Emily Jimerson

Principal
SFCS Architects
Roanoke, VA, United States
  • 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.

Margaret Johnson

Senior Lead Senior Living
Fitch Ratings
New York, NY, United States
  • 57-L. It’s All About the Outlook: Navigating Rating Directions

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    57-L. It’s All About the Outlook: Navigating Rating Directions

    Interested in where credit quality for life plan communities may be headed in the near future? This session will translate Fitch Ratings’ published criteria into practical guidance on the factors driving outlook changes for these communities. Presenters will clarify the difference between outlooks and ratings and explain why outlooks matter. They’ll also highlight specific Fitch criteria that merit your attention, including operating performance, occupancy drivers, sales pipeline quality, entrance fee refunds, liquidity, and debt mix. Life plan community financial officers will present case studies of organizations that stabilized and improved their outcomes despite an unstable outlook. Learn how to identify the factors triggering outlook shifts and translate outlook signals into positive management actions.

Shawn Johnson

Long-Term & Community-Based Care Coach
Alzheimer’s Association
Chicago, IL, USA
  • 101-I. Implementing Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Person-Centered Dementia Care

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    101-I. Implementing Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Person-Centered Dementia Care

    The Alzheimer’s Association Dementia Care Practice Recommendations offer 56 guidelines for professional care providers working with individuals living with dementia. This session will review the report’s recommendations, which are based on a comprehensive review of evidence, best practices, and expert opinions. Presenters will explore several programs across the country that are implementing practices to enhance the quality of care for residents living in residential care settings. You’ll get a close-up look at one coaching program that helps long-term care communities implement system-changing best practices in dementia care. Don’t miss this chance to explore the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from coaching initiatives in both urban and rural communities.

Melissa Johnson

Senior Director of Marketing and Sales
Galloway Ridge, Inc.
Pittsboro, NC, US
  • 1-A. Using AI to Measure Resident Well-Being

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    1-A. Using AI to Measure Resident Well-Being

    Community engagement teams at aging services organizations prioritize the resident experience because they know residents’ voices help shape their communities. Unfortunately, not every resident speaks up. That’s where “Happy Aging” comes in. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the survey-driven prediction tool measures 23 observed indicators of resident well-being. This session will focus on the experiences of two life plan communities that engaged residents in a two-year research project to co-develop the “Happy Aging” tool. Presenters will describe the technology’s development process and residents’ participation in it. You’ll discover how objective behavioral data, when paired with AI, can accurately predict resident well-being and enable engagement teams to plan timely interventions.

Bruce Jones

Chief Executive Officer
Vicar’s Landing
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, USA
  • 42-A. Meet Future Market Demand with a Satellite Community

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    42-A. Meet Future Market Demand with a Satellite Community

    A life plan community seeking to meet the growing demand for new housing options often encounters a frustrating roadblock: a lack of available space for expansion on campus. Some organizations address this challenge by developing satellite communities to reach untapped or underserved markets. This session will showcase a variety of satellite communities, including those located in walkable neighborhoods and on college campuses, and those catering to residents with specific income levels, cultures, and special interests. Discover how satellite campus planning can help you meet current and future growth demands, capitalize on partnership opportunities, and explore new markets. You’ll learn how to leverage the resources of your main campus to support satellite campus development.

Liz Jones

Policy Director
National Care Forum
UK

Laura Jones

Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Pinnacle Living
Glen Allen, VA, US
  • 64-D. Turning Stories into Sales: How Media Coverage Can Help

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    64-D. Turning Stories into Sales: How Media Coverage Can Help

    Senior living professionals are familiar with traditional sales tactics but often lack experience using earned media as a strategic touchpoint with prospective residents. This session fills that knowledge gap by introducing a communication approach that builds relationships with prospects through media coverage that validates a community’s strengths, highlights resident experiences, and reinforces trust at key decision points in the prospect’s decision-making journey. Presenters will teach you the fundamentals of developing strong story ideas, pitching them to the media, and integrating media coverage into sales strategies. You’ll take home tools to help your community kick-start or enhance its media relations programs, improve conversions, and accelerate prospects’ decision-making.

