Christian Grunder

VP of Human Resources
Givens Communities
Asheville, NC, USA
  • 149-I. Talent Acquisition: A Game-Changer for Senior Living Success

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    149-I. Talent Acquisition: A Game-Changer for Senior Living Success

    Many older adults move to a senior living community, live there for years, and recommend it to friends because they have forged strong bonds with the organization’s team members. Are you struggling to find exceptional team members to fill these essential roles? This session will encourage you to hire a dedicated Talent Acquisition Specialist who can help you establish an efficient and reliable hiring process. Presenters will describe how this new position can alleviate the burden on your already-busy Human Resources Director while improving retention rates, reducing time-to-hire, and fostering team member growth and satisfaction. Discover how to establish and implement this new role and explore data to help you calculate your potential return on investment.

Mollie Gurian

VP, Policy & Government Affairs
LeadingAge
Washington, DC, USA
  • 110-C. The Future of Medicaid

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    110-C. The Future of Medicaid

    Medicaid has been in the limelight during 2025, a year marked by significant policy debates and changes that will shape the priorities of state programs for years to come. This session will provide updates on federal Medicaid policy and how states are beginning to respond to recent changes. Presenters will also analyze the impact of federal Medicaid policy on providers across the aging services continuum. You’ll gain a clearer understanding of the challenges and opportunities you can expect to encounter as you work to sustain, expand, and enhance services for older adults.

  • 119-H. Medicare’s Aging at Home Policy Paradox

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    119-H. Medicare’s Aging at Home Policy Paradox

    Studies have consistently shown that older adults prefer to age at home. Despite these trends, investments in home health, hospice, and other Medicare-funded home and community-based services remain misaligned with growing consumer demand for these essential services. Join this session to acquire up-to-date knowledge about home health and hospice policy. Presenters will examine changes to Medicare that are helping and hurting home-based providers striving to meet the needs of older adults who wish to age in place.

  • 121-J. Federal Policy Across the Continuum

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    121-J. Federal Policy Across the Continuum

    Are you managing multiple service lines across the continuum, or just curious about the broader policy landscape affecting aging services? This session is designed for you. The LeadingAge advocacy team will be on hand to review this year’s federal policy successes and challenges. You’ll gain a clear understanding of key federal legislative and regulatory changes impacting nursing homes, hospice, affordable housing, home health, adult day services, and Medicaid home and community-based services. You’ll also hear the latest updates on legal matters, workforce development, and Medicare Advantage. Don’t miss this opportunity to catch up on 2025’s policy news and prepare for the advocacy initiatives that are expected to emerge in 2026.

Hayley Gurtler

Director, Digital & Advertising
Lifestar Creative
Venice, FL, USA
  • 68-K. Balancing Technology and Relationships in Sales and Marketing

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    68-K. Balancing Technology and Relationships in Sales and Marketing

    Artificial intelligence (AI) offers many benefits to senior living communities seeking to optimize their sales and marketing efforts. However, senior living marketers who want to harness the benefits of AI must work diligently to ensure that human connection remains central to all sales and marketing outreach. This session will explore how AI can streamline sales and marketing strategies by automating routine tasks, analyzing data to identify consumer trends, and facilitating communication through chatbots and personalized email campaigns. You’ll learn how to blend the power of AI with the warmth of human connection to create a truly exceptional experience for prospective residents.

Maria Hagadorn

VP of Account Services
3rd3rd Marketing
Vashon, WA, USA
  • 63-F. Reaching Out to Solo Agers to Increase Sales and Diversity

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    63-F. Reaching Out to Solo Agers to Increase Sales and Diversity

    Senior living communities often face two marketing challenges: filling one-bedroom and studio apartments and increasing diversity within their resident populations. This session will explore how communities can achieve both goals by reaching out to solo agers, including those from diverse cultural backgrounds, the LGBTQ+ community, and other historically underrepresented groups. Presenters will examine the unique needs and aspirations of solo agers while sharing effective marketing strategies designed to attract them to senior living communities. You’ll gain tips for hosting marketing events that showcase smaller residential units that have traditionally remained vacant and acquire insights to help you connect with prospective residents from the Black, Latino, Asian, and LGBTQ+ communities.

  • 69-L. Are You Wasting Money on Marketing? Assessing Your Blind Spots

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    69-L. Are You Wasting Money on Marketing? Assessing Your Blind Spots

    “Half my marketing budget is being wasted: But which half?” If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, this session is for you. Presenters will address the critical blind spots many organizations experience when evaluating their marketing budgets. They’ll provide tips to help you confidently assess and improve marketing performance at every level while unlocking growth opportunities, boosting sales, eliminating wasteful spending on underperforming tactics, and crafting marketing messages that resonate in competitive markets. You’ll learn how to align your marketing plan with your broader strategic goals and ensure accountability within your sales and marketing teams. Take home tools to achieve better returns on your marketing investment by amplifying what works well and adjusting what doesn’t.

Carol Ham

Board Chair
Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge
Charlottesville, VA, USA
  • 38-J. Accelerating the Impact of a New CEO

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    38-J. Accelerating the Impact of a New CEO

    All chief executive officers (CEOs) can benefit from a proactive and supportive transition process that fully engages the board and leadership team to ensure early success in the role. Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge (WCBR), a life plan community in Charlottesville, VA, sought to orchestrate such a comprehensive transition for its new CEO. During this session, the community’s board chair and new CEO will share key elements of that transition plan. They’ll also address common and unexpected obstacles organizations must overcome to ensure a successful transition process. You’ll discover how a leadership transition can represent a strategic opportunity that enables organizations to step confidently into a brighter future.

