Joseph Coughlin

Director, AgeLab
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA, USA

Catherine Couture

Director of Community Life
Hebrew SeniorLife
Boston, MA, US
  • 85-J. Let Residents and Team Members Reimagine the Continuum

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    85-J. Let Residents and Team Members Reimagine the Continuum

    Orchard Cove, a life plan community in Canton, MA, began reimagining its continuum of care in early 2021 in response to sweeping changes in the field of aging, feedback from residents, and business priorities. This session will detail the organization’s planning and implementation process, led by a multidisciplinary group of team members and residents. Presenters will describe how the Orchard Cove team developed a health and well-being navigation program, actively promoted the well-being of residents and team members, reimagined skilled nursing, and introduced a new array of services to maximize independence and enhance quality of life. You’ll gain valuable insights to help you engage with stakeholders as you launch a similar process.

Candace Cramer

CEO
Goddard House Assisted Living
Brookline, MA, US
  • 131-F. Inclusive Planning and Design to Support an Expanded Mission

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    131-F. Inclusive Planning and Design to Support an Expanded Mission

    Goddard House, a 175-year-old single-site assisted living and memory support community in Brookline, MA, embarked on a journey in 2019 to expand a mission that already distinguished it from the competition. This session will showcase the significant physical updates that Goddard House undertook to support programs deemed essential to that expanded mission, which calls for greater engagement with the Boston community, an increased focus on the creative arts, and renewed efforts to foster a sense of belonging for everyone. Presenters will describe the community’s innovative approach to aging and examine the inclusive master plan and evidence-based design process that have enabled the Goddard House campus to create spaces tailored to support current and future residents and programs.

Irene Cramer

Resident
Lasell Village
Auburndale, MA, US
  • 20-E. Every Voice: Creating Inclusive Senior Living Communities

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    20-E. Every Voice: Creating Inclusive Senior Living Communities

    Lasell Village in Newton, MA, is implementing a resident-driven, employee-engaged framework called “Every Voice” that fosters inclusion and belonging by integrating voices across generations, backgrounds, and identities. This session will describe how residents and team members of the life plan community worked together to embed belonging into daily life through inclusive policies, respectful dialogue, and change-oriented programming. Presenters will offer guidance to help you build a culture of inclusion that aligns with your organization’s values, engages community members, and measures progress. You’ll return home with the tools you need to ensure that your community reflects the richness of the world while it continues working toward a more diverse future.

Kristen Crawford

Branding and Communications Director
GSI
Bellevue, WA, USA
  • 66-I. Building Your Organization’s Brand from the Inside Out

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    66-I. Building Your Organization’s Brand from the Inside Out

    Building a strong brand involves more than designing a logo and developing a catchy tagline. It’s also about creating an authentic emotional connection between your organization and its consumers, team members, and stakeholders. This session will show you how to cultivate your brand from within by engaging team members at all levels in defining and communicating your organization’s core values. Presenters will share a cross-departmental game plan for connecting team members to your organization’s vision and implementing an intentional workplace culture that unites everyone around a shared mission. You’ll take home a framework for ongoing storytelling that links team members to your brand and keeps them engaged through newsletters, events, and branded merchandise.

Mark Crites

President – Managing Director
StempleCrites
Atlanta, GA, USA
  • 79-F. What Rising Insurance Rates Mean for Your Property

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    79-F. What Rising Insurance Rates Mean for Your Property

    Today’s property market remains fractured, unstable, and increasingly expensive. This is especially true for properties in geographic regions at greater risk for severe natural disasters or other events that can cause significant damage and lead to double-digit increases in property insurance rates. This session will help you understand the current property market, how insurance rates are determined, and strategies for combating rising costs. Panelists will share their predictions for the future and outline the opportunities that a chaotic insurance market might present for your organization.

Patrick Crump

President & CEO
Morningside Ministries
San Antonio, TX, USA
  • 128-D. Weathering the Storm: Resilient Senior Living Design

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    128-D. Weathering the Storm: Resilient Senior Living Design

    Well-designed senior living communities provide a valuable and reassuring sense of stability to residents and team members. However, those feelings of security can be threatened, sometimes in an instant, by natural or human-made disasters that disrupt daily life and damage or destroy buildings. This session will showcase practical building design and emergency preparedness strategies to help your organization prepare for, adapt to, endure, and recover from adverse events. Presenters will familiarize you with the fundamental principles of resilient building design and guide you through proven methods to safeguard occupants and structures from natural disasters. They will also examine how evolving building codes, insurance requirements, and other factors influence resilient design.

