OUR MANAGEMENT

Keven J. Bennema
President and CEO

Keven Bennema is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Charter Senior Living, based in Naperville, Illinois. After a humbling but formative beginning as a caregiver, Bennema rose to executive ranks in the senior living sector, working for several large national providers. He worked in every functional department of a skilled nursing community before ultimately earning his Nursing Home Administrator License in the state of Ohio. Concurrently, he completed his MBA in Healthcare Administration from Cleveland State University. Bennema continued his career in several senior living companies, serving as Executive Director, Regional Director and eventually becoming Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Senior Lifestyles Corp. in Chicago. Now with his own company underway and thirteen (13) properties (and counting) under his direct leadership, Keven is focused exclusively on advancing his team-inspired vision for senior living under the Charter banner.

Jayne Sallerson
Chief Operating Officer/Partner

Jayne Sallerson, a seasoned veteran in the senior living industry, joined Charter Senior Living as investor, partner and Chief Operating Officer. Sallerson oversees all facets of operations for the company. For the past 25 years, she has served in various senior management roles for both large and small senior living organizations, exposing her to over 750 communities throughout the United States. She has developed and executed sales and operational infrastructures where the net result has been increased revenue, reduced expenses and improved NOI. Her unique blend of both sales and operations experience allows for a balanced approach of driving NOI while keeping customer and employee satisfaction at the core of operating strategies. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President of Sales & Operations for Benchmark Senior Living and spent seven years as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Emeritus Senior Living prior to the Brookdale merger. Jayne is well-recognized within the senior housing industry. She has served on multiple Argentum roundtables and is a frequent presenter on a variety of topics for the senior living industry’s major national senior living conferences.

Bruce Waxman
Chief Financial Officer

Bruce Waxman provides business and financial strategy consulting to growth-stage businesses and has more than 25 years’ experience counseling entrepreneurs in all facets of business development. A graduate of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, Bruce has served as Controller, Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer and has held financial management positions for private and publicly held companies. He earned his BSBA from the University of Missouri – St. Louis with concentrations in Accounting and Finance. Bruce has served as the fractional CFO to diverse health care organizations, including physical therapy, home health agencies, long-term care pharmacies, specialty physician practices and technology companies. 

Kim Bennema
Executive Administrator

Kim currently serves as the Executive Administrator for Charter Senior Living. She is the Lead Project Manager and Designer for all Charter renovations and also coordinates administrative functions at the corporate level. She has earned a degree in Meeting and Event Planning, as well as an Associate degree in Applied Science – Travel and Tourism – from the College of DuPage. Kim’s passion and empathy for the senior living industry is exemplified by her enthusiasm for providing the best environmental design standards, levels of care and state-of-the-art products and programs for the residents and staff that represent the Charter family. Kim and Keven have been married for 24 years, and are raising three children of their own.

Cathy Hampton
Regional Director of Operations

Cathy has served in the senior living industry for 26 years and began her career as a Licensed Practical Nurse in a skilled nursing facility. She advanced quickly into leadership positions including Nursing Home Administrator and Corporate Quality Assurance/Risk Management Director for USA Healthcare-Alabama and Iowa. Cathy also served as Executive Director and Executive Director Transition Specialist for the southeast division of Brookdale Senior Living during her tenure with them. From there, she accepted a role as the Regional Director of Operations for Somerby Senior Living. Under her leadership, the regional team oversaw operations, sales/marketing, clinical and regulatory compliance for eight (8) communities, representing 1,237 units (IL, AL, MC) across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. Additionally, Cathy managed the development and execution of pre marketing activities and start-up operations for two new luxury communities (200 units) in Georgia and Tennessee.

Most recently, Cathy worked with Senior Source Consulting Group, providing market analysis and recommendations to some of the industry’s most prominent and respected providers in over 100 communities across the United States. Her expert recommendations and action plans were instrumental to superior positioning in each of the targeted markets. Cathy has developed a unique ability to quickly assess situations, make sound recommendations and take decisive actions that drive performance. She is an effective liaison, team-builder and has an inimitable ability to build productive and lasting partnerships across sales and operational departments. Most importantly, Cathy is a strong mentor and promotes leadership qualities in others. Her passion for building teams of integrity and confidence support Charter’s culture, where excellent care and service are provided to our seniors and staff alike.