Randi Hamill

Workforce Director
LeadingAge Ohio
Columbus, OH, USA
  • 22-G. From Vision to Practice: Planning for Inclusion

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    22-G. From Vision to Practice: Planning for Inclusion

    In 2022, LeadingAge Ohio incorporated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals into its strategic plan. It then enlisted volunteers from member organizations to help create meaningful DEI resources within the Buckeye State. In this session, presenters will discuss how a DEI framework can help reduce employee turnover, improve workforce satisfaction, and create more welcoming environments for residents. You’ll learn how current trends and public sentiment about DEI may impact the aging services sector and explore strategies for maintaining and advancing DEI initiatives in a shifting social and political landscape.

Abigail Hanlon

Music Therapist
Goodwin House Alexandria
Alexandria, VA, USA
  • 100-I. Supporting the Grieving Process with Creative Arts

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    100-I. Supporting the Grieving Process with Creative Arts

    Grief and loss are integral to the human experience. This is particularly true for older adults and their caregivers, who may become vulnerable to social isolation and depression if they don’t process the emotional upheaval of late-life transitions like changes in physical mobility, cognition, or lifelong relationships. This session will explore how the creative arts can help. Presenters will demonstrate how music, art, dance, drama, and poetry can provide emotional support while facilitating self-expression. A music therapist and creative arts coordinator from a Virginia-based life plan community will show you how they engage with the creative arts. You’ll be encouraged to extend your learning by participating in a creative art-making experience.

Melissa Harris

Director of Government Affairs
American Association of Service Coordinators
Worthington, OH, USA
  • 70-A. That Data You Collect for HUD? It Can Help Your Residents

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    70-A. That Data You Collect for HUD? It Can Help Your Residents

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires service coordinators in affordable senior housing communities to submit periodic reports containing a wide range of data about housing residents and their needs for services and supports. This session will show you how to use this data to enhance your community’s service coordination program, forge partnerships with community partners, and advocate for residents. Presenters will introduce you to the service coordinator data guide recently released by the American Association of Service Coordinators. You’ll also meet the quality assurance manager of a LeadingAge member organization that uses the data it collects for HUD to maximize resident well-being outcomes and improve program effectiveness.

Jo Anne Hartman

Managing Director – Acts Corporate University
Acts Retirement-Life Communities, Inc.
Fort Washington, PA, USA
  • 32-F. Building a Pathway to Success: Succession Planning for Mid-Level Managers

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    32-F. Building a Pathway to Success: Succession Planning for Mid-Level Managers

    Succession planning has long been recognized as an essential tool for maintaining talent continuity in an organization’s C-suite. However, as this session will demonstrate, it also plays a critical role in developing the skills of mid-level managers. Representatives from Acts Retirement-Life Communities will describe their mid-level succession planning program, which features internal leadership initiatives, undergraduate and graduate-level programs offered in partnership with local colleges, and a structured mentorship program. You’ll discover how to identify and assess high-potential managers, create personalized development plans, and align talent development with business objectives. Join this session to acquire the tools you need to identify, develop, and retain high-potential middle managers to help ensure organizational growth and stability.

Jennifer Hartwick

Director of Business Process Development
Schlegel Villages
Kitchener, ON, Canada
  • 73-C. International Perspectives: Driving Care Quality through Data Sharing

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    73-C. International Perspectives: Driving Care Quality through Data Sharing

    The Seniors Quality Leap Initiative (SQLI) is an international consortium established by North American and South African leading long-term care organizations. SQLI strives to enhance the quality of life and care for older adults by encouraging providers to share performance data and outcomes from their quality improvement initiatives with one another. During this session, SQLI leaders and members will showcase their efforts to improve providers’ benchmarking capacity, including ongoing research into developing an overall resident quality of life composite score and consistent employee engagement measures. Three aging services executives will discuss how SQLI participation has influenced their organization’s quality improvement efforts.

Cedric Havermans

Director of Customer Experience
Cubigo
San Francisco, CA, USA
  • 14-K. What’s Best for All? Making Inclusive Technology Decisions

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    14-K. What’s Best for All? Making Inclusive Technology Decisions

    Technology adoption can be more challenging when senior living residents and staff feel disconnected from the process of selecting and implementing suitable high-tech platforms. Kendal at Oberlin tackled this challenge by incorporating resident input into every stage of its technology selection and implementation process. This session will provide an overview of how the organization’s collaborative model empowered residents while ensuring the chosen platform met their unique needs. You’ll gain tools to ensure that your new technology enhances your community’s quality of life, improves resident engagement and satisfaction, streamlines operations, and sets the stage for future technology upgrades. Discover practical strategies for promoting inclusive decision-making and leveraging resident feedback while implementing technology.

Karen Hedge

Deputy CEO
Scottish Care
Glasgow, SCOTLAND, UK
  • 10-G. International Perspectives: Can AI Transform Care and Safeguard Human Rights?

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    10-G. International Perspectives: Can AI Transform Care and Safeguard Human Rights?

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to disrupt social care with promises of transformative care delivery. This session will explore how AI-powered technologies, appropriately used, can also safeguard human rights and ethical integrity while improving lives. Presenters will examine Oxford University’s principles for designing and implementing AI and the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s FAIR Model, which places individuals requiring care at the heart of decision-making processes. They’ll also introduce you to cAIr, an AI-powered assistant that expands access to services in underserved areas, drives inclusive delivery, and enhances equity, well-being, and autonomy. You’ll learn how technology can uplift humanity, empower care systems, and reshape futures while adhering to principles of equity, dignity, and compassion.