CEO Forum

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Fall 2026 CEO Forum

October 8, 2026 | Manheim, PA

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Leadership Continuity: CEO Succession and Transition in Aging Services

As aging services organizations navigate workforce shortages, financial pressures, and evolving models of care, leadership continuity has become a strategic priority. Many Life Plan Communities and Continuing Care Retirement Communities remain vulnerable due to limited succession planning, ineffective leadership transitions, and lack of investment in future leadership development. Drawing on executive search and leadership advisory experience in Pennsylvania and across the aging services sector, WittKieffer Senior Partner and Aging Services Practice Leader Lisa DeSimone Arthur will examine today's executive leadership landscape in aging services and the growing challenges that organizations face in identifying, developing, and retaining the next generation of C-suite leaders.

The session will explore why CEO succession planning is not simply a governance best practice but a critical function that can impact an organization's culture, financial performance, and ability to implement its strategic plan. Lisa will provide practical tips for current leaders on how to introduce the topic of succession with a board and how to create a sustainable succession framework. Topics will include identifying internal and external talent, the role of assessments, preparing for both planned and unexpected transitions, and how effective onboarding can accelerate a new leader’s impact. Lisa will emphasize CEO succession and transition as strategic priorities for maintaining alignment among an organization’s mission, culture, and strategy. The session will also include a brief discussion on board succession as a key component of an organization's succession planning efforts and the elements of a "high-impact board." Audience discussion and Q&A will be incorporated throughout the session.

Lisa DeSimone Arthur, a WittKieffer Senior Partner based in New York, NY, works with organizations spanning the healthcare landscape, including hospitals, health systems, senior care systems, health plans, and community-based organizations. Her broad view of the complex forces impacting patient-centric care enables her to help clients envision their respective future states while embedding those insights into the strategy for identifying transformative leaders. As head of WittKieffer’s Senior Care, Home Health, and Hospice Practice, Lisa helps clients identify progressive leaders who can refine their business models in a dramatically shifting environment.

Lisa leads executive searches and identifies candidates for CEO, CFO, Chief Diversity Officers, and physician leadership positions. Prior to her career in executive search, she held significant leadership roles in the insurance industry. During that time, Lisa underwrote and developed insurance products for corporate and non-profit clients. She has held leadership roles at several insurance companies.

She began her career as a Director and Officer's Liability underwriter at American International Group. Lisa has worked with corporate and non-profit boards to tailor insurance products and provide risk management solutions and tools to meet their individualized needs. 

She can be reached at lisad@wittkieffer.com.