Terry Spitznagel

Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
United Church Homes
Marion, OH, US
  • 88-I. Service Coordination: The Cornerstone of Senior Housing

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    88-I. Service Coordination: The Cornerstone of Senior Housing

    As partnerships among housing, healthcare, and community-based service providers deepen, service coordinators have become the cornerstone of affordable housing for older adults. This session will trace the evolution of service coordination and its role in helping older adults age well in the community. Presenters will provide an overview of the profession’s roots, its proven value, trends reshaping the field, and opportunities to elevate its role. Join this session to explore how emerging models, technology, and data tools are expanding the service coordinator role and how evolving funding approaches can sustain and strengthen this work. A LeadingAge member provider will describe an innovative service coordination program and share lessons for replication.

Patricia Sprigg

Instructor
Carol Woods Retirement Community
Chapel Hill, NC, US
  • 25-B. A Dose of Inspiration: Servant Leaders Tell Their Stories

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    25-B. A Dose of Inspiration: Servant Leaders Tell Their Stories

    Strong leaders persuade, anticipate the future, and guide their organizations toward results. Strong “servant leaders” also build and nurture trust, deepen relationships, and develop team members so they can make a lasting impact. This session will feature servant leaders working to improve the field of aging services and the lives of older adults. Panelists will describe their involvement in a variety of movements, including dementia inclusion, LGBTQ+ affordable housing, and age-friendly cities. They’ll share how they apply their talents and wisdom to promote equity, access, and inclusion within and beyond their organizations. Join this session for a dose of inspiration and leave feeling motivated to consider your own mission and legacy.

Mandy Stamper

COO
Presbyterian Communities of South Carolina
Columbia, SC, US
  • 70-I. Capturing Imaginations with Visual Storytelling

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    70-I. Capturing Imaginations with Visual Storytelling

    Is a picture really worth a thousand words? Many senior living organizations are counting on it. This session will feature an organization that used visual storytelling to attract a new market segment to its senior housing options and to build support for a campus expansion among current residents. Presenters will explain what visual storytelling entails, how it drives effective marketing, and how to assess the appropriate use of AI-generated imagery, architectural renderings, and video flythroughs. You’ll gain practical guidance on effective visual storytelling methods and a candid assessment of approaches that fall short.

Sarah Starcher-Lane

COO/Executive Director
Byron Health Community
Fort Wayne, IN, US
  • 139-A. Training the Next Generation of Caregivers in Aging Services

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    139-A. Training the Next Generation of Caregivers in Aging Services

    Byron Health Center in Fort Wayne, IN, addresses the needs of individuals with complex medical conditions through a range of Medicaid-funded care and services. This session will highlight how the community has engaged local young people in its volunteer program and enrolled high school students in a work-based learning initiative to help them explore careers in aging services. Two Byron executives will describe how these young volunteers work alongside residents aged 20 to 98 who live with dementia, traumatic brain injuries, severe and chronic mental illnesses, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. They will explain how they train young people, the lessons learned, and their plans for the future.

Jessica Stewart

Senior Director of Operations
Simpson
Bala Cynwyd, PA, US
  • 69-L. Are You Wasting Money on Marketing? Assessing Your Blind Spots

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    69-L. Are You Wasting Money on Marketing? Assessing Your Blind Spots

    “Half my marketing budget is being wasted: But which half?” If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, this session is for you. Presenters will address the critical blind spots many organizations experience when evaluating their marketing budgets. They’ll provide tips to help you confidently assess and improve marketing performance at every level while unlocking growth opportunities, boosting sales, eliminating wasteful spending on underperforming tactics, and crafting marketing messages that resonate in competitive markets. You’ll learn how to align your marketing plan with your broader strategic goals and ensure accountability within your sales and marketing teams. Take home tools to achieve better returns on your marketing investment by amplifying what works well and adjusting what doesn’t.

Amy Stewart

Vice President of Curriculum Development
American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN)
Denver, CO
  • 16-D. Can the C-Suite Influence Workplace Culture and Retention?

    • Monday, October 26, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    16-D. Can the C-Suite Influence Workplace Culture and Retention?

    A thriving workplace culture begins with an engaged and supported staff. But how does that culture evolve, and how can C-Suite leaders foster it? This session will explore how C-Suite leadership behaviors and organizational practices directly affect workforce satisfaction and retention. A nurse leader in the post-acute care sector will share strategies to help C-Suite executives support staff well-being and professional growth by aligning operational priorities and strategic planning with a people-first culture that drives performance, quality of care, and financial stability. You’ll leave with the tools to build a sustainable, high-performance environment that reflects your organization’s mission, vision, and values.

