Matt Ruark is a Senior Vice President, Head of Commercial and Healthcare Mortgage Production in the Real Estate Capital Market Group of KeyBank. Additionally, Matt leads the Investor Placement team, which he started at Key in 2011. As Head of Commercial and Healthcare Mortgage Production, Mr. Ruark oversees multiple teams of mortgage bankers and analysts. The teams work with all of KeyBank’s corporate real estate offices nationally in the origination of permanent debt placements. These groups originated more than $4 billion of fixed and floating rate permanent mortgages in 2019. Matt is also part of the Commercial Mortgage Group’s management team.

Additional responsibilities internally at KeyBank include: Diversity & Inclusion Co-Champion for the Corporate Bank and Advisory Committee Member for the Commercial/Corporate Bank.

Mr. Ruark has worked in the Commercial Mortgage Banking industry for more than 20 years. Responsibilities throughout his career have included originating debt and equity financing for private and public real estate owners through relationships with a variety of capital sources, including insurance companies, investment banks, governmental agencies, commercial banks and credit institutions.

Mr. Ruark has served on the NIC Planning Committee for the past two years (2019, 2020). He has previously served on the Olathe Kansas Economic Development Council board, The Northeast Industrial Association board, Kansas City Industrial Council, and was an affiliate member of the Kansas City CCIM Chapter. Matt is a graduate of Kansas City’s Chamber of Commerce Centurion Leadership Program, and was recognized by Ingram’s magazine in 2007 as one of Kansas City’s “40 Under 40” business leaders.

Mr. Ruark earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska (Finance, major and Mathematics, minor), and an MBA from Rockhurst University (dual focus Finance and Marketing).

Bre Grubbs is Leisure Care’s Chief Strategy Office as well as a Partner in the company.  In her current role, Bre guides strategy for Leisure Care’s business development, sales and marketing, and human resource initiatives.  Her focus is on collaboration with all company disciplines and external partners, guiding her teams in utilizing data, market research, and community-level experiences to maximize performance and drive responsible growth.  Leisure Care’s philosophy of making a positive impact on the company’s residents, families, employees, and business partners is a driving force in all Bre does.   She’s extended this philosophy to her contributions outside of the office as well, with the goal of sharing the career opportunities that existing in senior living with a broader audience.  In support of these endeavors, she is Chair Emeritus of the Steering Committee for Washington State’s Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living, the first operations-focused, hospitality-guided senior living program in the US.  She is also actively involved with the NIC, serving on the Fall Conference Planning Committee and the Future Leader’s Oversight Committee.  Outside of work, Bre can be found at a baseball field, watching her teenage son play or taking in a Mariner’s game with her family.   

Bob Kramer is Co-founder, former CEO, and now Strategic Advisor at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). Mr. Kramer is also Founder and Fellow at Nexus Insights, a think tank advancing the well-being of older adults through innovative models of housing, community and healthcare. He is broadly recognized as one of senior living’s most influential and high profile thought leaders and connectors. With over 35 years of industry leadership, he has earned the reputation of “agent provocateur” in the senior housing and care industry. He has been described as an “ice-cutter” and scout in identifying industries and trends that will disrupt the future of senior housing, aging services, and aging more broadly.

In 1991, Mr. Kramer co-founded NIC to advance access and choice in senior housing and care by attracting capital to grow the sector. Under his leadership, NIC became the go-to resource for data and analytics for the rapidly expanding senior housing and care industry and an acknowledged thought leader for new ideas and trends impacting the provision of housing, services and care for older adults. Mr. Kramer stepped out of the CEO role in 2107 and continues to serve NIC as Strategic Advisor.

In 2019, Mr. Kramer conceived of and championed “The Forgotten Middle,” a landmark study of the health and socioeconomic status of middle-income adults who will be 75+ in 2029 and their ability to afford private pay senior housing. The report on the study, published in Health Affairs, was the 5th most read article appearing in this leading health policy monthly journal in 2019.

In April 2020, Mr. Kramer launched Nexus Insights to “rethink aging from every angle.” The organization engages a network of leading thinkers and thinking leaders to create and champion bold ideas and actionable models to catalyze the next generation of housing, community, health, and engagement for and with older adults. In March, he received the 2023 McKnight’s Pinnacle Career Achievement Award for his enduring contributions to the senior housing and long-term care field.

A former county government official and Maryland state legislator, Mr. Kramer was a leader on health and environmental issues while representing the state capital of Annapolis in the 1980s. Mr. Kramer was educated at Harvard and Oxford Universities and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary.

