Article written by: Alexandra Cohl

How much do you know about the women behind the scenes at senior living facilities? Since it is Women’s History Month and part of this month is about celebrating the achievements of women throughout history, I was curious about how many women were holding high-level positions in this field. Here’s what I found out: while the residents are largely made up of women and “the healthcare workforce is overwhelmingly female, constituting 75 percent of the industry,” that’s not the case for C-suite positions. In fact, in a 2017 statistical breakdown, “under 20 percent” of C-suite positions are filled by women. Truthfully, I was a bit disappointed when I heard that, but not terribly surprised. Lack of representation for women in high-level positions is an issue across many industries. However, there has been progress, and it is specifically encouraging in assisted living facilities. There are organizations like Empower that strive to showcase “the achievements of women in long-term care and senior living” at all stages of their career and research shows that having women in C-suite positions and on boards only improves the company: they “see benefits such as more effective risk management, fewer financial reporting mistakes and fewer shareholder battles.” Of the small amount of women to hold CEO positions, I found out that four of them are already in charge of facilities that are within the top ten in the United States:

Lucinda M. (“Cindy”) Baier, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Brookdale Senior Living.
Lilly Donohue, CEO of Holiday Retirement
Katie Potter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Five Star Senior Living
Kimberly Lody, President and CEO of Capital Senior Living

Though “of the 115 largest senior living provider companies, only 17.5% are helmed by a female CEO” that not only beats “the national rate of 16%” but they are climbing higher among the rankings within that top list of providers. That is something to celebrate.