Meet the Advisory Council

Keven Bennema

Founder & CEO – Charter Senior Living

Keven Bennema is the Founder and CEO of Charter Senior Living. After a humbling but formative beginning as a caregiver, Bennema rose to executive ranks in the senior living sector, working for several large national providers.

He worked in every functional department of a skilled nursing community before ultimately earning his Nursing Home Administrator License in the state of Ohio.

Concurrently, he completed his MBA in Health Care Administration from Cleveland State University. Keven continued his career in several senior living companies, serving as Executive Director, Regional Director and eventually becoming Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Senior Lifestyle Corporation in Chicago.

Now, with his own company underway and 14 properties (and counting) under his direct leadership, Keven is focused exclusively on advancing his team-inspired vision for senior living under the Charter banner.

Jerrold Frumm

Vice Chairman and Chief Investment Officer – Senior Lifestyle

Jerry Frumm is the Vice Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Senior Lifestyle. In this role Jerry serves as the Chairman of the Senior Lifestyle Investment Committee, which reviews all investment activities for the company. Jerry has been associated with Senior Lifestyle since its inception in 1985. During his tenure, Jerry has been involved in all phases of the development and acquisition of Senior Lifestyle communities and has closed on innumerable debt and equity transactions. Jerry is responsible for key relationships with Senior Lifestyle’s diversified base of capital partners.

Jerry is an attorney who has practiced with both state and federal governments. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and he also currently serves as a member of the Public Policy Committee on The American Seniors Housing Association.

Jerry holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from The Ohio State University and a Law Degree from Washington University School of Law. He is also a licensed real estate broker.

Kai Hsiao

CEO – Eclipse Senior Living

Kai Hsiao is currently the CEO of Eclipse Senior Living, which is a national 3rd party manager of Independent, Assisted, and Memory Care communities across the United States. He also serves as a member of the Argentum Board of Directors, is on the Executive Board of the American Seniors Housing Association and was recently appointed to the NIC Board of Directors.

Kai was previously Senior Managing Director – Senior Housing Properties at HCP Inc., which is a fully integrated real estate investment trust that invests primarily in real estate serving the healthcare industry. Prior to HCP, Kai served as President and CEO of Holiday Retirement, the second largest senior housing operator in the United States. During his tenure there, he held several leadership positions, including: overseeing operations, field support functions, acquisitions, and new business strategy.

Kai graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Arizona.

Anne Tumlinson

Founder & CEO – ATI Advisory

Anne Tumlinson is the founder and CEO of the advisory services and research firm, ATI Advisory. She has 25 years of research and consulting experience in the areas of post-acute and long-term care financing and delivery. Her work has helped organizations respond successfully to payment and delivery reform, and to develop innovative ideas for public policy change necessary to prepare the country for demographic shifts.

Among other affiliations, Anne serves on the board of directors for the Caregiver Action Network, on the Aetna Medicaid Advisory Panel, and on the conference planning committee for the National Investment Center for Seniors Care.

Anne served previously as a Senior Vice President at Avalere Health, where she founded and led Avalere’s post-acute and long-term care consulting practice for 14 years. She created, developed and launched a data-based provider navigation tool for post-acute care placement and led many analytic and modeling projects for a wide variety of clients. Prior to that, she led Medicaid program oversight at the federal Office of Management and Budget.

Robert G. Kramer

Robert G. Kramer

Bob Kramer is President and Founder of Nexus Insights, a thought leadership platform dedicated to the dissemination of ideas and models that challenge the status quo and contribute to the transformation of housing and aging services for older adults. Mr. Kramer is also Co-founder, former CEO, and now Strategic Advisor at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). He is broadly recognized as one of senior living’s most influential and high profile thought leaders and connectors. With over 35 years of industry leadership, he has earned the reputation of “agent provocateur” in the seniors housing and care industry. He has been described as an “ice-cutter” and scout in identifying industries and trends that will disrupt the future of seniors housing, aging services, and aging more broadly. 

In 1991, Mr. Kramer co-founded NIC to advance access and choice in seniors housing and care by attracting capital to grow the sector. Under his leadership, NIC became the go-to resource for data and analytics for the rapidly expanding seniors housing and care industry and an acknowledged thought leader for new ideas and trends impacting the provision of housing, services and care for older adults. Mr. Kramer stepped out of the CEO role in 2017 and continues to serve NIC as Strategic Advisor. 

In 2019, Mr. Kramer conceived of and championed “The Forgotten Middle,” a landmark study of the health and socioeconomic status of middle-income adults who will be 75+ in 2029 and their ability to afford private pay seniors housing. The report on the study, published in Health Affairs, was the 5th most read article appearing in this leading health policy monthly journal in 2019. 