  • 68-G. From Outsourced to In-House: Building a Creative Services Team

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    68-G. From Outsourced to In-House: Building a Creative Services Team

    External creative consultants often deliver results for senior living communities, but at the expense of consistency, responsiveness, and organizational alignment. This session will show you how to transform your organization’s creative vision from an outsourced service into an in-house team that drives brand excellence, fosters innovation, and delivers measurable impact. Presenters will prepare you to assess the value of internalizing creative services, assemble the right talent, define workflows, and integrate creative operations into your organizational strategy. You’ll gain practical tips to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance brand consistency.

Jason Jorgenson

Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Development
LCS
Des Moines, IA, United States
  • 123-C. Imagining New Environments to Live, Work, and Play

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    123-C. Imagining New Environments to Live, Work, and Play

    Today’s older adults are living longer, staying healthier longer, and working longer. This shift is reshaping attitudes toward retirement and creating unprecedented opportunities for retirement communities to reinvent themselves. This session will examine how senior living organizations can support the evolving lifestyles of older adults by expanding services beyond community walls and designing surrounding neighborhoods to meet residents’ needs. Presenters will invite you to imagine how neighborhoods and residential communities might intersect, envision the possibilities for intergenerational or multigenerational environments within and around retirement communities, and consider how mixed-use settings might offer better living environments for today’s older adults. Explore the future of aging and be prepared to rethink your view of traditional retirement communities.

Pamela Joyce

Project Manager
Parker Health Group, Inc.
Highland Park, NJ, US
  • 97-G. What Family Caregivers Want: Solution-Based, On-Demand Resources

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    97-G. What Family Caregivers Want: Solution-Based, On-Demand Resources

    In 2023, Parker Health Group in Piscataway, NJ, asked family caregivers of clients enrolled in its adult day services program how the organization could better support them. The caregivers asked for solution-based information, available on demand, to help them fulfill their caregiving responsibilities. During this session, representatives from Parker and Trualta, an online platform for family caregivers, will describe how Parker responded by creating an educational learning platform, integrated with Trualta, that offers information, resources, programming, and services for caregivers and clients. Presenters will outline the initiative’s startup and implementation, staffing resources, operational considerations, and cost.

Lisa Kalla

Chief Operating Officer
Saint Therese
Saint Louis Park, MN, United States
  • 91-L. Want to Engage Your Teams? Write a Living Strategic Plan

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    91-L. Want to Engage Your Teams? Write a Living Strategic Plan

    Do team members’ eyes glaze over when you mention your organization’s strategic plan? Or is the plan a living document that guides their day-to-day work? If you’re experiencing the first scenario but hoping for the second, this session is for you. Presenters will introduce you to EOS, a strategic planning model designed for weekly use and quarterly updates. Follow a multisite organization’s journey to implement EOS by defining its mission, vision, and values, addressing barriers to progress, and measuring weekly performance. You’ll learn to distill your strategic plan into a one-page document, use data to make decisions, and involve every team member in achieving organizational goals.

Cory Kallheim

General Counsel
Covenant Living Communities and Services
Skokie, IL, US
  • 63-C. Sales, Marketing, and Beyond: AI in Senior Living

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    63-C. Sales, Marketing, and Beyond: AI in Senior Living

    Interested in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) but concerned about maintaining a disciplined focus on privacy, legal compliance, and ethical safeguards? In this session, you’ll learn how a multisite senior living organization is achieving these goals and how you can too. Presenters will show you how AI-generated video, messaging, and design templates can expand your marketing team’s capabilities while maintaining consistent brand quality. They’ll also explain how AI can work across your organization to streamline workflows, accelerate decision-making, enhance new-hire onboarding, and support personalized learning. You’ll leave this session with a clearer understanding of how AI expands organizational capacity when implemented with intentional guardrails and a human-first philosophy.

James Kamau

Executive Director
Evergreen Court
Bellevue, WA, US
  • 151-J. Improve Your Bottom Line with a Positive Workplace Culture

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    151-J. Improve Your Bottom Line with a Positive Workplace Culture

    Can a Culture of Excellenceu00ae transform your organization’s revenue streams and financial performance? According to this session’s presenters, the answer is a definitive and enthusiastic “yes.” Representatives from Transforming Age, a leading national nonprofit network offering holistic and integrated solutions that enable older adults to age successfully, will explain how their organization developed a “Culture of Excellence,” a pocket-sized booklet containing guiding principles that have united team members across five service lines, helped the organization solve complex problems, and improved its financial health. You will hear the business case for creating your own Culture of Excellence and receive a framework and data points to measure how your organization’s culture impacts your mission and bottom line.