Libby Bush

President and CEO
Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community Inc
Asheville, NC, US
  • 27-A. Leading in a Crisis: Lessons from Hurricane Helene

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    27-A. Leading in a Crisis: Lessons from Hurricane Helene

    On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene brought unprecedented challenges to western North Carolina as it destroyed homes, caused severe flooding, and left thousands without electricity, cell service, or water. During this session, a panel of CEOs from three senior living organizations in the storm’s path will reflect on their experiences during and after the storm and share the essential leadership lessons they learned. Listen as they recount how they supported one another, how they adapted or rewrote their emergency plans in real-time to address the storm’s catastrophic impacts, and how assistance from other LeadingAge members helped them navigate the crisis. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights into the critical role leaders play in guiding their organizations through natural disasters.

  • 28-B. Interested in Growth? Make Sure Your Board is Prepared

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    28-B. Interested in Growth? Make Sure Your Board is Prepared

    Growth is a popular topic among leaders of aging services organizations striving to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding older population. However, these leaders must remember that growth brings the prospect of significant change for organizations and the boards that govern them. This session will help ensure that your board is fully prepared for growth, whether your organization is expanding its services, footprint, or customer base. Presenters will offer strategies to help guide your board as it evaluates your organization’s capacity for growth, determines how it should grow, and develops the decision-making processes needed to manage growth. You’ll return home with practical strategies to help your organization establish the strategic governance required for future success.

Susan Butterworth, PhD

Co-Founder
HealthyLifetime®
Ann Arbor, MI, United States
  • 110-B. Data-Driven Methods to Extend Independence and Healthspan

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    110-B. Data-Driven Methods to Extend Independence and Healthspan

    Many life plan communities implement robust wellness programs to help residents live independently longer and extend their healthspan. Yet these communities often overlook less visible but equally influential factors that affect residents’ long-term independence. This session will showcase a life plan community that uses data-driven, behaviorally informed methods to assess residents’ strengths and vulnerabilities, help residents interpret their assessment results, educate them about issues affecting independence, and enable them to co-design targeted interventions. Learn how to make data-informed programming decisions that meet residents’ needs, support independence, and align with organizational strategies to help residents live independently longer.

Lindsey Buzzard

Director of Home Health and Hospice
LeadingAge Ohio
Columbus, OH, US
  • 106-A. Hospice Agencies: It’s Time to Sharpen Your Survey Skills

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    106-A. Hospice Agencies: It’s Time to Sharpen Your Survey Skills

    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) employs surveys as a primary tool in its fight against hospice fraud. With changes to the Hospice Special Focus Program on the horizon, now is the perfect time to deepen your understanding of the hospice survey process and sharpen your survey skills. Join this session to learn what types of fraud CMS and its survey contractors look for during a survey. You’ll gain insights and tips for using mock surveys to prepare your hospice team for its next survey.

Brian Byers

Associate Director of Operations
Horizon House
Seattle, WA, US
  • 74-A. Electrify Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

    74-A. Electrify Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow

    Is your senior living organization feeling pressure from rising utility costs, aging infrastructure, accelerating climate regulations, and residents who expect to live in an environmentally responsible community? It may be time to electrify. This session will share details of a life plan community’s three-year transition from near-total reliance on fossil fuels, such as natural gas and direct steam, to a system that uses electricity to supply 50% of the community’s heat and domestic hot water. Presenters will introduce you to a replicable electrification master plan that organizations of any size can implement, even with aging buildings, limited internal engineering capacity, or constrained capital budgets.

Vassar Byrd

President and CEO
The Kendal Corporation
Newark, DE, US
  • 30-G. Leading and Communicating with Clarity in Uncertain Times

    • Tuesday, October 27, 2026

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    30-G. Leading and Communicating with Clarity in Uncertain Times

    The ability to lead with clarity and communicate with intention has never been more essential or more challenging for senior living organizations navigating expansion, contraction, repositioning, or affiliation. This session will help. A senior living executive and a strategic communications counselor will share strategies for guiding teams and communities through uncertainty and staying mission-steady amid sector-wide fluctuations. They’ll show you how to communicate consistently, choose communication methods wisely, align the leadership team to prevent inconsistent messaging, and balance transparency with openness to build trust without triggering fear and confusion. You’ll gain strategies to strengthen your leadership presence and build goodwill among teams, residents, families, and other key partners.