Bob Stillman

CFO
Ohio Living
Columbus, OH, US
  • 135-I. Design and Construction: A Better Way to Keep Budgets on Track

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    135-I. Design and Construction: A Better Way to Keep Budgets on Track

    High interest rates and construction costs have many organizations struggling to complete senior living projects within budget. Unfortunately, budget overruns often occur late in the construction process, forcing project teams to cut building costs after making significant investments in the design process. This session will present a better approach. Senior living construction experts will demonstrate how to use pre-design programming to set your projects up for success. You’ll learn how to transform financial projections, market demand data, and consumer preferences into detailed project requirements, identify essential construction process components and how each contributes to the total cost, and establish a realistic project scope. This practical guidance will help ensure your project objectives align with your budget.

Lori Stohs

Chief Talent & Culture Officer
Frasier
Boulder, CO, US
  • 134-A. From Turnover to Trust: Building High-Performing Teams

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    134-A. From Turnover to Trust: Building High-Performing Teams

    Looking to lead your team from low performance and instability to high performance and sustained retention? This session is for you. Presenters will blend reassurance with disruption to teach you how to stabilize a struggling team. They’ll show you how to encourage team members to speak up, take risks, and grow; how to hold employees to clear performance and behavioral expectations without creating fear, resentment, or disengagement; and how to shift from reacting to problems to consistently and clearly addressing patterns. You’ll return home prepared to create the conditions that enable employees to stay, grow, and perform at their best.

Robyn Stone

Strategic Advisor
LeadingAge
Washington, DC, 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.

  • 142-H. A Collaborative Strategy for Developing the CNA Workforce

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    142-H. A Collaborative Strategy for Developing the CNA Workforce

    Educators, providers, policymakers, and workforce leaders nationwide are rethinking how aging services providers recruit, train, support, and retain frontline caregivers. This session will highlight this collaborative effort. Presenters will describe a recent national meeting that examined the potential for multi-state collaboration to standardize certified nursing assistant (CNA) career pathways through state-based Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Programs. They’ll share lessons learned from convening stakeholders across education, workforce development, aging services, finance, policy, and care delivery systems to discuss workforce solutions. You’ll discover how stakeholder collaboration can drive system-wide changes in policy, practice, and workforce development.

Wendy Strain

Director of Consulting
Polaris Group
Tampa, FL, USA
  • 84-G. Operationalize ADR Management to Protect Your Resources

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    84-G. Operationalize ADR Management to Protect Your Resources

    Nursing homes and post-acute care providers face heightened scrutiny when Medicare and other payers issue Additional Documentation Requests (ADR) or conduct targeted medical reviews and post-payment audits. Delays in responding to these requests can lead to improper payment findings against the provider. This session will help leaders shift from reactive, one-claim-at-a-time ADR responses to a structured, collaborative approach. Presenters will outline common review triggers, explain how documentation gaps and fragmented communication pose financial and compliance risks, and review each step of an ADR, from request through appeal. Learn how to operationalize ADR and denial management to support quality and financial stability.

  • 108-L. Identify and Address Risks Before the Survey Team Arrives

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    108-L. Identify and Address Risks Before the Survey Team Arrives

    The survey environment for long-term care providers is growing more complex as federal and state agencies refine guidance, raise expectations, and adjust priorities. This complexity often turns annual recertification and complaint surveys into disruptive, high-stress events that expose gaps in practice, documentation, and oversight. Using QAPI as a framework, this session will equip organizational leaders with the tools to stay survey-ready every day. Presenters will review emerging national and state survey trends and highlight common citations and surveyor priorities. They’ll show you how to focus on high-risk processes, develop performance improvement projects, and monitor corrective actions. You’ll get the support you need to build day-to-day practices that identify and address risks before the survey team arrives.

Kelly Stranburg

Vice President of Healthy Aging and Longevity
Westminster Communities of Florida, Inc.
Orlando, FL, US
  • 116-H. Measuring the Impact of Resident Engagement

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    116-H. Measuring the Impact of Resident Engagement

    Older adults increasingly seek purpose, autonomy, and connection in their daily lives. Engagement activities in senior living communities must reflect these desires by moving beyond entertainment to include experiences that support physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual well-being. This session will explore shifting engagement preferences and introduce you to tracking and assessment methods for measuring the impact of engagement activities, demonstrating their value to stakeholders, and empowering staff to deliver more intentional, resident-centered experiences. You’ll leave with actionable strategies to reframe your engagement efforts, strengthen the link between programming and resident well-being, and communicate success in ways that resonate with stakeholders.

Brad Straub

President
Greystone
Irving, TX, United States
  • 32-I. Build a Team That Outperforms Expectations

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    32-I. Build a Team That Outperforms Expectations

    Extraordinary outcomes depend on extraordinary teams, whether you’re leading an expansion, repositioning an existing campus, stabilizing occupancy, or launching a major operational initiative. This session tells the story of a life plan community that built a cross-functional team to deliver a successful expansion that many believed would not resonate with its intended audience. Presenters will describe how they improved performance across operations, culture, sales, brand, design, and development through strategic decisions, bold pivots, and mindset shifts that propelled a small nonprofit community to outsized success. You’ll walk away with a replicable framework for building team chemistry and enhancing execution, along with practical tips for shifting culture and inspiring optimism.