Sarah Malchow

Chief Administrative Officer
Cedar Community
West Bend, WI
  • 26-C. Leveraging Your Leadership Team to Move the Needle on Benevolence

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    26-C. Leveraging Your Leadership Team to Move the Needle on Benevolence

    Everyone is a fundraiser. That’s the message of this session, which will help you support key strategic priorities in your senior living community by connecting donors, both emotionally and programmatically, to specific activities or divisions on your campus. Presenters will show you how to leverage the strategic vision of your board, executive team, divisional leaders, and key frontline staff to move the needle on benevolence. You’ll learn to build relationships with diverse team leaders across all care levels and lifestyle divisions, then work together to prioritize fundraising opportunities that align with donor interests and your strategic plan.

Adrienne Mansfield

Co-Founder
ADage Marketing Group
Williamsport, PA
  • 62-B. Crafting Messages that Advance Age and Ability Inclusion

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    62-B. Crafting Messages that Advance Age and Ability Inclusion

    Senior living marketing and communications professionals often rely on unrealistic stock photos and messaging that idealize “super agers” while ignoring the diverse realities of aging. These choices, whether intentional or not, reinforce narrow, often damaging stereotypes about how older adults should look, live, and behave. This session will examine the drivers of ageist and ableist messaging and the risks these biases pose to older adults and the aging services field. Presenters will share strategies and practical tools to help you audit your current communications materials, identify and correct harmful biases, and build campaigns rooted in authenticity, respect, and representation. You’ll learn to craft messages that resonate more deeply with your target markets.

Sara Marcq

Manager
Baker Tilly
Chicago, TX
  • 34-K. Let’s Talk: Adding Communications to Your Strategic Planning Process

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    34-K. Let’s Talk: Adding Communications to Your Strategic Planning Process

    Strategic planning often falters when stakeholders don’t understand their role in the process or feel their voices aren’t being heard. This session will propose a powerful yet often-overlooked solution: supporting the strategic planning process with a robust communications plan. Presenters will share case studies of organizations that have led transparent, forward-thinking strategic planning processes by communicating effectively with residents, families, staff, board members, and community partners. You’ll learn how to implement collaborative planning approaches, determine the timing and depth of stakeholder involvement, build trust, and sustain momentum. Whether you’re preparing for your next strategic planning cycle or managing organizational change, this session will help you use clear communication to lead with clarity and confidence.

Adam Marles

President & CEO
EverTrue
Saint Louis, MO
  • 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.

Judy Martin

International Engagement Director
JMGlobal Connect
Balmain East, NSW
  • 150-P. GAN Summit: Age Readiness: A Global Imperative

    • Saturday, October 24, 2026

    9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

    150-P. GAN Summit: Age Readiness: A Global Imperative

    Join innovators, policymakers, researchers, and service providers for this full-day summit exploring how to build societies ready for longevity. The program will feature global perspectives and cross-disciplinary dialogue to help participants challenge traditional assumptions about ageing, explore emerging innovations and best practices, and identify opportunities to prepare organizations, communities, and societies for the realities and possibilities of demographic change. Don’t miss this opportunity to join colleagues from around the world as they explore innovative approaches to supporting lifelong wellness, creating age-ready environments, harnessing technology to transform the aging experience, sustaining high-quality care through workforce development, and advancing the policy changes needed to shape aging-friendly communities.

Travis Masonis

CIO & Vice President of Information Technology
Jewish Home
Rochester, NY
  • 5-E. Maximize the Benefits of Bidirectional Data Exchange

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    5-E. Maximize the Benefits of Bidirectional Data Exchange

    Bidirectional data exchange the process of sending and receiving data across organizations and care sectors is increasingly common nationwide thanks to federal interoperability initiatives. This session will show how aging services providers can maximize the benefits of this exchange for care delivery and business operations. Presenters will discuss how their life plan communities use health information exchanges to support coordinated care during care transitions, enhance emergency preparedness, and better serve older adults with multiple chronic conditions. You’ll also learn how data exchange supports health plan contract negotiations, population outcome reporting, and point-of-care interventions.

