Inspirit Senior Living President: We’re Positioned To Become ‘super-regional’ Operator

Inspirit Senior Living is improving staffing and other aspects of third-party management to become a “super-regional” senior living provider, according to newly appointed president Torey Riso.

Riso joined the McLean, Virginia-based senior living provider in March after working as executive managing director for SVN Senior Living Advisors. He also worked as president and CEO of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors and as managing director at consultancy company Huron.

In 2023, Inspirit Senior Living took over 11 communities from Enlivant on behalf of Sabra (NASDAQ: SBRA). The company currently manages 36 communities in 11 states, and Torey sees 2026 as an important inflection point for the company’s future wherein it will have enough scale and experience together to support more deliberate growth.

Inspirit Senior Living typically partners with senior living ownership groups in management agreements or joint ventures with minority equity positions. In the future, the company’s leaders see more opportunities to grow via third-party management agreements and acquisitions. That could be fueled by the company seeking out institutional partners, private equity and family office investor opportunities.

This year, Riso and founder David McHarg are working together to determine the company’s future growth steps; Riso describes McHarg as an operations-focused and experienced leader, while Riso brings decades of expertise to senior living finance and ownership.

While plans remain fluid at this point in the year, Riso said the company’s future is tied up in that of the industry’s path forward: senior living integrating more closely with health care.

That could mean exploring value-based care arrangements if they are cost-effective and profitable, Riso said.

“The company is really well-positioned to step into that role as a big regional, on its way to super regional senior living operator,” Riso said.”We have a clear understanding of where we are right now and the value-based care world is getting closer, but it’s not actionable and we’re trying to figure out if it is actionable so we are ready when the time comes.”

Riso’s familiarity with Inspirit Senior Living stems from his time as CEO of a real estate investment trust (REIT), Care Investment Trust, when the REIT worked directly with Inspirit Senior Living as an operating partner. Through his past experience, Riso helped build relationships between institutional investors on Wall Street and mom-and-pop senior living businesses. This will help shape his thinking on future growth, he said. 

“It all boils down to is there an understanding of the fact that this industry is unlike any other and it involves people,” Riso said. “You need to find those institutional players that have an appreciation for that nuance of this industry.”

Riso’s history in the industry makes him a seasoned senior living veteran with an eye toward improving staffing for the company’s management platform. To solve employee issues, Riso said it will be important this year to receive direct employee feedback regarding community operations.

Riso said retention would be a critical staffing challenge to solve in 2026 as the company looks to take on new communities.

“We’re at the critical mass point where we can now take advantage of this in a whole different way,” Riso said. “We need to make sure that we’re being smart about this.”

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