John Cumming

Resident
Carlsbad By The Sea
Carlsbad, CA, US
  • 31-E. Engage Residents as Partners to Help Your Community Thrive

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    31-E. Engage Residents as Partners to Help Your Community Thrive

    Are you looking to enhance your community’s operations, reduce costs, and attract new residents? This session will help you enlist your most effective allies the older adults living in your community to support this effort. Presenters will demonstrate how to achieve lasting success by creating a living environment that inspires resident enthusiasm for your community’s mission. That enthusiasm can spur authentic resident advocacy and resident-driven initiatives that will help enhance your community’s vitality, cultivate meaningful connections, and generate heartfelt word-of-mouth referrals. Discover how to engage residents as active partners in improving service delivery, optimizing costs, and fostering a positive community image.

Michelle Curnow

Senior Vice President of Sales & Brand
Asbury Communities, Inc.
Frederick, MD, US
  • 1-A. Smart Living Showcase: Bringing Technology to Senior Living

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    1-A. Smart Living Showcase: Bringing Technology to Senior Living

    Imagine owning a television that uses artificial intelligence to provide social connection. You might want eyeglasses that provide real-time captions of your conversations, or a scale that assesses your risk of falling. These and other technology solutions are displayed in a Smart Living Showcase, developed by Asbury Communities in collaboration with the AgeTech Collaborativeu2122 from AARP. Attend this session for an eye-opening overview of how the showcase is helping Asbury investigate emerging technologies and understand older adults’ preferences and readiness to embrace technology. Presenters will guide you through the showcase’s collection, offer tips for implementing technology solutions in senior living, and discuss the impact of technology innovation on market perception and sales.

Donna Cutting

Founder & CEO
Red-Carpet Learning Worldwide
Dunedin, FL, USA
  • 144-E. It’s Time to Rethink Your Training Strategies

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    144-E. It’s Time to Rethink Your Training Strategies

    Senior living communities excel at developing “compliance” training programs to meet legal requirements. However, they often overlook the need for “learning and development” training programs that emphasize employee engagement, service excellence, and clinical outcomes. This session will challenge the status quo by recommending that providers adopt a more intentional training strategy. Presenters will share examples of aging services organizations that have used learning and development strategies to redesign an employee orientation program, create an award-winning customer service program, and develop an in-house leadership academy. You’ll gain tools to evaluate your organization’s learning and development offerings and find inspiration to rethink your training approach.

Susan Dailey

Resident Board Member
National Lutheran Communities & Services
Frederick, MD
  • 128-H. Brighten Up Your Community: Reimagining Outdated Spaces

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    128-H. Brighten Up Your Community: Reimagining Outdated Spaces

    Does your senior living community have dark interiors, underutilized spaces, and outdated dining areas? It may be time to reimagine your community to make it more appealing to consumers seeking modern design, diverse dining options, and vibrant spaces that foster social engagement. This session will show you how to keep pace with new developments by evaluating your campus space, identifying underused areas, and repurposing them to align with emerging trends and resident expectations. Presenters will share tips for taking a phased renovation approach that lets you exercise your imagination, maximize existing assets, and avoid significant debt. They’ll also offer tools to engage residents in the design process and turn them into project champions.

Lynn Daly

Executive Vice President
HJ Sims
Fairfield, CT, United States
  • 45-F. Affiliate or Go It Alone? Forming Bonds Across Faith Traditions

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    45-F. Affiliate or Go It Alone? Forming Bonds Across Faith Traditions

    The decision to affiliate is among the most consequential and strategic choices a board of directors can make. For faith-based organizations considering a merger with a ministry from a different faith background, the decision can be especially daunting. This session will feature three leaders from faith-based organizations that successfully affiliated with partners from different religious backgrounds. Presenters will describe their founding traditions and the key drivers behind their decision to pursue affiliation. They’ll explain how they approached the affiliation process and how they weighed religious affinities and differences when identifying and evaluating potential partners. You’ll leave this session better equipped to engage in conversations about strategic partnerships while maintaining your unique faith identity.