In April 2020, Mr. Kramer launched Nexus Insights to “rethink aging from every angle.” The organization engages a network of leading thinkers and thinking leaders to provide provocative insights and actionable models to catalyze the next generation of housing and aging services. 

Mr. Kramer was educated at Harvard and Oxford Universities and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary. 

Sarah Thomas

Executive Strategist -Aging Innovation

Sarah Thomas is an accomplished leader of innovation. She serves as a global aging expert advising startups, large corporations and investors, with nearly 20 years dedicated to transforming the aging experience. Sarah is CEO of the consulting firm Delight by Design, creating age-inclusive products, brands, spaces and experiences that delight the consumer at every age. Sarah has held key leadership positions across the US and Asia, developing and implementing strategic corporate innovation initiatives, including change management. She serves as the Executive-in-Residence at Aging2.0 and a principal consultant in the Nexus Insights firm for aging transformation. She most recently led all commercial activity for Seismic Holdings – a Silicon Valley-based company shaping human potential through integration of apparel and robotics to augment human strength and performance. Sarah’s commercial expertise helped position the organization for esteemed recognition by the World Economic Forum, Fast Company, The Economist and CES. Prior to Seismic, Sarah led all global innovation for the largest post-acute care provider in the US, Genesis, serving more than 55,000 individuals a day. She combines her Occupational Therapy expertise with her operational, clinical and entrepreneurial experience to inspire global improvements in design and systems innovation worldwide. She designed an innovation center in China as a part of a vitality initiative to improve the health and well-being of global communities. A published author, she serves in multiple advisory positions, sits on numerous boards and is an accomplished keynote speaker on topics like healthy longevity and aging innovations.

Kellie Goodson

Principal of Goodson Professional Services

Kellie is a thought leader in the areas of health equity and patient and family engagement (PFE), specifically their use in healthcare quality and safety improvement. She has worked with multiple health systems to incorporate health disparities identification and resolution and PFE strategies into their quality improvement efforts. She has demonstrated process improvements and improvements in patient outcomes as a result. She led a multi-year analysis of hospitals leveraging PFE in quality and safety improvement that demonstrated better outcomes,specifically lower rates of 30-day readmissions and falls with injury.

Kellie co-led national Affinity Groups for the topics of PFE and health equity for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and has served on national committeesfor the National Quality Forum and the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care. An experienced speaker, she champions the inclusion of patient voices in healthcare improvement efforts and building partnerships with patients, families, and providers to transform healthcare delivery and outcomes. Kellie works at Vizient as a Performance Improvement Program Director. She is Principal of Goodson Professional Services working with clients such as ATW Health Solutions and Sentrics Acute Care Division. She is also a partner at Diversity Crew. Kellie received her Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of New Hampshire and her Master of Science in Integrated Health Care Management from Western Governors University. She is a Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP) as well.

Shanna Hall

Vice President of Nursing

Shanna Hall MBA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC has 29 years of healthcare experience and is currently the Vice President of Nursing for Torrance Memorial Medical Center, a nonprofit medical center with 443 staffed beds located in Southern California. Torrance Memorial is affiliated with Cedars-Sinai under the umbrella of Cedars-Sinai Health System. Torrance Memorial has earned the coveted Magnet designation 3 times from the American Nursing Credentialing Center, which recognizes nursing excellence. The hospital has been recognized as a Best Hospital for2020-21 for the ninth straight year by U.S. News & World Report, placing the hospital in the top 3% in the state. Torrance Memorial remains the 12th highest ranking hospital for overall hospital quality in the state of California and moved up in ranking to 6th in the Los Angeles region. Torrance Memorial seeks to offer the most current and effective medical technologies rendered in a compassionate, caring manner to the residents of the South Bay, Peninsula and Harbor communities.

Mark Heyward Johnson

Healthcare IT Consultant

Mark Heyward Johnson is an experienced health IT professional with 25 years of nursing experience in psychiatric, cardiac and oncology practices and informatics. Mark has maintained ANCC certification in Informatics Nursing since 2005 and CPHIMS certification since 2009. Mark has worked in provider and vendor roles with experience in healthcare systems selection, implementation, support and development as well as software business development roles. Mark was elected in 2017 to serve on the national board of directors for the American Nursing Informatics Association and currently serves as the association treasurer in his second term on the board. Mark has served on multiple Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) committees, including the Connected Patient and Professional Development committees and was the Co-Chair of the Connect Patient Community at HIMSS for 2015. Mark was named a Fellow at HIMSS in 2017. Mark is a graduate of the Clemson University College of Nursing and earned a MHA (focus on Information Systems) from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Cassidy McCrite

Cassidy McCrite is the Acting Assisted Living Administrator at McCrite Plaza at Briarcliff in Kansas City, Missouri, and Chief Operating Officer of McCrite Retirement Communities. There, he oversees the compliance and day-to-day operations of 203 independent living apartments, 143 assisted living units and more than four dozen skilled nursing units. After receiving his master’s in education from Washburn University, he began his senior living career at McCrite Plaza Topeka. It was there that he realized his calling to work with the elderly. From that first job, Cassidy progressed through the company to eventually become the administrator of the independent and assisted living apartment building.

