“SALES AND MARKETING” TO BE LED BY DAVID SMITH

CONTACT:
Mike Lurie
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu

BALTIMORE – The Erickson School of Aging Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) teams once again with the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry (NIC) to offer a set of Executive Education courses. The series continues at UMBC on Sept. 18-21 with a four-day seminar, “Sales and Marketing,” led by David Smith.

David Smith is president of One On One, Service to Seniors, a consulting group based in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Smith has nearly 20 years of hands-on sales and marketing experience and is also co-owner, developer, and manager of the The Gatesworth at One McKnight Place and Parc Provence, both nationally acclaimed senior housing communities in St. Louis.

A number of high caliber guest lecturers from the senior living industry will join Smith in facilitating discussions on best practices.

The four-day, interactive course focuses on how to generate higher occupancies and faster fill rates using better marketing and sales practices. Specific course work includes discovering customers’ wants and needs, segmenting markets through research, understanding the relationship of pricing and value, and obtaining honest feedback.

Students also learn about the science of promotion and how to develop leads, design an effective marketing plan and use successful selling techniques.

Finally, the best way to manage the marketing and sales process is discussed, including the use of mystery shopping and sales training.
Smith has been a regular contributor to the NIC Executive Education program at the Erickson School. He is also a frequent lecturer and presenter at NIC, ALFA, ASHA and other industry conferences.

Instructor Profiles:

Anthony Mullen
Chair, Research Committee
National Investment Center
Anthony J. Mullen brings almost twenty years of experience in seniors housing and care to NIC. He has been an executive officer in three major companies within the industry, and was the founder and CEO of Traditions of America, a mid-Atlantic builder of active adult communities, which he sold in 2000. He has experience across the entire spectrum off the continuum of care.

Mr. Mullen was also a founder of the NIC, where he served on the Board and Executive Committees for 12 years.

Mr. Mullen has been one of the industry's leading applied researchers, and has developed key industry guidelines for understanding penetration rates for general feasibility purposes. He has published several groundbreaking articles in the field and has won awards for his pioneering research on absorption rates.

A certified public accountant, Mr. Mullen holds a Master's degree from Drexel University and an undergraduate degree from St. Joseph's University.

Daniel P. Rexford
Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales
Erickson Retirement Communities
Mr. Rexford is the Executive Vice President of Marketing. He is responsible for developing and implementing the marketing and sales strategies for all Erickson continuing care retirement communities.
He also served as the Executive Director of Charlestown, Erickson’s flagship community in Catonsville, Md. He originally joined the company in 1990, as the Director of Marketing for Charlestown.
Prior to joining Erickson, Mr. Rexford managed the marketing and operations for two companies that provided technical services to the National Cancer Institute, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Treasury, General Services Administration, and Department of Defense.

Brian C. Swinton
Retired, Executive Vice President
Sunrise Senior Living
Brian Swinton has been an industry pioneer and leader for the past 19 years. Starting in 1986, he headed the team that created Marriott’s Brighton Gardens, one of the nation’s most successful assisted living concepts, while at the same time he headed the sales and marketing efforts for the entire Marriott Senior Living Division—the nation’s leading provider of quality tier senior living at the time. He also spearheaded the successful Marriott CCRC prototype, Stratford Court, and was a key executive in the development of life care communities (i.e. The Fairfax, The Quadrangle, The Colonnades), senior condominiums (i.e. The Jefferson), and senior cooperatives (i.e. Maplewood) for Marriott.

Following a successful 7 year stint at Marriott, Brian joined The Forum Group team as Senior Vice President in 1993 and again spearheaded the development of another assisted living mainstay, the cottage concept, Hearthside (now MapleRidge), and successfully headed the sales and marketing, product development and construction aspects of the company resulting in the company’s sale to Marriott in 1996.

Mr. Swinton joined Sunrise in 1996 as Executive Vice President where he once again headed the sales and marketing efforts, as well as market feasibility, customer and employee satisfaction and product development. He also headed the innovative Sunrise concept, At Home Assisted Living, currently in major markets around the country.

Brian has served in various industry positions including Chairman of the National Council on Senior’s Housing (NCOSH), an affiliate of the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). He also served as a director and vice president of the National Association of Senior Living Industries (NASLI) and participated in dozens of conferences speaking on a variety of industry topics.