Hilary King
Operation Systems & Development

Hilary King joined Charter Senior Living as an Operations Specialist in September 2017 and currently serves as a Regional Director of Operations. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in both Economics and Political Science from Vanderbilt University. Hilary has worked in senior living for over 10 years, but has been involved in the industry her entire life, as she was raised on the campus of a non-profit CCRC, where she volunteered and worked as early as eight years old. During her eight-year tenure at Senior Lifestyle, she held various positions as Property Manager, Area Manager and Executive Director. While at Senior Lifestyle, she attended the School of Executive Development, which only six leaders a year were chosen to attend. Hilary acted as an Executive Director at Harbor Retirement Associates for over two years and holds her Administrators License in the states of South Carolina and Tennessee. Prior to starting her career in senior living, Hilary had a background in instructional design and training. She has used this skill to develop policies and training documentation to teach and drive best practices in sales, business operations, hospitality and resident care.

Leslie K. Eldridge
Regional Director of Operations

Leslie K. Eldridge has over 25 years of experience in senior living and she currently serves as the Regional Director of Operations for Charter Senior Living. Her previous roles have included working as a Nursing Home Administrator, an Executive Director and a Regional Director of Operations for an array of supportive living, private pay and new development communities. Leslie has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Kansas State University as well as a Master of Business Administration and a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix. She has been involved in local civic organizations, serving on the board of directors for a variety of associations, including serving as the President of the Southern Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce for three years. Leslie loves spending time with her family and believes in what she does to the core. In fact, she states that she has learned so much from her coworkers and seniors – including how to be a better person.

Maura Feaheny
Vice President of Development & Strategy

Maura A. Feaheny joined Charter Senior Living in September 2018 as our Corporate Director of Integration & Project Manager, bringing with her extensive executive leadership experience in commercial real estate development and senior housing plant operations and capital management. Her experiences as an Independent Consultant and as a corporate employee extend from ground-up development to existing building operations management. She earned her Master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance & Strategy from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. She is a licensed Architect in the State of Illinois.

Maura recently served as Vice President of Plant Operations, managing a team of four regional directors and oversight managers for 187 senior housing communities. She first joined Senior Lifestyle Corporation (SLC) in 2013 as a Regional Director of Plant Operations and was promoted twice in her first two years to her current role. Her successes were creating an independent Plant Operations Team, effective coordination efforts with Risk Management, Clinical & Operations, along with management of between $50 – 70M capex spend annually. Investor relations, complex operations integration issues, major capital project planning and progressive management style highlight her past decade.

Kelley Steiner
Executive Assistant

Kelley joined Charter Senior Living in June 2018 as Executive Assistant. She has over 25 years of experience in C-Suite support and office management. As Executive Assistant at Sherpa CRM, LLC for the past two and a half years, she gained knowledge and a growing passion for the senior housing industry. The scope of her job responsibilities range from everyday clerical duties to office management to event planning. She also identifies needs and puts systems into place that improve efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction. Recognized as an effective communicator, she works well both one-on-one and in groups to achieve strategic goals.

Zack Bennema
Financial Analyst

Joining Charter in June of 2019, Zack Bennema serves as a Financial Analyst, where his focus is primarily business development and operations analysis. On the business development side, he specializes in pro forma development and modeling for all potential development and acquisition opportunities presented to Charter. On the operations side, he is fully involved in the budgeting process for each Charter community and is keenly apt to evaluate all financial aspects of operational performance. While earning his degree in finance from Baylor University and serving as quarterback and letter winner on the football team, he honed his skills as a leader and developed an unmatched work ethic during his tenure. Zack is currently based in Chicago, Illinois.

Tammy Sunderman
Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Tammy comes to Charter Senior Living with over 25 years of experience in senior living sales and marketing. She began in skilled nursing facilities as an Admissions and Marketing Director and became Vice President of Sales and Marketing in assisted living, securing an array of experience from strategic marketing and lead generation to hands-on sales training to help assist and coach sales professionals to occupancy success. Tammy is deeply passionate about leading a team to embrace a sales process that is focused on relationship selling. She approaches the sales process with compassion and empathy, knowing that building a trusting relationship is key.

Tammy has a Bachelor of Science degree and an Associate degree in nursing, giving her the ability to relate to health concerns with families and residents, and in 2006, she won the Outstanding Marketing Director of the Year given by Indiana Assisted Living Federation of America.

