Speakers

BOB KALLONEN

President Retired Amica

Bob has held progressively responsible operational leadership roles in the senior living housing sector over the past 25 years:

  • President of Amica Senior Lifestyles, a Retirement Home organization providing accommodation and care services across Canada.
  • Chief Operating Officer for Schlegel Villages, operating both licensed and funded long-term care alongside private-pay senior living in a unique village campus setting
  • Vice-President Operations for Sunrise Senior Living of McLean, Virginia
  • Vice-President of Eastern Canadian Operations for Extendicare Canada.

Bob is now retired, busily working a small family maple syrup operation and navigating life in a multi-generational home shared with 4 adult children and their families.

He served for a full 9 year term on the Board of the Ontario Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority. He also enjoyed sitting on the Canadian Board of Bethany Kids, a charitable organization dedicated to providing and expanding access to pediatric medical services in Africa – a charity he continues to support.

Bob has completed a Bachelor of Environmental Studies degree with Honours at the University Of Waterloo School Of Urban Planning and has an Executive MBA from Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario.

DAVID MILLS

COO
Agewell Solvere Senior Living

David has 25 years of experience in the Senior housing field. After receiving his Bachelor of science degree, a dual major in Business Communications and Nutritional Dietetics, at Ohio University. David has spent time working for Five Star Senior Living, Sunrise Senior Living and is currently the President and COO of Agewell Solvere Senior Living.

CHRISTY PARSONS

VP of People Schlegel Villages

Christy is the Vice President of People at Schlegel Villages responsible for fostering a workplace culture and environment where team members feel valued. Her primary focus is on team member engagement and how the ultimate team member experience can be cultivated to position Schlegel Villages as an employer of choice in senior living. She supports the human resources and labour relations team that provide direct support to nineteen long term care and retirement communities that make up Schlegel Villages consisting of over 5000 team members.

Christy has worked professionally with older adults for over 25 years and has gained extensive experience in both long-term care and retirement living through a number of key senior leadership roles. She previously served as an Associate Faculty member for the Recreation & Leisure Services Program at Conestoga College and Program Coordinator of a post-graduate program, Recreation Management in Working with Older Adults.

Her education background includes a diploma from Conestoga College in Recreation Leadership, a Bachelor of Adult Education degree from Brock University and the Strategic Human Resources Management Program from University of Toronto- Rotman School of Management.

KATRINA MULHOLLAND

Senior Director of People, Amica

Katrina Mulholland has had the privilege of serving team members in senior living with Amica Senior Lifestyles for the past 10 years. In her role as Senior Director, People she has the privilege of influencing other leaders in the areas of talent acquisition, culture and engagement, talent management, leadership development, compensation and labour relations. The projects that have fueled her passion and purpose in recent years are those related to optimizing labour to provide more value and stability to an organization in rapid growth. This has led to a wonderful partnership with BookJane experimenting with how technology can help simplify the complexities of staffing in an ever- shrinking labour market all while providing more flexibility and autonomy for team members and continuity of care for residents.

Katrina’s education in human resources, law and psychology and her 18 year career in human resources has fed her perpetual curiosity to understand why people do what they do in the way that they do it. In her spare time, Katrina loves to be with her family, Diet Pepsi, books, running trail and heavy rock or hip hop music.

ED RUSSELL

CEO
WCS

Ed has over 30 years’ experience working in health and social care in the not-for-profit sector. Joining WCS Care in 1992, Ed progressed from Care Worker to Chief Executive leading WCS Care as an award-winning not-for- profit care provider in Warwickshire, England.

Known for use of technology and embedding new, innovative ways of working WCS was the first of over 4,000 providers in England to achieve six ‘outstanding’ quality ratings from the regulator.

WCS was also the first UK provider to successfully install Acoustic night- time monitoring and Circadian Rhythm lighting and recently opened a pioneering care village in Warwick which is modeled on a Dutch facility that connects residents to normal life and improves wellbeing.

Ed is passionate about helping the care sector to offer a different sort of future for care home residents and is quietly breaking new ground for a better kind of residential care.

JUSTIN STEIN

VP of People,
Bickford

Justin is a people centric operator who fell into HR side of the business. Joining Senior Living after college as a caregiver, Justin has worked within every department of senior living community. An operator by trade, Justin served Brookdale Senior Living as a District Director of Operations out of their Phoenix market before joining Bickford in 2021. While at Bickford Justin has had the opportunity to focus on the people side of the business through the lens and context of his operational background.

Justin uses his unique path through senior living to create highly connected and engaged teams, while challenging those around him to think bigger and better in this new age of opportunity since the disruption of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

MICHAEL LAVALLÉE

CEO
Seasons Retirement Communities

Michael is a noted expert and accomplished speaker on the Canadian Seniors Housing sector. Mike has successfully advocated for resident qualify of life and care for the last 20 years. He joined Seasons in 2009 as the COO where he launched the Seasons Retirement Communities operating platform and brand from start-up. Assuming the role of CEO in 2018, Mike has continued to strengthen the Seasons brand and integrate new assets into the platform building it into one of the top 12 seniors housing companies in Canada.

Prior to joining Seasons, Mike was Vice President of Operations for Chartwell Retirement Residences, the largest seniors housing provider in Canada.

Additionally, he recently released his first book; Connect, Care, Change: A Roadmap to Authentic Leadership. His passion for leadership excellence has led him to support organizations through Board Governance. In addition to a B.A. from Bishop’s University, he also holds the ICD.D designation, is the past Chair of the Board of the Ontario Retirement Communities Association (ORCA). He is currently a Director for the Alberta Seniors Communities and Housing Association (ASCHA) and a Governor at Trent University where he also Chairs the Lands Committee.

JENNIFER FITZPATRICK

Author,
Founder of Jenerations Health Education

Jennifer L. FitzPatrick, MSW, LCSW-C, CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) is the author of Reimagining Customer Service in Healthcare and Cruising through Caregiving: Reducing the Stress of Caring for Your Loved One. 

She is a gerontology instructor at Johns Hopkins University’s Certificate on Aging program and has been featured on ABC, CBS, Sirius XM and in Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and countless other international media outlets.

The founder of Jenerations Health Education, Inc., Jennifer helps C-suite leaders in senior living and healthcare discover ways to make their customers and team members happier.