Mr. Swinton holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with Distinction from Harvard Business School specializing in Marketing and Real Estate.

Margaret Wylde, Ph.D.
President/CEO
ProMatura Group, LLC
Margaret Wylde began conducting research on mature consumers more than 25 years ago. ProMatura Group, LLC, the company founded by Wylde, has played an integral role in understanding what mature consumers want and practically applying this information to seniors housing, service sector, retailers and consumer product developers. Wylde’s mature market, senior housing, product research and development experience includes work for Fortune 100, and start-up corporations, for large companies and single proprietorships, for national associations, and state agencies (see list of Clients). Wylde’s knowledge and expertise of senior housing business issues come from practical day-to-day experience. During her career Wylde has designed, developed and managed seniors housing properties.

Wylde’s knowledge of the senior housing industry is widely recognized as being among the industry’s best. Her contribution to the industries serving mature consumers has been to conduct both proprietary and publically disseminated research. Recent research completed by ProMatura include: a study of 1,056 independent living residents and the communities they chose; a comparative study of independent living residents and a matched sample of household who have chosen not to move to an age-qualified community; a multi-year study of 4,500 60+ households to learn their awareness, knowledge, attitudes and opinions about seniors housing; a study of 12,600 satisfaction surveys from residents of independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing communities; surveys of 1,023 residents of assisted living communities throughout the 48 contiguous states, and a survey of 1,500 adults between 45 and 64 years of age about their responsibilities for parents and other relatives. These studies, and dozens more, were completed for the American Seniors Housing Association, the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industries (NIC) and the Assisted Living Federation of America. NIC is the premier organization that focuses specifically on financing senior housing developments and the myriad of issues that affect how these properties are financed.

Wylde serves on the Boards of Directors of the American Society on Aging, the National Association of Home Builders Seniors Housing Council and LifeSpec Cabinet Systems, Inc. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center for Universal Design at Florida State University, and the Association of Marketing & Sales Executives in Senior Housing. Wylde was a Forum Group Board member during its successful acquisition by Marriott Senior Living Services. Her other professional affiliations include the International Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the American
Seniors Housing Association, the American Statistical Association, Assisted Living Federation of America, American Marketing Association, Human Factors Society of America, and the Gerontological Society of America.

Wylde has authored four books, dozens of technical papers and articles, and is a prolific contributor to trade and business publications and scholarly journals. Her most recent books include Boomers on the Horizon: Housing Preferences of the 55+ Home Buyer published by Builder Books in 2002, Building for a Lifetime: The Design and Construction of Fully Accessible Homes published by The Taunton Press. She is a frequently sought after speaker, providing keynote addresses to many different audiences.

Specific Areas of Expertise: finding answers and putting information to work; mature consumers, attitudes, opinions and behaviors; research design and analysis; practical application of primary and secondary research to the design and development of seniors housing communities, technology use by mature adults, human factors of older adults, Federal regulations of accessibility.

About The Erickson School of Aging Studies:
The Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC was established in April 2004 with a $5 million commitment from John Erickson, CEO and founder of Erickson. The school focuses on credit and non-credit professional education, research, and policy in aging services and care.

The Executive Development Program at the Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC is presented in partnership with NIC, a nonprofit organization that has been the leading source of business and financial information for the senior living industry since 1991. For the last six years, NIC has conducted executive development courses in operations, management, sales, marketing, development, finance, and service quality for emerging industry leaders.

UMBC, an Honors University in Maryland, is a four-year, public research university that is home to leading experts on aging who are active in research, education, and service in the field of gerontology. It is one of a handful of universities in the nation to offer a Ph.D. in Gerontology.

For further details, please call the Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC at 443-543-5622.

More information online at:
http://www.umbc.edu/erickson

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Remaining 2006 NIC Executive Education Courses
At the Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC

Sales and Marketing
Led by David Smith, President, One on One, Service to Seniors
September 18-21, 2006

Finance, Underwriting and Investment Analysis
Led by Ray Braun, President, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Health Care REIT, Inc.
October 24-27, 2006

Development
Led by Phil Golden, President and COO, Shelter Properties
November 1-4, 2006

Organizational Excellence and Continuous Quality Improvement
Led by Tony Ingelido, Vice President, Asbury Services, Inc.
TBA

Risk Management
TBA