Alina Serban

Chief of Staff
Embrace Living Communities
Oak Brook, IL, US
  • 120-L. Fostering Stability and Dignity in Affordable Housing

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    120-L. Fostering Stability and Dignity in Affordable Housing

    Affordable housing communities promote stability, prevent displacement, and uphold the dignity of older adults by reducing evictions, addressing lease violations, and helping residents navigate housing-related challenges. During this session, an affordable housing provider will outline how early intervention, service coordination, and wellness programs can prevent housing crises. They’ll share strategies for engaging residents when violations occur and showcase innovative programs that deliver meaningful outcomes with limited resources. You’ll learn to identify early warning signs of a housing crisis and prevent lease violations from escalating into eviction notices, all while helping residents feel respected and supported.

Joe Serrano

Senior Sales Specialist
UST
Oxnard, CA, US
  • 150-I. Workforce Solutions to Lower Unemployment Expenses

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    150-I. Workforce Solutions to Lower Unemployment Expenses

    Nonprofit providers of aging services strive to use their budgets to fulfill their missions to serve older adults. However, these organizations may be surprised to learn that operational expenses, including those related to unemployment costs, can drain their budgets of valuable funds that could be better utilized in other areas. During this session, UST Workforce Solutions u2013 a LeadingAge Gold Corporate Partner u2013 will present a unique approach and demonstrate how you can streamline your human resource processes, ensure regulatory compliance, and create operational efficiencies so your team can direct more resources toward serving your community. You’ll learn about various unemployment funding options, including a little-known federal exemption that can lower unemployment costs while building a financial asset that benefits your organization.

Krishna Shah

LTC Director of Social Services
Bergan New Bridge Medical Center
Paramus, NJ, USA
  • 91-C. Cultivate Well-Being for Residents, Staff, and Families

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    91-C. Cultivate Well-Being for Residents, Staff, and Families

    Are you interested in learning how to help residents, team members, and families develop a deeper appreciation for life and a greater ability to move forward after setbacks and trauma? This session will introduce you to an award-winning program designed to help everyone in your senior living community achieve these goals. Presenters will describe the SOARING Into Resilience workshop they developed and share research documenting the program’s success in helping staff, residents, and their families experience a heightened sense of belonging, connection with peers, meaning, and purpose. They’ll also offer you an opportunity to participate in immersive exercises aimed at enhancing individual, organizational, and communal well-being.

Rachel Shands

Deputy Director, Aging and Adult Services Division
Minnesota Department of Human Services
  • 86-H. Measuring Quality in Assisted Living: Lessons from Minnesota

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    86-H. Measuring Quality in Assisted Living: Lessons from Minnesota

    As assisted living continues to grow, person-centered approaches to measuring its quality remain scarce. This session will explore how Minnesota addressed this gap by developing an electronic report card that rates assisted living communities on a 5-star scale, using state inspection data and surveys of residents and family members. Presenters will share key findings from the report card’s 2024 statewide implementation, which captured consumer feedback on autonomy, staff relationships, environment, food, and engagement across the state’s assisted living communities. You’ll review tools for measuring resident quality of life and family satisfaction in assisted living, and learn strategies for integrating person-reported measures into quality improvement.

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.

Tetyana Shippee

Professor
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN, USA
  • 86-H. Measuring Quality in Assisted Living: Lessons from Minnesota

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    86-H. Measuring Quality in Assisted Living: Lessons from Minnesota

    As assisted living continues to grow, person-centered approaches to measuring its quality remain scarce. This session will explore how Minnesota addressed this gap by developing an electronic report card that rates assisted living communities on a 5-star scale, using state inspection data and surveys of residents and family members. Presenters will share key findings from the report card’s 2024 statewide implementation, which captured consumer feedback on autonomy, staff relationships, environment, food, and engagement across the state’s assisted living communities. You’ll review tools for measuring resident quality of life and family satisfaction in assisted living, and learn strategies for integrating person-reported measures into quality improvement.

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.

John Shoesmith

Principal
Perkins Eastman
Redmond, WA
  • 132-L. Satellite Options: Could an Off-Site Location Work for You?

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    132-L. Satellite Options: Could an Off-Site Location Work for You?

    It’s no secret that the next generation of older adults seeks flexibility, lifestyle, and choice. Satellite campuses smaller, independent-living-focused communities near a flagship campus can help life plan communities meet these preferences and expand into desirable markets without building an on-site continuum of care. This session will explore the satellite campus trend, explain the strategic rationale for satellite developments, and assess their benefits and risks. Presenters will outline steps for evaluating satellite locations and assessing a project’s feasibility and market demand. You’ll learn how to leverage your organization’s brand, culture, and expertise across multiple sites, potentially opening new pathways to growth, revenue diversification, and enhanced market positioning.

Sandy Short

Director of Marketing
Collington – A Kendal Affiliate
Mitchellville, MD, US
  • 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.

Jennifer Shropshire

Board Member
Presbyterian Senior Living
Dillsburg, PA, US
  • 24-A. Measures that Matter: Helping Boards Focus on Quality

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    24-A. Measures that Matter: Helping Boards Focus on Quality

    Given the complexity of life plan communities and the scope of management responsibilities, boards of directors often focus primarily on their financial and fiduciary duties. This session offers a different approach. Presenters will unpack the board’s responsibility to dig deeper into compliance measures to understand what they reveal about a life plan community’s quality of care and quality of life. These insights will help the board participate in developing person-centered solutions that advance the organization’s mission. You’ll learn how a governance approach grounded in accountability, learning, and compassion fosters transformative collaboration among organizational leaders and how that collaboration can enhance the quality of life for older adults.

Elly Silberman

Resident
Springpoint Senior Living
Wall Township, NJ, US
  • 50-H. Raising Funds for Your Life Plan Community: Keys to Success

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    50-H. Raising Funds for Your Life Plan Community: Keys to Success

    Life plan communities face unique challenges and opportunities when running comprehensive fundraising campaigns. This session will provide practical guidance to help development professionals craft a compelling fundraising appeal that resonates with distinct stakeholder groups, including residents, family members, board members, and vendors. Fundraising professionals will show you how to set ambitious yet realistic campaign goals and recruit the right volunteers and staff leaders. A resident and a campaign donor will share their motivations for giving, discuss the campaign themes that resonated with them, and describe their experiences as fundraising volunteers. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to adapt traditional fundraising strategies to the unique environment of life plan communities.

Donna Silbert

Chief Strategy Officer
Parker Health Group, Inc.
Highland Park, NJ, US
  • 115-G. Supporting Older Adults to “LivWell” in Affordable Housing

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    115-G. Supporting Older Adults to “LivWell” in Affordable Housing

    Residents of affordable senior housing communities face poor health outcomes and functional challenges linked to low incomes, advanced age, and racial and ethnic diversity. To address these urgent needs, two LeadingAge members Springpoint Senior Living and Parker Health Group created LivWell, an affordable-housing-based wellness initiative that supports quality of life, personal choice, lifelong development, and optimal well-being for more than 300 residents across 11 affordable housing communities. Presenters will discuss LivWell’s program design, governance structure, funding, and performance metrics. They’ll also share findings from a recent program evaluation by the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston.