Governance Training

This session provides a high-level overview of the senior living sector nationally and in Pennsylvania, exploring the macroeconomic and operational trends shaping the industry today. Discussion topics will include consumer demand, growth and development activity, affiliation and partnership trends, workforce dynamics, and the evolving economic environment, including impacts from the capital markets and other financing influencers.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Examine current trends influencing senior living growth, demand, and organizational strategy
• Analyze affiliation, development, and partnership activity across the sector
• Identify economic, operational, and capital market factors affecting long-term planning and performance

Before It Becomes a Crisis: How Senior Living Boards Read Signals, Ask Better Questions, and Act Earlier

Senior living boards are often presented with financial reports, quality dashboards, occupancy updates, workforce data, and strategic plans — but the real governance challenge is knowing when those data points are signaling something more serious. This session will help board members identify early-warning signs of organizational stress, understand when trends require deeper inquiry, and ask stronger questions before issues become urgent. Participants will explore financial, operational, workforce, compliance, and governance signals, as well as how committees and the full board can work together to support proactive decision-making.

Learning Objectives

1. Recognize and interpret early-warning signals across financial, operational, workforce, compliance, and governance areas, including how to distinguish routine operating challenges from patterns that may require board-level attention.
2. Ask stronger oversight questions and use committee reporting more effectively to understand whether management has identified the root cause, developed a credible response, and is making measurable progress.
3. Identify when emerging risks should trigger broader strategic conversations about sustainability, repositioning, partnership, affiliation, rightsizing, or other future pathways. 

When the Board and CEO See Strategy Differently: Roles, Boundaries & Resetting Alignment

This presentation explores how boards and CEOs can navigate strategic misalignment without damaging trust, morale, or organizational momentum. Attendees will learn how differing perspectives on mission, financial priorities, risk tolerance, and governance roles can create tension—and how to reset alignment through clearer boundaries, stronger communication, and structured decision-making. The session will provide practical tools for strengthening board–CEO relationships while keeping the organization unified around strategy and mission.

Communication & Board Messaging in Times of Pressure

Boards play an important role in organizational communication during periods of transition, uncertainty, and operational pressure. Yet without clear role definition between governance and management, organizations can quickly face mixed messages, confusion, and erosion of trust among residents, families, staff, donors, and the broader community.

 This session will explore governance best practices for communication during affiliation discussions, leadership transitions, financial or operational challenges, and other sensitive situations. Participants will examine the board’s role versus the CEO’s role in organizational messaging, strategies for maintaining a unified voice, approaches for addressing rumor cycles and stakeholder concerns, and how to balance openness with confidentiality when the board must remain disciplined and measured in its communications.

Strengthening Your Board’s Preparedness for Future Executive Transitions

While the selection of a new CEO has long been considered the single most important decision a not-for-profit board will make, for many board members going through a CEO transition within aging services, it is a completely new experience.   With more than 50% of current CEOs in our field approaching retirement within the next 3-5 years, to ensure organizational stability boards must be proactive in gaining understanding of and preparing for this crucial area of their governance responsibilities.  This session takes board members, current or aspiring CEOs, and leadership team members invested in the organizational integration of their new CEO step by step through planning for a future CEO transition process, from laying the groundwork well in advance through onboarding/integrating their new executive. Attendees will glean best practices and pitfalls to avoid in the following areas:

• Building a multi-layer succession plan that addresses both anticipated and unanticipated departures
• Developing an effective transition plan and process
• Selection and Role of the Transition/Search Team
• Approaching leadership succession through the lenses of strategy, culture, and risk
• Addressing internal candidates
• Supporting and partnering with the departing CEO in the process
• Integrating the new CEO into the organization