Z. Allen Abbott

Vice President of Philanthropy
Baptist Senior Family
Pittsburgh, PA, US
  • 43-E. Community Partnerships to Enhance Giving, Engagement, and Occupancy

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    43-E. Community Partnerships to Enhance Giving, Engagement, and Occupancy

    No senior living organization is an island at least not if it wants to succeed. This session will offer strategies to break down silos and foster collaboration within and beyond your organization. Presenters will show you how your sales, marketing, life enrichment, and philanthropy teams can work together to improve the resident experience and drive organizational growth. They’ll also explore the importance of engaging external partners to attract charitable support, enrich resident life, and position your organization as a trusted resource. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to unlock growth, deepen stakeholder engagement, and increase community impact by building bridges at home and across the broader community.

Rob Adams

CEO
10Next
Midlothian, VA, USA
  • 54-J. Proven Strategies for Life Plan Community Expansion

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    54-J. Proven Strategies for Life Plan Community Expansion

    Growth can enhance a life plan community’s mission, diversify its revenue, expand its market reach, and enable it to serve more older adults. But it also carries significant financial, operational, and reputational risks. In this session, two life plan community leaders and a marketing strategist will demystify the expansion process. They’ll share how they make growth decisions by assessing organizational readiness, aligning boards, securing financing, analyzing competitors, and building demand before opening. Let these experienced leaders give you confidence and a practical roadmap for pursuing strategic expansion that balances mission-driven decision-making with business imperatives.

Sharon Adams Brooks

Opus Marketing
2Life Communities
Brighton, MA, US
  • 125-E. Co-Locating Affordable and Middle-Income Housing

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    125-E. Co-Locating Affordable and Middle-Income Housing

    Providers of affordable senior housing have long aimed to serve both low- and middle-income older adults. This session will showcase a housing project that achieved both goals by co-locating a new middle-income life plan community with an existing affordable housing community and linking the buildings through a shared amenity space. Presenters will explain how the shared campus fosters a more equitable community and offers services and staff that go beyond what either community could provide independently. You’ll discover the architectural and spatial implications of building an income-inclusive community and learn why the local market was receptive to this new concept.

Anita Adkins

Director Strategic Growth
Westminster Canterbury Richmond
Richmond, VA, US
  • 55-K. The Growth Imperative: If the Market is Ready, Why Aren’t We?

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    55-K. The Growth Imperative: If the Market is Ready, Why Aren’t We?

    Independent living occupancy has surpassed 90% nationally, even as inventory growth has reached record lows. With demand projected to accelerate, life plan communities must ask a critical question: If the market is ready for growth, why aren’t we? This session will help you become more comfortable with organizational growth. Presenters will guide you in assessing when to grow, when to wait, and which indicators matter most. They’ll share step-by-step processes to build alignment on growth across your organization and show you how to reduce uncertainty and accelerate progress. Learn to differentiate between healthy risk awareness and counterproductive risk avoidance, and get ready to take meaningful action to grow your organization.

Susan Ahern

Chief Financial Officer
Acts Retirement-Life Communities, Inc.
Fort Washington, PA, USA
  • 87-I. Strategic Habits of Successful Organizations

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    87-I. Strategic Habits of Successful Organizations

    Financial performance isn’t the only measure of organizational health. This session will introduce common attributes that go beyond balance sheets and revenue streams to drive sustainable performance improvement in senior living organizations. Presenters will share a performance-improvement framework developed by Baker Tilly, an advisory, tax, and assurance firm. They’ll help you assess how effectively your organization builds governance structures, maintains leadership stability, fosters a supportive workplace culture, pursues proactive capital planning, ensures financial and operational alignment, and engages residents. Representatives from single-site and multisite organizations will share strategies to achieve operational excellence, long-term sustainability, and resilience.

George Akopyan

Chief HR Officer
Front Porch
Glendale, CA, US
  • 143-I. From Fragmented to Focused: Centralizing Talent Acquisition

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    143-I. From Fragmented to Focused: Centralizing Talent Acquisition

    A centralized talent acquisition framework consolidates hiring operations under a single Human Resources (HR) team and helps your organization transform recruitment into a proactive, data-driven strategy. This session will show you how centralized recruitment models enable HR teams to conduct higher-quality candidate assessments and enhance the candidate experience through consistent communication, streamlined touchpoints, and clear expectations. Presenters will share strategies to help you assess and redesign your current recruitment operations, streamline workflows, and leverage technology to drive higher returns on investment. You’ll see how a centralized approach can lower vacancy rates, improve outcomes, strengthen workforce stability, and reduce your organization’s compliance and legal risk.