Katrina Bywater

VP of Accounting
Pacific Retirement Services
Medford, OR, US
  • 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.

Ben Caffey

Corporate Director of Revenue Enhancement
EverTrue
Saint Louis, MO, US
  • 46-D. Keep Your Brand Fresh While Preserving What Sets You Apart

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    46-D. Keep Your Brand Fresh While Preserving What Sets You Apart

    EverTrue, formerly Lutheran Senior Services, is proud of its 165-year legacy of caring for older adults. However, this legacy hasn’t prevented the nation’s 12th-largest nonprofit aging services provider from embarking on a transformative journey driven by innovation. This session will highlight how the St. Louis-based organization expanded housing options and in-home services to serve a broader demographic, implemented innovative service models like palliative care, diversified its revenue streams, adjusted its residential mix, embraced technology, and adopted systems to manage data more efficiently. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear the EverTrue management team discuss how they embraced the future while honoring their organization’s past. You’ll take home valuable tips for keeping your brand fresh while preserving what makes you special.

Linda Calabrese

Senior Vice President of Operations
Ontario Long Term Care Association
Toronto, ON, Canada

Wesley Calton

AVP HR
Otterbein SeniorLife
Lebanon, OH, US
  • 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.

Terrence Carolan

Managing Director of Medical Rehabilitation and Aging Services
CARF International
Tucson, AZ, United States
  • 75-D. International Perspectives: Field-Driven Standards Lead to Person-Centered Innovation

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    75-D. International Perspectives: Field-Driven Standards Lead to Person-Centered Innovation

    Providers of aging services in China have used CARF International’s field-driven, person-centered accreditation standards to improve the care experience of their residents and the business outcomes of their organizations. This session will showcase China’s innovative business and care delivery in independent living, assisted living, rehabilitation programs, and other care models unique to China. Presenters will introduce you to China’s aging services system, explain how it compares to aging services worldwide, and suggest ways it could be replicated in other countries. Panelists will also share how Chinese providers are expanding person-centered practices across entire systems of care.

Molly Carpenter

Director, Workforce Strategy and Development
LeadingAge
Omaha, NE, USA
  • 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.

Amy Castleberry

Managing Director
Ziegler
Chicago, IL, USA
  • 40-C. Strategic Growth and Entrance Fee Alignment

    • Sunday, October 25, 2026

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    40-C. Strategic Growth and Entrance Fee Alignment

    Every life plan community strives to develop growth plans that support the organization’s mission while maintaining profitability and marketability. Presenters of this session will argue that independent living entrance fees pose significant risks to achieving those goals. They’ll outline the widening gap between entrance fees and replacement costs, evaluate the long-term risks of outdated pricing strategies, and offer approaches to adjusting those fees while overcoming internal and external resistance to price increases. You’ll gain additional strategies including phased development plans and creative financing to help you strengthen your financial position, ensure operational success, and align projects with the preferences of current and future consumers.

  • 55-K. The Growth Imperative: If the Market is Ready, Why Aren’t We?

    • Wednesday, October 28, 2026

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    55-K. The Growth Imperative: If the Market is Ready, Why Aren’t We?

    Independent living occupancy has surpassed 90% nationally, even as inventory growth has reached record lows. With demand projected to accelerate, life plan communities must ask a critical question: If the market is ready for growth, why aren’t we? This session will help you become more comfortable with organizational growth. Presenters will guide you in assessing when to grow, when to wait, and which indicators matter most. They’ll share step-by-step processes to build alignment on growth across your organization and show you how to reduce uncertainty and accelerate progress. Learn to differentiate between healthy risk awareness and counterproductive risk avoidance, and get ready to take meaningful action to grow your organization.