Helping Others to Age Well

Helping Others to Age Well

The question is not whether the United States senior living industry is a big and potentially very profitable business. The numbers speak for themselves. The industry has been on a growth trajectory for decades with no signs of slowing and in 2023 was valued at $923.2 billion – with projections of reaching $1 trillion by 2029.

The primary question for anyone with a loved one in a senior living community is can such a large business provide the personalized, compassionate care that its residents deserve?

Can an industry that big care about and deliver the myriads of small acts of kindness, patience and compassion that residents may need daily?

Rich Boyson, President and CEO of the Eliza Jennings Senior Care Network, can’t speak for the entire industry. But he does believe that the 137-year-old organization he leads has a history, culture and team that is able to provide the experience residents will cherish.

“Eliza Jennings Senior Care is a not-for-profit senior living provider, and our mission is far more important than hitting some
financial benchmarks,” says Rich. “We have been able to remain focused on the caregiving values of our founder, Eliza Jennings.
Eliza originally founded our organization on Cleveland’s near westside in 1888 in a location that was dedicated to helping women in need, who were severely ill.”

“Eliza Jennings began our work with a small staff who cared about the mission of helping other women. Today, we have
approximately 700 employees taking care of 700 residents in our four locations, while providing home health and hospice care to
another 300 individuals. Each of our resident communities has the finest amenities and we provide Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care and Skilled Nursing. Still, I like to think Eliza would recognize the same caring culture today that she began
more than a century ago,” states Boyson.

Every good organizational leader identifies the primary challenges to his or her organization’s success and develops an approach and strategy to address them. “Rich is an exemplary leader who brings business know-how to the not-for-profit world, which is a powerful combination,” says Mike Mudrak, Senior Vice President, Cleveland Market President at Farmers National Bank.

Rich serves on the Farmers National Bank Community Advisory Board, composed of business and civic leaders who help the bank better understand and respond to the community’s needs and goals.

Rich Boyson has nearly three decades of experience in the senior care industry. Prior to this he launched his career as a CPA with Deloitte Touche, where he gained the financial and business expertise that is valuable to a senior care executive, given the industry’s complex regulatory and all-important reimbursement rules.

Eliza Jennings was one of Rich’s clients while at Deloitte, and in 1996 he joined the senior living provider in a financial role. He left in 2002 and spent 13 years working for other post-acute care organizations before returning to Eliza Jennings in 2015 as its CEO and President. “I always thought I would return to this wonderful organization that gave me my start,” Rich says, “and when I did, it was like coming home.”

Upon returning to Eliza, Rich drew on his substantial experience identifying two primary and related ways to help ensure that Eliza Jennings delivers on the organization’s commitment to the emotional, intellectual, physical, social and spiritual well-being of its residents.

First, he drew upon his business expertise. “My executive leadership team and I wanted to make sure our clinical and resident-centered staff can focus solely on making the residents’ lives better day in and day out.”

Rich wanted compassionate, personalized care to be the main focus: “The executive team and the administrative teams at each of Eliza’s four locations (Cleveland, Westlake, Olmsted Township and most recently, Chagrin Falls) have to be totally on top of all business, financial, resource, and regulatory matters so that our resident-centered staff can simply focus on the needs and rights of the residents we serve.”

The other point of leadership emphasis for Rich Boyson is hiring the right people. Of course, saying you need the right people on board is almost a cliche in the business world. But it’s cliche because everyone who has ever led an organization knows it to be the absolute truth.

A challenge for Rich is how can you be certain that you are hiring the right person for the job of providing person-centered care and kindness to all those in their care, including their families? “Humility, resident focused, and empowerment,” Rich says. “These are the essential attributes we look for to help ensure a leader’s success in their role.”

“Finally, a leader needs to care about giving credit to the team more than to themselves, especially when things go well,” Boyson concluded.

In the end, the challenge for the senior living industry is not just about maintaining its growth or meeting financial goals; it’s about ensuring that every resident is treated with the respect, compassion, and care they deserve. Eliza Jennings, under Rich Boyson’s leadership, shows that it is possible to achieve both: a thriving organization that continues to grow, while staying true to its 137-year legacy of kindness and empathy. As Rich often says, “it’s not just the bottom line that counts, but the lasting impact we make on the lives of our residents who call our communities home.”

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