Tatiana Sadak

Deputy Dean
Yale School of Nursing
Orange, CT
  • 117-I. From Fear to Action: Addressing the Root Causes of Dementia through Cognitive Wellness
  • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    117-I. From Fear to Action: Addressing the Root Causes of Dementia through Cognitive Wellness

    Dementia ranks among the most feared chronic conditions of later life. Yet emerging evidence suggests that up to 45% of dementia cases worldwide could be delayed or prevented by addressing its root causes. This session will focus on a Cognitive Wellness Clinic embedded in a senior living community specializing in dementia care. Presenters will describe how the clinic conducts early cognitive wellness assessments and provides clients with personalized recommendations to modify dementia-related risk factors and adopt lifestyle strategies that build confidence, engagement, and well-being. You’ll gain practical strategies for adapting this model within your organization and positioning aging services providers at the forefront of brain health innovation.

Frances Salinas

President & CEO
Wesley Willows
Rockford, IL
  • 124-D. Designing for Cognitive Health with Agentic AI
  • Monday, October 26, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    124-D. Designing for Cognitive Health with Agentic AI

    More than 7.2 million older Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, and 42% of those over 55 are likely to develop dementia. Fortunately, environmental design can support these individuals by promoting brain health, enhancing cognition, reducing care costs, and increasing resident satisfaction. This session will introduce “Senior Brain,” an artificial intelligence-powered system that evaluates community spaces to identify cognitive “hot spots” and recommend design improvements. Presenters will explore how the system leverages neuroplasticity the brain’s ability to change through learning and experience to create environments that protect brain health. You’ll learn how a life plan community used the Senior Brain system during a recent renovation.

Catherine Samatas

Director of Engagement and Innovative Programming
CJE SeniorLife
Chicago, IL
  • 15-C. Preserving Human Connections in Tech-Rich Care Settings
  • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    15-C. Preserving Human Connections in Tech-Rich Care Settings

    Smart technology systems can improve your organization’s efficiency and outcomes, but they can’t replace human interaction or the need for empathy in care settings. That’s why senior living and healthcare leaders must work relentlessly to preserve meaningful human connections, even as they expand their use of artificial intelligence, automation, and digital systems. This session will use storytelling, case studies, and audience exercises to show how empathy strengthens communication, restores residents’ dignity, improves perceptions of care, and reduces readmissions. You’ll take home strategies for integrating empathy into workflows, onboarding, leadership practices, and technology-driven environments. Don’t miss this opportunity to help your organization preserve the human experience even as it pursues innovation.

Karah Santos, RN

Medical Records / Employee Health Nurse
Jewish Home at Rockleigh
Rockleigh, NJ
  • 113-E. Improving Dementia Care with AI-Powered Pain Assessment
  • Monday, October 26, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    113-E. Improving Dementia Care with AI-Powered Pain Assessment

    Pain is often underrecognized and undertreated in older adults with dementia, many of whom cannot reliably self-report their discomfort. This communication barrier leads caregivers to rely on subjective observations, resulting in inconsistent assessments and missed opportunities for intervention. This session will explore how AI-powered pain assessment tools combine automated facial recognition with structured digital checklists to accurately and consistently identify pain-related behaviors in nonverbal individuals. Presenters will demonstrate how to use these tools to improve clinical decision-making and reduce falls, frailty, and inappropriate drug use. Join this session to discover how technology and human care can work together to ensure a pain-free future for older adults.

Jeremy Sawvel

Regional Vice President, Sales
CareScout Powered by Genworth
Glen Allen, VA
  • 79-D. Future-Proof Your Organization with a Quality Framework
  • Monday, October 26, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    79-D. Future-Proof Your Organization with a Quality Framework

    Investing in quality can future-proof your aging services organization against regulatory, reimbursement, and demographic changes. The reason is simple: Discerning consumers assess providers based on whether their quality is trustworthy and measurable. This session will highlight the quality metrics that matter most to consumers and families when selecting aging services providers. You’ll learn how to use a standardized quality framework to strengthen workforce culture, improve recruitment, and reduce turnover. You’ll also discover how your organization’s quality performance can set it apart in the marketplace, build robust referral pipelines, and expand partnerships. This is your chance to transform quality from a compliance requirement into a growth strategy.

Amy Schectman

Saul and Gitta Kurlat Chief Executive Officer
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.

Andy Schmidt

Board Member
Santa Marta
Olathe, KS
  • 28-E. Drive Growth by Aligning Governance, Operations, and Sales
  • Monday, October 26, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    28-E. Drive Growth by Aligning Governance, Operations, and Sales

    Does your organization’s board focus on stewardship and risk, while your leaders handle operations, your marketers oversee branding, and your sales teams focus on conversions? Organizations struggle when stakeholders follow separate pathways, pursue siloed priorities, and tell different stories. This session will help you align governance, operations, marketing, and sales into a unified, credible narrative. Presenters will show you how to connect boardroom decisions to sales outcomes; what boards need to know about brand and sales; how leadership behaviors influence the brand promise; and how misalignment affects growth. You’ll learn to break down organizational silos, manage tensions, and build trust so that external messaging feels authentic and consistent.