Nick Lemke
Senior Director of Facility Operations

Nick Lemke joins Charter Senior Living with over 25 years of experience. Nick has spent the last 12 years in Senior Living working in Procurement, Facilities and Asset Management for Brookdale Senior Living and Enlivant Senior Living. Nick grew up in Lakeville, MN, and attended Winona State University, where he received his Bachelor’s degree and then relocated to Chicago where he received his Master’s degree in Business Administration. He has an incredible passion for the Senior Housing industry and serving residents. He finds it is rewarding to know that he can help make a resident’s home a better place. Nick has two children, Owen and Graham. Owen recently graduated UW-Madison  with a degree in Economics and is currently substitute teaching high school math. Graham is a sophomore, also at UW-Madison, majoring in Economics. When not working, Nick enjoys fishing, hockey and spending time with family and friends.

Stephanie Pfingsten, BSN, RN
Vice President of Health & Wellness

Stephanie joined Charter Senior Living in August 2020 with over 22 years of experience in senior living and currently serves as the Vice President of Health and Wellness.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Human Development & Family Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia and Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from University of Missouri-St. Louis.  She worked as a Counselor for Developmentally Disabled Adults and Life Enrichment Director prior to dedicating her career to nursing.  Her unique blend of life enrichment and nursing allows for a balanced approach to driving quality of care performance outcomes and promoting person-directed care culture initiatives. 

She is an experienced clinical leader that has driven quality excellence across the healthcare spectrum in acute care, long term care, memory care, and assisted living.   Stephanie has served at various levels of leadership including: Director of Nursing, Regional Director, and Senior Management for both large and small senior living organizations.  She started her nursing career in critical care and moved into a leadership role as Director of Nursing for over a decade.  She advanced to the regional level where she gained significant cross-country, multi-state experience serving various types of senior living communities modeling and influencing continuous improvement in quality of care performance standards. 

Stephanie’s most recent experience was in Senior management as the Director of Clinical Services.  She provided clinical guidance and leadership to 37 communities across 6 states driving clinical and regulatory compliance and optimizing clinical practice through person-directed policy and system development in current and newly acquired communities.

Stephanie is passionate about people and about making personal connections with residents, families, and associates to enrich the quality of care, quality experience, and quality outcomes within each community.  She adores her family and fur babies which includes her husband Matt of 18 years, son Ryan 15, daughter Leslie 11, 2 cats and 1 dog.  She is actively involved in health care associations and regulatory agency platforms in multiple states to continue to bring best clinical practice to Charter Senior Living.

Russ Conrad
Regional Director of Operations

Russ Conrad joins the Charter Senior Living team as Regional Director of Operations. He has been serving seniors for over 22 years, beginning as director of dining services with Morrison Management Specialists, working  with senior communities and health care systems in Columbia, SC; Columbus, Ohio; Springfield, Ohio; Atlanta, GA; and Cincinnati, Ohio. His experience in dining established his high standards of providing excellent service and hospitality. He has spent the last 11 and a half years as Executive Director of communities in the Cincinnati market, managing independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing services. His most recent role has been as Regional Director of Operations, overseeing communities throughout the Midwest. Russ grew up in north central Ohio on a large 4th-generation family dairy farm that is still going strong. Growing up on a farm gave Russ a strong work ethic and made him very resourceful. He received his Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University and his Master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Hospitality Administration. Russ currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his children Sophie (11) and Bennett (8), who attend Nativity School; he has been married to his beautiful wife Angela for 13 years. As a family, they enjoy participating in Nativity sports, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. Russ believes in building strong relationships with solid communication, good follow-up and feels strong empathy is key to sustainable success.

Bradley Scoggins
Regional Sales & Marketing Director

Brad Scoggins brings a wealth of experience to Charter, coming to us as an award-winning Sales Director for the largest independent senior living company in the country. Brad’s warm, enthusiastic, and relationship-centered approach has made him a national leader in his field. He has helped build numerous senior communities from the ground up – taking projects from construction to capacity. Having worked in retirement communities since his youth, Brad has an in-depth understanding of nearly every facet of the senior living industry. He has a special knack for identifying promising prospects and working with teams to develop novel marketing strategies and systems. Above all, Brad is a natural-born people person. He was inspired to enter the elder care field after his grandmother passed away and his grandfather required assisted living placement.

Tara Tosh
Regional Sales & Marketing Director

Regional Sales and Marketing Director Tara Tosh was a rare and valuable acquisition for Charter. Tara’s background as a Licensed Practical Nurse, her degree in business administration and her experience in senior living operations make her a uniquely well-rounded member of our team. Tara’s entire career has been centered on elder care. She started from humble beginnings, working in food service at a retirement community. From there, she quickly climbed the professional ladder with continuing education and on-the-job leadership. One of the many strengths Tara brings to the table is her bird’s eye view of the industry. Her personal experience serving in so many different care capacities has endowed her with exceptional insight into sales and marketing. She combines a naturally competitive drive with an equal gift for teamwork, achieving results through her contagiously positive mindset. At her core, Tara is still motivated by a deep and abiding love for the residents she serves and places. A sales rock star, she admits she sometimes misses the one-on-one interaction she enjoyed during her nursing days.