Mr. Lessard became the Chief Operating Officer of Belmont Village Senior Living in April 2015.   He has 20 years of experience with the company in operations, investments and finance.   Belmont is a national developer, owner and operator of high-end senior living communities that offer independent living, assisted living and memory care services on a monthly rental basis.   Belmont is backed by institutional capital and currently operates 28 communities in seven states.      

Prior to joining Belmont, Mr. Lessard spent six years in Public Accounting and Internal Audit and held various roles in the real estate, education and healthcare industries. Mr. Lessard received his BS in Business Administration from Arizona State University in 1983.    

Mr. Lessard currently serves as a member of the NIC Future Leaders Council Oversight Committee and CALA Board members.  

A partner in Nixon Peabody’s Real Estate group, Allen Lynch leads the firm’s Seniors Housing & Care team. He has more than 15 years of experience representing parties in transactions and operations-related engagements, which range from single property matters to several of the industry’s most notable transactions involving publicly traded and privately held clients. In addition, Allen has spent many years serving on the boards of large for-profit and nonprofit seniors housing and care operators, giving him a unique understanding of the industry. This industry involvement, coupled with frequent participation on national conference panels and teaching engagements at the University of Maryland Erickson School of Aging Studies, enable Allen to provide practical business insights and legal solutions to clients. 

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 property performance, understand local market conditions, and project future cash flows. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Ms. Myerson served as a Vice President of ProMatura, a leading research and consulting firm specializing in the aging market. She partnered with organizations to conduct market studies and consumer research to assess the feasibility of new developments, products and services. Ms. Myerson also worked in the areas of finance and development for more than 12 years with national senior housing providers including Watermark Retirement Communities and Sunrise Senior Living. Ms. Myerson 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 is a past member of the Future Leaders Council of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC). She lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband and two children and volunteers with several local organizations, including the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and the Early Childhood Development Group.

Amy Kaszak is the President of Special Needs Plans at AllyAlign Health. As AllyAlign Health’s second employee, Amy helped shape the company’s strategy of empowering long-term care providers to change the financial incentives and care models for vulnerable populations. Amy oversees all partner relationships, clinical operations, business development and sales and marketing activities of the company.  Amy’s experience with innovative care models began in the mid-1990s when she helped organize one of the first hospitalist companies in the country, Intercede Health (formerly Inpatient Medical Services).  Based in Houston, Texas, the company built and operated Hospitalist networks for CIGNA, Humana, Pacificare, and Heritage and NAMM IPAs and, as payment models shifted, later partnered with hospitals across the country to implement Hospitalist and SNFist practices.   

Ann O’Shaughnessy is Managing Director in CIBC’s Healthcare Group. She manages a group that works with owners, operators, and investors in a variety of healthcare specialties across the United States. Prior to joining CIBC in 2007, she was Senior Vice President and Division Manager at LaSalle Bank, focusing on the healthcare industry. Ann is a board member with Inspiration Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that works to assist the homeless attain self-sufficiency. And, she is a Fellow with Leadership Greater Chicago, which works to effect transformative civic impact in Greater Chicago. She holds an MBA from Loyola University Chicago. CIBC is a publically traded financial institution (CM: TSX, NYSE) whose US operations are headquartered in Chicago.

Colleen H. Blumenthal, MAI, has been appraising real estate and consulting owners and investors for over 30 years, specializing in seniors housing and healthcare since 1992. She has developed HealthTrust’s agency (offering both appraisal and consultant reports) and HUD platforms. 

In addition to her duties as the Chief Operating Officer of HealthTrust, she has served as the task force lead on the American Seniors Housing Association’s State of Seniors Housing for the last 16 years; is a member of ULI’s Senior Housing Council; speaks regularly on the seniors housing industry and valuation; coordinated research and written studies with the American Seniors Housing Association and other seniors housing organizations; and has authored several seminars and white papers on seniors housing and care properties. 

With more than 30 years of experience in health care and aging services, Diane Burfeindt has worked with acute care, housing, home care, continuing care retirement communities, personal care/assisted living, and skilled nursing. Joining Presbyterian Senior Living in 1997, she served in a variety of leadership positions including corporate director, vice president of residential and community services, and vice president of population health before accepting the role of senior vice president of strategy and innovation. In 2022, she joined Trilogy Connect as a Managing Partner, continuing the work to bring actionable vision and strategy to organizations throughout the senior living field. 