Amanda Schmitt

Sr. Director or Corporate Marketing & Community Strategic Planning
LCS
Des Moines, IA
  • 141-H. What if You Could Prevent Employees from Leaving Their Jobs?
  • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    141-H. What if You Could Prevent Employees from Leaving Their Jobs?

    In today’s labor-constrained environment, senior living organizations need more than hindsight. They need actionable foresight. This session will showcase a tool that LCS built that can help. You’ll hear about Retention Radar, a predictive workforce intelligence solution that identifies departments with employees most at risk of leaving their jobs and recommends targeted, practical interventions to support engagement and stability. By analyzing indicators such as benefits participation, scheduling alignment, supervisor stability, and PTO utilization, this innovative tool helps community leaders focus their efforts where they can have the greatest impact. Presenters will explain how Retention Radar equips Executive Directors, Administrations, Human Resources teams, and other operations leaders to interpret workforce trends and make data-informed decisions. Users of the tool will share strategies for translating predictive analytics into targeted retention interventions and explain how Retention Radar is helping to reduce turnover while enhancing the resident experience.

Aaron Schroeder

SVP, Public Finance
Colliers Securities LLC
Minneapolis, MN
  • 49-H. Beyond the Continuum: Serving a Broader Spectrum of Older Adults
  • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    49-H. Beyond the Continuum: Serving a Broader Spectrum of Older Adults

    Leading nonprofit senior housing providers are expanding their missions to serve a broader spectrum of older adults with diverse lifestyles and affordability needs. During this session, you’ll meet representatives from one organization that built an active adult development one mile from its existing full-continuum campus, and from another that integrated low- to middle-income housing into its broader development strategy. You’ll take away tips for designing and financing a range of projects that fall outside the traditional continuum while complementing existing campus offerings. Here’s your chance to reflect on your growth and consider new projects that could strengthen your market position and advance your mission.

Suzie Schulberg

President & CEO
Arcadia Family of Companies
Honolulu, HI
  • 33-J. Aligning Executive Compensation with Strategic Priorities
  • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    33-J. Aligning Executive Compensation with Strategic Priorities

    Today’s nonprofit senior living organizations must balance mission-driven care with financial sustainability, address workforce shortages, and meet evolving resident expectations. Strategic planning can help organizations address these and other challenges, but it is not a standalone solution. Organizations must also align short- and long-term goals with executive compensation so that top leaders are rewarded for achieving desired outcomes. This session will show you how. A senior living executive and board chair will share how they adopted a strategic plan that aligned multiple compensation elements with specific strategic goals. You’ll learn to map goals to compensation levers and develop a pay structure that balances short-term execution with long-term mission impact.

Cathy Schweiger

Director, Health Care and Life Sciences
CLA
Charlotte, NC
  • 33-J. Aligning Executive Compensation with Strategic Priorities
  • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    33-J. Aligning Executive Compensation with Strategic Priorities

    Today’s nonprofit senior living organizations must balance mission-driven care with financial sustainability, address workforce shortages, and meet evolving resident expectations. Strategic planning can help organizations address these and other challenges, but it is not a standalone solution. Organizations must also align short- and long-term goals with executive compensation so that top leaders are rewarded for achieving desired outcomes. This session will show you how. A senior living executive and board chair will share how they adopted a strategic plan that aligned multiple compensation elements with specific strategic goals. You’ll learn to map goals to compensation levers and develop a pay structure that balances short-term execution with long-term mission impact.

  • 65-E. Early Advantage Programs: Put Your Wait List to Work
  • Monday, October 26, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    65-E. Early Advantage Programs: Put Your Wait List to Work

    Innovative service models are gaining traction as life plan communities navigate shifting consumer expectations and competitive pressures. This session will examine one such model: Early Advantage programs that allow waitlisted individuals to become “residents” before moving in. Two providers, an actuary, and a strategic consultant will describe these programs, which often charge consumers a fee in exchange for priority waitlist placement or early access to healthcare services. Presenters will explore how these programs benefit providers and the challenges related to pricing, operations, and policy-setting. You’ll learn what motivates prospective residents to join these programs, lessons learned by providers, and risk factors for boards to consider.

Hailey Schwobe

Senior Associate
AG Architecture
Wauwatosa, WI
  • 41-D. Design Strategies for Transformational Repositioning
  • Monday, October 26, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    41-D. Design Strategies for Transformational Repositioning

    Senior living providers share a common mission to serve the aging population, yet their approaches to repositioning their communities to meet that goal can vary widely. This session will feature two organizations that considered similar campus expansions but took very different paths after conducting collaborative design processes that incorporated the voices of diverse user groups. One community chose a campus refresh with renovations and new construction, while the other reallocated space on its urban site to meet immediate market demands while preparing for future construction. Join team members from both organizations to learn how their teams balanced financial constraints with stakeholder input and built consensus for final plans that suited each community.