Michele Romeo
Regional Health & Wellness Director

Michele has served in the Senior Living industry for over 13 years and began her career as a Licensed Vocational Nurse in a large hospital in the Med Surg/Orthopedic/Oncology floor. She has worn many hats in the nursing field to include being a Hospice Nurse, Home Health Nurse, Labor & Delivery Nurse in an Army Hospital, and a Flight Nurse in the Air Force. In the senior living industry, Michele has experience as a Health & Wellness Director, Executive Director and Regional Nurse in which she oversaw the clinical operations of 18 communities for the Texas Region with Senior Lifestyle Corp. Michele is a licensed Certified Assisted Living Manager (CALM) in Texas and also a licensed Assisted Living Administrator in Florida. Michele joined Charter in September of 2018 by moving to Florida as the Executive Director of our Panama City Beach community and then was promoted to the Regional Health & Wellness Director a year later to support our clinical teams in multiple states. Michele has a Compact Nurse license. Michele is originally from Scotland, United Kingdom and moved to the States when she was just 12 years old. Michele is married to a wonderful and supportive husband, Calvin and has five children and two grandchildren. Two of her children followed in her footsteps and currently work in Assisted Living serving our seniors. Michele enjoys anything that involves being around water in her spare time. Michele has a passion for building strong work teams and always available to support her communities.

Archie McAlexander
Regional Health & Wellness Director

Archie is a nurse that brings over 20 years of operational and clinical management experience from a range of settings such as senior living, emergency medicine and private practice. Over the past 11 years, his primary focus has been senior living, where he started as a Director of Resident Services for a smaller senior living company, later becoming a Divisional Nurse with a large, national senior living company. During his time as a divisional nurse , Archie’s division changed often to allow for his strengths and positive approach to be utilized in the support of many of the company’s 200+ assisted living and memory care communities. During this time, he played an integral role in the development of a new brand that was focused on residents with more acute needs and increased acuity by assisting in the creation of policies, service guidelines, trainings/competencies, and quality assurance initiatives that would set the brand apart from other competitive brands. He was also instrumental in the development of acquisition plans that allowed for the successful transition of multiple communities to the company over a short period of time. Archie is very passionate about supporting a team that embraces the importance of exceeding expectations and assuring the continued health, safety and well-being of the residents being served all while maintaining regulatory compliance. He takes the hands-on approach in clinical competency by assuring that those he supports have the tools they need, whether in leadership and/or staff development/training, to appropriately and efficiently complete what is being asked of them. Archie’s approach to the health and wellness of the population he serves, and what he assures is the key understanding when training new staff, is that the type of care needed/how care is provided should be specific to that resident and should meet their individual needs. Archie’s drive for continued success is infectious with a focus on supporting teams to their own success through effective leadership, teamwork, effective communication, and continued regulatory compliance  and having fun while doing it.

Wendy Hanger
Regional Sales & Marketing Director

Wendy comes to Charter Senior Living with over twenty years of experience in Senior Living sales and marketing, with over 10 of those years in a Regional role. She is passionate about leading and motivating her sales teams to succeed. Wendy enjoys a hands-on approach with sales training, lead generation/relationship building and coaching her team on moving the sale forward. Most recently, Wendy was with Five Star Senior Living as a Regional Director of Sales and Marketing.

Wendy is a native of the greater Louisville, Kentucky, area and still resides there today with her two rescue dogs, Cash (who is a 1-½-year-old boxer/pit mix) and West (who is a 6-year-old Potcake). Wendy has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville in Sport Administration. She is a die-hard UK basketball fan and loves college basketball season. Wendy enjoys exercising on her Peloton, trying new restaurants with family and friends, attending sporting events, live concerts and traveling.

Wendy is very driven and focused on building success not only within her sales team but the interdisciplinary team as well. Knowing “it takes a village,” she understands the value of “teamwork.” She also believes that you must not only love our seniors but help guide them through this next chapter of life with compassion, empathy and heart.

