New Leader Of No. 6 Largest Senior Living Community targets Training, Green House Model Growth 

The new top leader of John Knox Village, the sixth largest single-site community in the country, is refocusing the community’s efforts to staff training, the Green House Model and other initiatives.

Melissa Honig took over the reigns as CEO for John Knox Village in Pompano Beach, Florida in November 2025, becoming the first woman to lead the community in its 60-year history. Before joining John Knox VIllage, Honig spent time working as an executive director for a HumanGood community in Santa Barbara County, California.

Honig first sought to identify and address the unmet needs of residents when she took over the reins of the community.

John Knox Village is the sixth largest single-site campus in the U.S. with 932 total units, according to the most recent Ziegler-LeadingAge 200 list.

“I get to be a vehicle to get the community where it wants to go, and really the residents are in the driver’s seat,” Honig told Senior Housing News. “That’s always been my not- so-secret success for residents in the community is listening, being curious, asking so many questions and then doing what people say they want.”

Among those priorities is recommitting the life plan community to the Green House Model, which initially launched in 2003 as the Green House Project in an effort to destigmatize aging through small homes and other intimate services centered on older adults, not bottom lines. The core tenants include featuring private suites, private bathroom, open communal dining and a central hearth, significantly higher direct care where the hierarchical structure is flattened, resulting in much and stronger relationships with residents and allowing elders to maintain control of their daily lives including when they wake up, what and when they eat and how to spend free time.

The program aims to “challenge providers to know the elder through all lenses,” according to Honig. John Knox Village has used the practice for 10 years now, and Honig sees an opportunity to refocus and expand on the program, primarily through additional training for its staff.

That training focuses on developing communication skills for its nursing and caretaker staff, which includes additional dementia training and “what it means to really be a care partner in a reciprocal relationship with an elder,” Honig said, which takes the form of roleplay exercises and leadership coaching with a person-centered approach. Training is also done in-person, which Honig said has proven to be the most beneficial for team members, particularly when it is peer led.

“It’s expensive because you have to pull people off of their positions to train them … What we’re doing right now actually is identifying what we’re calling educators,” Honig said.

Training frequency varies based on need, but Honig said communication is arranged for the next two months and training additional trainers is arranged for the upcoming three months, and the leadership team is investing in continuing education by sending team members to conferences as well.

“We’re really just investing in people because at the end of the day, and the residents feel it. That’s, the most important part,” she said.

Honig and the community seek to partner with a variety of companies to use John Knox Village for piloting products and programs in an effort to help the greater industry and older adults as a whole. The community has over 1,000 residents, and the average resident age is 76.

Honig added residents themselves want to have an impact on influencing the future, and it can help them find purpose. John Knox Village is working with LeadingAge to implement an “entrepreneur in residence” program, along with beginning to work with startups that are looking to test products with older adults, such as sneakers for residents with neuropathy or Apple Watch programs to help study movement and gait.

“I want to provide the residents with an opportunity to, even if these products don’t influence and make our lives better, but if we can make other people’s lives better, it’s a win,” Honig said.

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