Carie Shingleton

Designer/Sr. Associate
SFCS Architects
Roanoke, VA, United States
  • 124-A. Up Your Game: Join the Dining Revolution

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    124-A. Up Your Game: Join the Dining Revolution

    Senior living providers recognize the need for dining programs that offer enjoyable, social experiences in sophisticated environments. Yet, an attractive dining room or a casual cafu00e9 are no longer enough to distinguish your dining program from the competition. Instead, it’s time to consider introducing restaurant styles typically found in urban downtown areas and designing eating spaces where innovative elements and distinctive themes are reflected in menus, artwork, and dining accessories. If this feels a bit overwhelming, you’ll want to attend this session. Presenters will help you understand the latest trends in senior living dining, explore renovation projects currently underway in life plan communities, and review the outcomes of multiple resident and prospective resident focus groups.

Laura Shirer

VP of Human Resources
Presbyterian Communities of South Carolina
Columbia, SC, 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.

Sandy Short

Director of Marketing
Collington – A Kendal Affiliate
Mitchellville, MD, USA
  • 51-H. Enhance Workforce and Community Impact with Employee Scholarships

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    51-H. Enhance Workforce and Community Impact with Employee Scholarships

    Your organization can address workforce challenges and promote employee development by offering scholarships to help employees pursue higher education and improve their professional skills. This session will highlight three organizations that award scholarships to employees and students with support from residents who make donations, review applications, and allocate awards. Presenters will discuss the development, implementation, and outcomes of scholarship initiatives while sharing practical steps for securing funding, engaging stakeholders, and measuring success. Discover how to create scholarship programs that empower employees, attract new talent, and reinforce your organization’s commitment to mission-driven service. You’ll obtain tools to evaluate your scholarship program’s success, ensure its lasting impact, and demonstrate a return on investment for your organization and workforce.

David Siegelman

Senior Vice President of Quality and Corporate Compliance
Hebrew Home at Riverdale – RiverSpring Living
Bronx, NY, USA
  • 13-J. Value-Based Payments: Using Technology to Ensure Success

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    13-J. Value-Based Payments: Using Technology to Ensure Success

    Is your care setting working to improve resident outcomes through value-based payment models that prioritize high-quality, cost-effective, personalized, and data-driven care? A variety of technology solutions could ensure your success. This session will describe how artificial intelligence can help you reduce hospital readmissions and improve care quality by identifying at-risk residents, predicting potential health complications, and tailoring interventions accordingly. Presenters will also describe technology platforms that lower costs by supporting continuous monitoring and virtual healthcare visits. You’ll even learn how to use robotics to streamline repetitive and labor-intensive tasks, allowing staff to concentrate on intensive therapy services. Join this session to discover how technology solutions can help you improve your services and bottom line.

Cara Silletto

President and Chief Retention Officer
Magnet Culture, formerly Crescendo Strategies
Jeffersonville, IN, USA

Elizabeth Simpson

Doctoral Candidate
UMass Boston Gerontology
Boston, MA, USA
  • 105-A. Nursing Home Quality: The Role of Medicaid Payment Rates

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    105-A. Nursing Home Quality: The Role of Medicaid Payment Rates

    Medicaid is the largest source of funding for nursing home care in the United States. However, the program’s reimbursement rates cover only a portion of nursing homes’ costs. This session will present findings from three studies exploring the relationship between Medicaid payment policies and the quality of care in nursing homes. Presenters will share insights from studies examining how payment rates and payment-to-cost ratios impact nursing homes’ five-star ratings, the connection between Medicaid rates and staffing levels across different ownership types, and how nursing home staffing levels and expenditures relate to their reliance on Medicaid. Don’t miss this opportunity to examine the connection between nursing home quality and Medicaid payment rates.

Melissa Smalley

Senior Strategist
Marketing Essentials, LLC
New Bremen, OH, USA
  • 58-B. Communicating Through Change: Marketing Your Acquisition

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    58-B. Communicating Through Change: Marketing Your Acquisition

    Marketing and communication can’t pause when your organization begins preparing for an acquisition. Quite the opposite! This session will demonstrate how your organization’s marketing team can effectively navigate a change in ownership by ensuring that communication and marketing messages remain ongoing, clear, carefully worded, and reassuring to all stakeholders. Presenters will teach you how to maintain customer trust, brand strength, and market momentum by positioning your organization’s acquisition as a strategic growth opportunity. You’ll learn essential lessons to help you develop a strategic marketing plan that effectively engages stakeholders as you promote your company’s acquisition.

Katie Smith Sloan

President and CEO & Executive Dir. The Global Ageing Network
LeadingAge
Washington, DC, US

Jennifer Sodo

Senior Living Market Leader
Eppstein Uhen Architects
Milwaukee, WI, USA
  • 127-C. Refresh and Expand Your Independent Living Offerings

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    127-C. Refresh and Expand Your Independent Living Offerings

    Enhancing the independent living options on your campus could help keep your organization competitive in today’s market. This session will show you how. The chief administrative officer of a multi-site organization will discuss how their organization is diversifying its independent living offerings to include standalone ranch homes, duplexes, converted loft residences, and conventional apartments. An architect will review design trends and considerations for various price points. A financing expert will outline how to model and evaluate different independent living options. Whether you’re facing low occupancy in older inventory or exploring new options to meet growing demand, you’ll leave this session with fresh ideas for strategic campus planning.

Allison Rutland Soulen

Executive Director
Clairmont Place
Decatur, 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.

Maddie Spearman

Attorney
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
Nashville, TN, USA
  • 109-C. SNF Regulations: Get the Clarity You Need to Succeed

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    109-C. SNF Regulations: Get the Clarity You Need to Succeed

    Regulatory changes and survey trends impact all skilled nursing facilities (SNF) across the nation. This session will review and evaluate significant regulatory developments from the past year. Presenters will provide updates on the minimum staffing standards and other long-term care regulations. They will also identify current survey trends by reviewing the top survey citations issued regionally and nationally. Throughout the session, you’ll be encouraged to discuss common regulatory challenges in skilled nursing and share best practices related to regulatory developments and survey trends. You’ll also learn how to anticipate and prepare for future regulatory developments and surveys.

Mary Cate Spires

Vice President of Marketing & Digital Strategy
The Arbor Company
Atlanta, GA, USA
  • 57-A. Messaging Roadmap: Aligning Corporate and Community Branding

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    57-A. Messaging Roadmap: Aligning Corporate and Community Branding

    It can be challenging for a marketing team to strike the right balance between promoting a provider organization’s corporate brand and advancing the brand identity of one of its senior living communities. During this session, a multi-site senior living leader and a marketing consultant will team up to present primary research on how prospective residents perceive corporate senior living brands compared to the brands of individual communities. Presenters will share a roadmap to help you refine your brand identity, boost occupancy, and create a unified, compelling message that reflects both corporate values and local charm. You’ll take home tips for ensuring your brand stands out in a competitive senior living market.