Kristie Jones
Regional Sales & Marketing Director

Kristie comes to Charter Senior Living with over thirty-plus years of experience and knowledge in the Hospitality and Senior Living Industries, along with Third Party Sales. Prior to joining Charter, she served as the Regional Director of Sales and Marketing at Five Star Senior Living, supporting 34 communities in different geographic areas. During her senior living career, she has worked with Five Star Senior Living, Sunrise Senior Living and Marriott Senior Living. She also served as the National Director of Sales at OurParents, where she had 110 advisors under her leadership.

A quote about Kristie from a former Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for which Kristie worked for. “Every day, Kristie approaches her role with enthusiasm and can-do attitude. She is creative, extremely organized and analytical. She is an excellent problem-solver and a strong builder of teams. She is goal-driven, sets high expectations and holds people accountable. She inspires those around her to be their best and leads by example. Her work ethic and commitment to her position and the team that she supports are incomparable. Her passion is contagious!”

Kristie was born and raised in Maryland. She resides in Middletown, Maryland, with her husband, Jamey, and their 3-year-old Shih-Poo, Bailey. Kristie graduated from Shepherd University in West Virginia, where she earned a scholarship and played Collegiate Women’s Basketball during her college career. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a Minor in Speech Communication. She enjoys playing and watching sports with her husband. She also enjoys gardening and organizing special projects as well as spending time with family and friends.

Kristie looks forward to this new Journey with Charter Senior Living. She brings a strong sales acumen. Kristie has a true passion for what she does and the customers she serves. Her tireless energy, commitment to her team’s success and strong integrity will continue to serve her well at Charter Senior Living. She prides herself in rolling up her sleeves and working diligently with her teams and communities to ensure we fulfill the service promise of excellent care and comfort.

Amber Dahle, CDP
Director of Memory Care & Resident Programming

Amber joins Charter Senior Living with a passion for providing residents with opportunities for purpose and engaged living while ensuring compassion and quality care are at the forefront of a person-focused approach. She graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor’s degree in Family and Human Development and is a Certified Dementia Care Trainer and a Certified Dementia Practitioner®.

Amber has worked and volunteered in settings with the elderly, specifically with memory care residents, for over 10 years and has experience in skilled nursing and assisted living settings. She has served in the Memory Care Director role, Memory Care and Programming Specialist role, and as a Divisional Director of Memory Care and Programming for Senior Lifestyle, where she trained community teams and supported operationalizing new memory care programs and initiatives within the community.

Her most recent role includes serving as Vice President of Memory Care and Life Enrichment for Northstar Senior Living, where she created and operationalized a fresh new memory care program, developed exciting new programming initiatives and expectations for life-enrichment teams, established monthly national training support for memory care and Life-Enrichment Directors, contributed to care team education within the communities as well as established and encouraged a collaborative support network between programming teams across the company.

Amber grew up in Southern California and attended college in both Idaho and Utah. It is still a toss-up as to whether she enjoys the mountains or the beach more. You will often find her hiking or spending a long day on her paddleboard in her spare time. Amber currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri, enjoys hockey (GO, BLUES!) over baseball, but is known to shout, “GO, CARDS!” to any presenting Cub’s fans. Amber loves all things Magnolia and Joanna Gaines, artfully decorated tablescapes, interior design and spending time with her family. She has two adult daughters, one who just graduated from Utah State University with a double major, one attending Vermont Woodworking and Furniture Design School, and a son who is a senior in high school, beginning this fall.

Amber has a great love of serving people. She has always had a passion for advocating for vulnerable groups since childhood. After graduating from Utah State University, Amber worked for Child Abuse Prevention Services, teaching parenting classes for the State of Michigan, leading a mentorship program for teen mothers, and developing programs for early-childhood respite care.

In addition, Amber spent several years developing programs for adolescent youth and enjoyed working with both life stages. However, it was with seniors that Amber found her “home.” There was a natural connection and ability to reach those suffering from Alzheimer’s and other dementias. It soon became her mission to educate and reach as many people as possible to help preserve dignity and instill purpose for those who suffer with this debilitating disease.

Amber places a significant focus on relationships, connection, authenticity and creativity in the workplace. She is excited to join the Charter team and looks forward to collaborative partnerships and a collective goal to elevate the resident experience through programming adventures.

Those of us who serve our seniors are doing great work. It takes a team to create places that feel like home, places that feel safe and where laughter can be heard, and where purpose, energy and fun can be had. I couldn’t be more excited to join this group and continue the work of creating positive connections with residents, their families and our staff members through compassion, innovative ideas, collaboration, and teamwork.