Agemark Senior Living Names Two Co-ceos, Passing Leadership To A New Generation

Agemark Senior Living is passing the baton to a new generation of leaders as part of a planned leadership transition.

Managing partners Michael Pittore and Forrest Westin are set to lead the company as co-CEOs as current CEO Martin Hug transitions to the role of executive chairman, the company told Senior Housing News. The transition will take place on June 1, an Agemark spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.

For the new leaders, the transition is all in the family. Their fathers, Jesse Pittore and Richard Westin, founded the Omaha, Nebraska-based senior living company in 1983. Since then, it has grown to include a portfolio of 28 senior living communities in six states, with 24 owned by Agemark and five communities under third-party management agreements. 

“Given the speed at which we see the industry changing, now and in the future, and all the growth we see coming, we felt this year was an opportune time to make the transition providing Agemark with an incredibly solid foundation for what is to come,” Michael Pittore told Senior Housing News.

Forrest Westin joined Agemark in 2004. Michael Pittore joined the operator in 2015 after working in various finance-related roles for Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. The pair have worked with Agemark and developed “complimentary skillsets,” prompting the company’s top leadership to adopt a co-leadership model for the future.

“We believe two brains are better than one and having both of us [as co-CEOs] allows us to be even more effective,” Michael Pittore said.

The company’s focus in the last two years has been on “empowerment and accountability,” Forrest Westin told SHN.

“We look at that in terms of doing what we are doing the best we possibly can do as a company for our seniors and empowering our team to deliver exceptional care while also thinking differently,” Forrest Westin said.

Also as part of the leadership change, the company recently hired former Atria Senior Living Senior Vice President Andrew Levin as vice president of operations and sales to bring a fresh perspective to the company’s sales and community operations.

As part of the commitment to the leadership change, Michael Pittore moved from southern California to Omaha, Nebraska to be at the corporate office full-time

“Our strategy is that we want to be in this for the long-term and we always talk about it having been 40 years and how do we stay in it for the next 40 [years],” Michael Pittore said.

Agemark’s recent moves have included entering an agreement with real estate investment trust National Health Investors (NYSE: NHI) to sell six of its 24-owned senior living properties to the Murfreesboro, Tennessee REIT. The six-property portfolio is made up of memory care communities through a sale-lease back deal.

“There was alignment with NHI versus the private equity firms, generally speaking, which are more short-term minded and so that was an important piece for us—finding a long-term partner to continue to grow together with,” Forrest Westin said.

While the deal isn’t emblematic of the company’s future growth plans, Michael Pittore said that memory care would be a “core competency” for Agemark going forward as the company keeps its primary focus on full-continuum of care properties. Agemark’s newest IL, AL and memory care community in Omaha, a 160-unit property, highlights the company’s future growth philosophy.

“That’s more emblematic of where we’re going with larger buildings with independent living, assisted living and memory care while we bring our memory care expertise to those buildings,” Michael Pittore said.

Agemark is also well-versed in value-add, turnaround acquisitions, having completed over a half-dozen of turnaround deals in the past, he added.

The company is in the midst of seeking other long-term partners to fuel its growth, with Agemark in conversation with various potential partners, Michael Pittore noted, as occupancy ranges in the mid 80th percentile and improving 1% to 2% for the last 12 months.

“We’re starting to get back to smooth sailing where we set ourselves up to do business for the next 40 years,” Michael Pittore said. “So, things are running incredibly well.”

While not seeking to be the largest senior living operator, Michael Pittore said the company was reviewing potential acquisition opportunities.

“We’ve institutionalized our systems in the last 10 years and that’s starting to become more and more on the forefront,” Forrest Westin said.

In the coming months, Michael Pittore said the company’s corporate leadership would continue reviewing operating procedures and determine which areas could be standardized, in an effort to improve operations while also improving the transition period when a new executive director joins a community. This is part of the company’s push to “take roadblocks out” for frontline staff to provide better care and services for residents.

“The age wave is not going to be something we all get on and surf for the next 20 years,” Michael Pittore said as it relates to preparing the company for a more complex operating environment.

All of Agemark’s growth and evolution is in the name of serving 500,000 residents, staff and family members by 2040, the co-CEOs noted.

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