Pam Aldahondo

HR Director
Skyline
Seattle, WA, US
  • 140-G. The ROAD to Building Your Workforce Through Internships

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    140-G. The ROAD to Building Your Workforce Through Internships

    Senior living communities seeking to strengthen their workforce must take deliberate steps to reach younger workers who may not yet view aging services as an attractive career path. This session will highlight a program that can help. The Rotational Operations and Development (ROAD) talent development model invites young interns to explore the full range of career opportunities in aging services through internship rotations across various departments such as operations, dining, marketing, resident services, and more. LeadingAge members who are using the ROAD model, along with interns who’ve participated in it, will share their experiences. You’ll gain the tools you need to attract Gen Z team members to your organization and to our field.

Michael Allen-Hall

Principal
Noelker and Hull Associates, Inc.
Chambersburg, PA, US
  • 122-B. Cultivating Connection: Designing for Holistic Aging

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    122-B. Cultivating Connection: Designing for Holistic Aging

    What happens when you pair a life plan community with a multi-use space serving the wider community? This session will answer that question. Presenters will share the story of Pleasant View Communities in Manheim, PA, which transformed a farm adjacent to its campus into a community center featuring public space for educational programs, outdoor activities, public events, and a municipal library. Discover how life plan community residents find purpose and value in the community center through educational programs, gardening, and volunteer opportunities. You’ll see how land use and architectural master planning, along with local and regional partnerships, can help create innovative shared spaces that meet the needs of all stakeholders.

Ashley Allman

Vice President of Marketing & Development
Westminster Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
  • 69-H. Customizing Apartment Design Within Timelines and Budgets

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    69-H. Customizing Apartment Design Within Timelines and Budgets

    Imagine your organization is building a large-scale independent living project for clients with discerning tastes. You know residents want to customize their new apartments. But how do you offer a wide range of options while ensuring a smooth, timely process? This session will provide a blueprint for success. Presenters will outline key elements of a successful customization process, including standardized procedures for engaging residents, technology-enabled tools to support the design process, transparent pricing and deadlines, and clear roles for project team members. You’ll return home with strategies for balancing your desire to provide a personalized experience with the need to maintain project timelines and budgets.

Olivia Alvarado

Enrollment Specialist
UST
Oxnard, CA, United States
  • 139-F. Protect Your Mission by Lowering Unemployment Expenses

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    139-F. Protect Your Mission by Lowering Unemployment Expenses

    As a nonprofit aging services provider, you aim to use your budget to serve older adults. You may be surprised to learn that operational expenses, including unemployment costs, can drain valuable funds and impede your mission-driven work. During this session, representatives from UST Workforce Solutions, a LeadingAge Gold Partner, will explore cost-effective workforce strategies to streamline your human resources processes, ensure regulatory compliance, and improve operational efficiency. You’ll learn how nonprofit organizations are leveraging artificial intelligence to boost productivity without reducing staff, and how certain unemployment funding options, including a little-known federal exemption, can reduce unemployment costs for 501(c)(3) organizations while helping them build a valuable long-term financial asset.

Sydney Amundsen

Health Center Administrator
Holladay Park Plaza
Medford, OR, USA
  • 144-J. Rural Life Plan Communities Can Address Provider Shortages

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    144-J. Rural Life Plan Communities Can Address Provider Shortages

    Accessing quality and consistent primary care is increasingly difficult for older adults in rural areas, largely due to challenges associated with contracting, credentialing, workforce shortages, and sustaining geriatric-focused primary care. This session will explore how a life plan community addressed these challenges by establishing an on-site primary care clinic that integrates care across all its service levels. Presenters will outline the clinic’s development and explain how it addresses provider shortages and payer complexities, and enhances resident wellness. You’ll take away practical strategies for designing sustainable, resident-centered healthcare models that strengthen and improve access, continuity, and satisfaction. You’ll also appreciate the critical role partnerships play in supporting sustainable, resident-centered healthcare.

Vidhi Anderson

Vice President of Development
HumanGood PA
Lafayette Hill, PA, USA
  • 39-C. The Housing Challenge: Building Resilience in Complex Times

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    39-C. The Housing Challenge: Building Resilience in Complex Times

    Affordable housing developers often struggle to fulfill their missions as funding sources evolve, interest rates fluctuate, and compliance requirements grow more complex. This session will help providers navigate the challenges and opportunities shaping the sector today, including new federal initiatives, financing hurdles, and sustainability imperatives. Presenters will share insights into emerging financial trends reshaping project feasibility, long-term asset management, and organizational sustainability. They’ll offer practical strategies for responding to capital market shifts, restructuring deals, and leveraging new funding while maintaining transparency. You’ll be reminded that resilience in affordable housing requires both innovation and a firm purpose and you’ll gain the tools to achieve both.