Since then, he has been instrumental in leading the family-owned business through multiple expansions to complete the full continuum of care at McCrite Plaza for the people of Kansas City. In 2012, Cassidy was instrumental in the development, design and construction of McCrite’s expansion project in the Briarcliff area of Kansas City, Missouri.  With the success of the first building, which consisted of independent and assisted living apartments, he led a second expansion of Briarcliff services to encompass memory care and skilled nursing. This completed the full continuum of care at McCrite Plaza for the people of Kansas City

Pat Merryweather-Arges

Pat Merryweather-Arges, Executive Director of Project Patient Care, is an experienced quality and performance improvement professional focused on bringing the voice of the patient, resident, and family to policy and healthcare interventions.  Prior to Project Patient Care, Pat served as the Executive Director of the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization over five states working on improvements in nursing homes, hospitals and community health. She implemented measurable quality care improvement initiatives of the federal government and developed collaborative learning and action networks aimed at improving individual and resident patient care; integrated care delivery systems; and prevention of disease and disease advancement. She partnered with hospitals, nursing homes, home health, physician practices, and patients and families along with their trade associations, professional organizations, and government and non-governmental organizations.

As the Senior Vice President with the Illinois Hospital Association for 26 years, Pat was the healthcare information and health care quality and policy liaison with local, state, and national public and private organizations. Pat also had the responsibility for development and all management aspects of COMPdata (on-line comparative information network) and performance measurement development and services in Illinois and five other states. Pat also developed and managed the on-line consumer resource, Illinois Hospitals Caring for You web site. Pat developed and implemented the Quality Care Institute (QCI) that was built on existing hospital and IHA quality and safety initiatives and designed to promote innovative programs for measurably improving the quality of patient care.

Cheryl Parker

Ph.D., RN-BC, CNE

Dr. Parker has more than 40 years of experience in the healthcare industry including clinical nursing, management, nursing informatics, and education both corporate and academic.  She is a clinical assistant professor for the University of Texas at Tyler and has a research focus on the impact of technology on clinician workflow. Dr. Parker has worked in clinical system/device selection and implementation from both a facility and vendor perspective.  She has worked at all levels of clinical practice to help ensure successful outcomes for the clinician and the organization. She has been a frequent contributor to the growing body of healthcare knowledge as a presenter and author.  She has Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Nursing; a post-master’s certificate in Nursing Informatics; and a PhD in Education with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement. She holds American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) board certification as an informatics nurse and the National League for Nursing (NLN) Certified Nurse Educator (CNE). Dr. Parker is a Fellow of Healthcare Informatics Systems Society (HIMSS), where she received the 2021 HIMSS-ANI Nursing Informatics Leadership Award. She also belongs to the American Nursing Informatics Organization (ANIA), where she serves as 2021 Immediate Past President; to the American Nurses Association/Texas Nurses Association, where she served on the Scope & Standards of Practice for Nursing Informatics revision workgroup; and to Sigma Theta Tau International (Sigma), the international honor society for nursing.

Kevin Wake

Kevin has served as Truman Medical Center’s PFAC Chairman since 2019. He worked in pharmaceutical sales management and holds a Master’s in healthcare informatics. He also is a Certified Community Health Worker, and president of the Uriel E. Owens Sickle Cell Disease Association of the Midwest.

Artisha McCoy

Artisha has been a member of the VCU Medical Center PFAC member since 2019. She is a community outreach coordinator and peer-to-peer counselor helping others with life threatening/ challenging illness learn to thrive.

Rebecca Forster

Rebecca first joined the Torrance Memorial Medical Center PFAC in 2013. She has written more than 40 novels and is a standing member of the hospital’s Service Excellence Council.

Colonel Steven Coffee

Steven has been a member of the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital PFAC since 2014. He received his Master’s in Clinical Quality, Safety and Leadership from Georgetown University and was an Inaugural Patient Partner in Research with the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine. He has served as a CMS Technical Expert Panelist.

Katie Alyea

A member of the Reid Health Patient and Family Advisory Council since 2017/2018. Katie is a marketing manager in the banking/financial industry, and an active community and nonprofit volunteer.