Michael Matthews

President
Matthews Development Company
Charlottesville, VA
  • 131-K. Acquiring and Repositioning to Meet Consumer Expectations

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    131-K. Acquiring and Repositioning to Meet Consumer Expectations

    What does it take to successfully acquire, reposition, and transform a senior living community in today’s competitive market? This session will explore how a multisite organization repositioned a fifth campus to meet residents’ evolving needs, promote holistic well-being, and ensure long-term sustainability. Presenters will share how they identified the acquisition opportunity, partnered with a financial services firm to craft the winning bid, and developed a phased master plan that balances innovation, resident appeal, and operational sustainability. They’ll explain why the organization declined to acquire the new campus’s skilled nursing component and how it intentionally designed other parts of the campus to support physical, social, and intellectual wellness.

Matt Mauthe

CEO
Illuminus
Watertown, WI
  • 136-C. Promising Pathways to Aging Services Careers

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    136-C. Promising Pathways to Aging Services Careers

    Young people pursue various pathways to launch careers in aging services. Which of these pathways work well, and where are the gaps? This session will offer evidence-based answers to those questions. Presenters will share findings from new national research on academic programs, internships, mentorships, and Administrator-in-Training (AIT) programs that have helped students pursue careers in aging services and gerontology. They’ll also share strategies and case studies to help you create similar programs. You’ll hear success stories about how organizations with modest budgets have attracted new talent. You’ll also take home a clear, customizable framework to reduce vacancies, strengthen career pathways, and develop the next generation of aging services leaders.

Jim Maxwell

President and CEO
Rockwood Retirement Communities
Spokane, WA
  • 38-B. Capital-Efficient Pathways to Meet Needs and Advance Mission

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    38-B. Capital-Efficient Pathways to Meet Needs and Advance Mission

    Nonprofit providers of aging services must scale their organizations to serve an older population that continues to grow each year. But how can growth be achieved when land options are limited, and expansion appears cost-prohibitive? This session will showcase a group of single-site and multisite organizations exploring capital-efficient pathways to meet local needs and advance their missions. Presenters will provide an inside look at how these organizations developed new campuses, implemented phased expansions, engaged in adaptive reuse of existing buildings, and established satellite communities. Learn how successful organizations use disciplined planning and evaluation to identify opportunities and mitigate risk. Get the guidance you need to achieve sustainable growth and capital-efficient expansion in constrained markets.

Sean McMahan

Chief Engineer
Horizon House
Seattle, WA
  • 74-A. Electrify Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    74-A. Electrify Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow

    Is your senior living organization feeling pressure from rising utility costs, aging infrastructure, accelerating climate regulations, and residents who expect to live in an environmentally responsible community? It may be time to electrify. This session will share details of a life plan community’s three-year transition from near-total reliance on fossil fuels, such as natural gas and direct steam, to a system that uses electricity to supply 50% of the community’s heat and domestic hot water. Presenters will introduce you to a replicable electrification master plan that organizations of any size can implement, even with aging buildings, limited internal engineering capacity, or constrained capital budgets.

William McMorran

Sr. Partner
Green Oak Consulting Group
Los Angeles, CA
  • 47-G. Fostering a Culture of Philanthropy in Life Plan Communities

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    47-G. Fostering a Culture of Philanthropy in Life Plan Communities

    Faith-based senior living organizations can no longer rely solely on congregational support for financial sustainability. Instead, they must build internal fundraising capacity by fostering a culture of philanthropy among residents, many of whom don’t realize their monthly fees don’t cover all expenses. During this session, a life plan community’s chief growth officer will share how their organization and its foundation built relationships with key stakeholders and improved donor engagement. Presenters will explain why their fundraising efforts succeeded and how they plan to enhance them. You’ll discover how resident engagement, a strong gift structure, and AI-powered technology boosted their fundraising and could do the same for your organization.

Denise McQuaide

Chief of Middle Market Innovation
2Life Communities
Brighton, MA
  • 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.