A frequent presenter on industry best practices at state and national conferences, Burfeindt received her MBA from Bloomsburg University and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Journalism from Shippensburg University. She has been involved in various volunteer leadership positions including assisting on the National Investment Council Planning Committee, sharing her expertise as a coach for the LeadingAge PA Fellows in Leadership program, and serving as secretary of the LeadingAge PA Board of Directors. A Larry Minnix Leadership Academy Fellow, Burfeindt is also a licensed nursing home administrator and previously served as a surveyor for CARF/CCAC. 

A pioneering healthcare entrepreneur who provides visionary leadership in senior housing, transitional care and ancillary care, Brian Cloch is a principal and co-founder of Innovative Health, LLC. 

Over the past 30 years, Brian has served as a leader in the post acute industry. He is the founder and former President of the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition, where he was a primary architect of the state’s successful Supportive Living model, and the former Chairman of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation Nursing Home Administrator licensing board. 

Brian has owned and operated a variety of senior housing communities, transitional care and skilled nursing facilities as well as supportive and independent living senior housing.  He is a partner in Transitional Care Management, which provides comprehensive consulting and management services in a variety of post acute settings, and Post Acute Management Solutions, which partners with Chicago-based managed care plans, senior communities and medical providers, to provide care coordination. He is also a partner in various ancillary care businesses including home health, rehabilitation, hospice and medication management. 

Brian is a well respected speaker at national conferences on innovation and change in the healthcare delivery system. 

Jamie Cobb is President, Real Estate Asset Management at Columbia Pacific Advisors (CPA). Jamie’s responsibilities include operational execution of CPA’s real estate investment strategy including the oversight of the asset management, FP&A and accounting functions for CPA’s real estate portfolio. Prior to joining Columbia Pacific, Jamie spent 5 years at Colliers International, most recently as the Chief Financial Officer for North America. Prior to taking on those responsibilities, he served as Senior Director, Business Analysis for Colliers Global COO. Prior to Colliers, Jamie spent 9+ years as an investment professional at the Bill and Melinda Gates Investment (BMGI) Company also known as Cascade Investment, which manages the Gates’ personal wealth as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Endowment. During his tenure at BMGI he served as a board member of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, representing Cascade in their joint venture ownership. After graduating from the Foster School of business at the University of Washington, Jamie spent four years as an assurance and advisory professional at Ernst & Young covering private and public real estate, retail, media and biotechnology companies. Jamie is the holder of the CFA charter and previously passed the CPA exam in the State of Washington. 

Vikas Gupta is the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Development at Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. and has served in this capacity since April 2015. Mr. Gupta is involved in acquisitions, construction, and capital expenditure activity, overseeing a team of investment professionals, while being one of the primary contacts for operator relationships at Omega. From 2003 to July 2011, Mr. Gupta served in various roles at CapitalSource Finance, most recently as a Sr. Loan Officer/VP, where he oversaw a portfolio of healthcare assets. He also currently serves as a Board Member for the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (“FIRMC”) and the Alzheimer’s Association of Maryland.

Brandi Healey currently serves as Vice President of Asset Management for Harrison Street, where she is responsible for the oversight of financial performance, execution of investment strategy, and management of operator relationships across the seniors housing sector.  Brandi has 15 years of healthcare real estate and finance experience with large firms including Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc., Ventas/Care Capital Properties, Omega Healthcare Investors and M&T Bank.  She is also an alumna of NIC’s Future Leaders Council.  Brandi grew up in Scranton, PA and graduated with a degree in International Business from Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown PA.  She currently lives in Chicago IL with her husband and daughter. ​ 

Lynne Katzmann is Founder and President of Juniper Communities, which invests in, develops and manages senior living and long-term care communities. With 20 properties in four states and more than 1200 employees, Juniper, has $65 million in revenues. Celebrating its 27th Anniversary, Juniper is ranked #14 by Crain’s New York on its Top 50 ranking of woman-owned companies for the New York tri-state area. Juniper is the only woman- founded, owned and led business among the top 40 national assisted living companies. Katzmann launched the business when she was 32, with six years’ experience in the health care industry and a PhD in economics. An active leader in the social entrepreneurship movement at its beginning, she was a firm believer in the so-called double bottom line: doing well by doing good. Katzmann leads an organization known for resident-centered, personalized care. Juniper’s priorities and its many award-winning innovations are consistent with her belief: “Aging and its challenges are a natural part of our life cycle. Quality of life in this third stage should be enjoyed to its fullest according to each person’s choosing. There is no reason that a frail body should not allow a life of joy and meaning.” Katzmann has been involved in the health care industry for almost 30 years, working in the public and private sectors in the United States and Europe. ​

