Pacific Retirement Services Ceo: Mission Expansion Top Of Mind

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Sloan Bentley, the new CEO of Pacific Retirement Services, brings with her over 40 years of industry experience to shepherd in the next era of leadership for the organization.

As part of its growth plan, the Medford, Oregon-based operator is pursuing partnership and development opportunities, particularly expanding its Mirabella line of communities. Mirabella at ASU, a university partnership, for example, is among the concepts it is looking to continue developing in the future, as the community recently exceeded 92% occupancy.

Bentley, who most recently led nonprofit Lutheran Life Services through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, sees the lines between for-profit and nonprofit operators beginning to blur.

“It used to be really distinctive. You’d walk in the front door, you had that feeling. The for-profits have gotten hospitality and mission smart, and we need and have and continue to be much more business-smart and driven-smart,” Bentley said during a recent appearance on SHN+ TALKS. “To the consumer, you want that balance of mission and the ability to support and have a financially feasible community and organization, because that’s the sustainability and protecting their investment.”

SHN is pleased to share this recording and transcript of the SHN+ TALKS conversation with SHN+ members.

In this conversation, you will learn about:

• How Pacific Retirement Services is looking to expand its services
• Where nonprofits have room to grow
• Current parallels the senior living industry has seen in the past 
• What succession planning might look like for Pacific Retirement Services
• And more 

The following interview has been edited for clarity. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the full video of the SHN+ TALKS interview.

Tim Regan: Welcome to our latest SHN+ TALKS. If you haven’t joined us for one of these before, these are live interactive discussions for our SHN+ members with people who are actively shaping the senior living industry in 2026, or, in Sloan’s case, today, have had a long career of shaping the senior living industry. I will introduce Sloan Bentley. Sloan is the new CEO of Pacific Retirement Services. She’s a familiar face in senior living.

She’s worked all across the industry. Most recently, she was with Lutheran Life. Sloan, welcome. I am very excited to have you today.

Sloan Bentley: Thank you, Tim. Good morning, everyone. A pleasure to be here.

Tim: Yes, it’s a pleasure to have you. I want to start with a question to help set the scene of what you’re doing today. If you’re a Senior Housing News reader, then you know, Sloan, you just took the reins at Pacific Retirement Services. I’m sure that there’s a lot on your mind right now, as there is whenever a new leader steps into an organization with as much going on as PRS. I guess in a nutshell, now that you have taken the reins, what’s on your mind? Where is your focus today?

I remember the last time we caught up, you were still getting acclimated with the communities, figuring out what maybe your priority would be when you started. Update us on that.

Sloan: Thank you, Tim. Number one, it’s week two, I’m here at PRS, and I’m just delighted to be here. The communities and the warm welcome from the board to the residents, and, of course, the team has been fantastic. I think that anyone that walks into a position as a CEO from outside the organization needs to take the time to understand the unique mission and culture of the organization. Certainly, it’s intensive listening and asking questions of how and why, “Give me the history,” “Tell me more,” is really critical during this time.

Now, just week two, I prioritize, of course, me with my direct reports to understand their roles, their hot topics, and issues. We have 38 communities. Now, of course, that is with 12 CCRCs and then affordable housing. I have a priority that I want to go out and see all of the communities and also get to know the community here at the central office. The first week was really concentrating on getting to know the leadership team and the central office. I’ve gotten to two of our communities so far, so I have 36 to go.

Really prioritize listening, meeting people, understanding what the needs are and how different, because just like many other of our peer organizations, our communities are very different. They’re located in different geography, have different flavors, different cultures, but also what’s the core of PRS at each of the communities. That will be a priority. Also, I have my first board meeting this month. Preparing for that, it’s just been a great time to enter the organization because lots is happening, and really build on the great work that this organization has done over the years.

Tim: Thanks for that. First board meeting. That’s exciting. I’ve never been part of a board meeting, but I’ve heard many things about how those go at senior living nonprofits. I guess this is off the cuff, but I’ve often thought, although I hear about the challenges of having a board, sometimes I wish that I had my own council of knowledge that I could tap, similar to a board.

Sloan: Every organization’s a little bit different, every CEO walking in, you first read the bylaws, you sit down, you try to understand the governance structure, the legal structure, what is the history of decision-making, both at communities and the parent board, and the environment that you’re walking into. The great news is there’s the honeymoon stage or a really healthy grace period, I think, for any new leader to address issues, but you also need to address anything that’s happening. It is now your watch, and understand the priorities. Is anyone’s hair on fire?

Do we need to address that? Also, start understanding the organization and priorities that you see for the next six months. On week two, I’m just getting my arms around that, so that takes a little bit of time. Fortunately, with the honeymoon/grace period, I think everyone understands that you have to listen and start that prioritization, but you don’t want to rush it either because you really want to try to get your arms totally around it.

Tim: That makes total sense. Also, I was hoping you could update us just generally on the financial operational health. It seems like things are going well at PRS, but is there anything that you would highlight? Anything that you would brag about that would show how well you’re doing, or some of the other areas of improvement, maybe in the last year or so?

Sloan: I’m going to brag about PRS throughout this entire interview. I will say that I think that we’re more in the alignment with our fellow organizations. We have rebounded, of course, post-pandemic. We are enjoying healthy occupancy across the board. Whenever you have a family of communities, you have your superstar financial performers, your middle, and then the opportunities at a couple campuses that you’re always supporting. Depending upon the geography, real estate trends, et cetera, those shift over time back and forth. We have a healthy scope of communities from a financial standpoint.