Peter is a Principal and Managing Partner of Cantex Continuing Care Network (CCCN), a fully-integrated post-acute network based in Carrollton, TX.  CCCN is privately held and has been in business since 1978.  It currently owns and operates 34 continuing care centers (licensed as skilled nursing facilities) and 4 home health and 2 hospice agencies, as well as operating in-house rehabilitation and pharmacy divisions that serve its patient-care service lines.  CCCN is an active developer of new continuing care centers and an active acquirer of post-acute businesses.​ 

James Lydiard is the Chief Strategy Officer of HarmonyCares (previously USMM).  The nation’s largest independent Home Based Primary Care Practice, HarmonyCares provides Professional, Ancillary, and Allied Services in the homes of >32,000 patients in 35 MSA’s spread amongst 11 states.   As the organizations CSO, James oversees growth, payment innovation, account management, and implementation functions.   

Prior to joining USMM, James held Vice President roles at Strive Health and CareMore/Anthem.  CareMore Health is an integrated health care delivery company and subsidiary of Anthem, serving over 200,000 members across 26 states.  At CareMore, James led the national business division responsible for bringing CareMore’s care delivery model into the homes of vulnerable seniors with limited access to outpatient services.   

Since 2007, James has been committed to improving care delivery operations, access, and affordable care models to frail and underserved patients and communities.  His organizations, roles, and care teams championed mobile programs in more than 30 states.   In his current and past accountable areas, James’ responsibilities have included P&L oversight, network strategy and development, product design, analytics & reporting, and growth. 

James earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry from The University of Arizona and is a Heath Care Innovation Program Graduate from University of Pennsylvania. 

James is a routine contributor to various industry forums, such as National Investment Center (NIC) and Milken Institute on Aging.  His innovate work aligning Senor Housing and Healthcare has been documented by ATI Advisory, McKnight’s, and Aging Media Network, and Harvard Business Review.  

Joel Mendes is the co-head of JLL’s national seniors housing debt practice. Joel focuses on debt, equity, and investment sales advisory services for seniors housing owners, operators, and developers nationally. 

Joel has closed more than 150 commercial real estate transactions and has focused on the seniors housing and care industry since 2007.  Joel is a frequent speaker and panel moderator as well as the Co-Chair of the 2023 Spring NIC Conference Planning Committee.  Prior to joining JLL in 2015 via its acquisition of Oak Grove Capital, Joel worked in the seniors housing groups of Oak Grove and Red Capital.  Joel began his career by completing formal credit traising at LaSalle Bank and then working in LaSalle’s commercial real estate lending division. 

Joel graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Science in economics and a Certificate in markets and management. 

Morgin Morris is a Senior Mortgage Banker based in KeyBank’s Seattle office focusing on Senior Housing loan origination in the West. Morgin has been in the Senior Housing finance industry for over 15 years, with a continued passion for the senior’ business and her clients. In addition to Key’s balance sheet bridge program, her concentration today is on permanent and interim loan solutions including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Debt Fund, LifeCo and FHA/ HUD loans. Before joining KeyBank in 2011, she was a seniors housing underwriter at Guaranty and BBVA Compass Banks. She is a former NIC Future Leader’s Council Chair, and Key Young Professionals Chair. ​

Maria Nadelstumph is the Senior Vice President of the Brandywine Center of Excellence for Brandywine Living, a market leader in luxury senior living, including assisted living, memory care and independent living. Since joining the company in 1999, Maria supported the company’s strategic growth through development and acquisitions and service line development, such as, the company’s signature memory care program (Reflections) and its strategic healthcare partnerships with several major health systems.

Maria successfully developed and leads the Brandywine Center of Excellence, a companywide program and business unit designed to increase workforce development and retention, leadership training and engagement, quality assurance, acquisition and integration initiatives, and service line innovation throughout the company’s 32 community portfolio across seven states (PA, NJ, NY, CT, DE, MD & VA). As an active member of Argentum, Maria assisted in the development of the Executive Director Certification, Standards for Senior Living and serves as Chair of the Memory Care Executive Round Table. She has an M.A. in Organizational Development and B. S. in Therapeutic Recreation and Gerontology. ​ 

Jerry Taylor, Director of Business Development, 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.​