Yes, we have a couple that we want to support and to continue bottom-line improvement, but we are also assessing the services, the history of what needs to happen at those campuses. I’m also getting our arms around our physical plants and what’s needed to make sure that our current residents are served and our future residents are attracted, and what investments we need to make in that. We need to look at the big picture, and there are times that you have more investment at one campus than another.

I’m happy to be able to do that and be strong. Being able to provide those services and that financial support.

Tim: Over the years, I have come to know Pacific Retirement Services as, really, I think the thing that I probably know the organization best for these days is its Mirabella line of communities. Especially Mirabella at ASU in particular. I know that project now, if you can believe it, opened years ago, and now it’s well on its way to being an established community where it is. I see PRS, though, is doing interesting things like that. I remember when the Mirabella project was coming together. I wrote about this many years ago. It was really cool.

I wanted to ask you, any new efforts you’re undertaking at PRS we maybe haven’t heard about? Anything exciting or interesting that’s on the drawing board that you’d want to share with us today? I didn’t know if you had something. I was excited years ago when PRS started to talk about Mirabella at ASU. I wanted to ask you that question.

Sloan: I first have to say, Mirabella at ASU celebrated a milestone just this week of 92.2% occupancy.

Tim: That’s great.

Sloan: We’re extremely excited for that achievement and was able to celebrate with the team, and on our way to 98%. That was very exciting. When you say an established community, that is a true indicator of a solid, well-performing community that is a great opportunity to serve a lot of residents. I am learning, Tim, of the development that we have at different campuses, expansions where we have land and opportunity, where there is a market need. We do have, I think, three of those projects going on right now.

I was just briefed on that yesterday, so we’re moving along. Then we are very fortunate, as other organizations are, that we do receive calls of interested parties. Because we have that joint venture at ASU with the campus that’s been so successful, that’s of high interest to us. We are interested in expanding and growing. The magic to that is making sure that it’s smart growth. That partnership with the universities, I believe, is a winning combination, and so we are actively looking for that.

Tim: As you were talking, I was thinking about this. This is an off-the-cuff question. We actually have been just generally, as in our conversations, we just had the Spring NIC Conference. We met with some architects. One of the things that we heard at the conference, in particular, was architects are hearing a lot of interest for these university projects. I know there’s multiple university projects underway right now. Again, knowing that you’re still getting acclimated, how do you see this university senior living trend? I can only assume that you, like me, see this as a growing trend.

Is this an area that you think PRS will continue to expand and play in? It sounds like yes.

Sloan: I think it’s something that we want to continue exploring because we’ve had success with it. I think we have to think, where would we want to retire? Part of it is continual learning, integration with younger individuals that are in the learning mode. That’s exciting. I think that if it’s a joint venture or a campus near a learning institution, that’s just very appealing to people. I don’t see that going away. I see, actually, it’s more, you hear something that’s really going around is the retirement drift of people that retire and finding purpose, connectivity.

It’s the basic blue zone, keys to magic. How do we really support that in a really active way? I think it’s a winning combination. It’s something that I’d personally be interested in. I know when we look at it and go, “Can we move into that?” It’s a winner.

Tim: Again, off the cuff, but as we’re talking about this, I’ve heard also those projects are not harder but more complicated. There’s just a lot more moving parts, I think, on average. Like, there was a stat. I think this was from Andrew Carle, who’s the one behind universityretirementcommunities.com. I think he had said, on average, these take eight years to complete. Which is longer than the typical, I think, 24 months for a normal private pay, for-profit senior living community. Two obviously different products. I am curious.

I guess patience is a virtue when it comes to university projects. What else do you think our audience would need to know about doing these kinds of things, and what you have to keep in mind to do them?

Sloan: I think if it’s a joint venture like Mirabella ASU, you’re just counting additional time because you’re working with another institution, decision makers, collaboration and then all of the legal and financing that goes behind that. That just makes a cake mix that is going to take a lot longer to bake. We know that developing senior housing, especially with CCRC life plan communities, five- to six- already, year endeavor, and then you add into a joint venture, if it’s with an institution, hospital, whatever it may be, you know that’s going to add a couple more to three years.

Yes, it’s more complex. If you’re looking to be outside of the campus and develop that solely, that then brings it down to your decision-making and not relying and dependent on another partner. It’s all dependent on where it’s located and how you structure it.

Tim: This is all in the spirit of talking about what the new customers of senior living will want. University senior living is one of those things that owners, operators, developers of senior living communities think that the baby boomers, the next generation of residents will want. I’m also curious, what other things do you think they will want in senior living? The first boomers are turning 80, or the oldest boomers are turning 80 this year, I should say. There’s many years where boomers are going to be moving into senior living communities from here in the next decade or so.

What do you think they want? When I think about a boomer, I think about my mom. She wants ease of life. She wants to have a guitar club. That’s what she wants, at least right now. That’s what she wants and what she needs. That’s one person. The boomer’s not a monolith, of course, but do you have any ideas about generally what the generation might want?

Sloan: I think it’s three buckets that I see. Number one, communication and transparency. We’re seeing that in our governance, and our resident councils, and our local boards very strongly. That’s not a new phenomenon over the last year or two, but definitely generationally, that is a high-desirability/strong message that we’re getting from our residents. It’s a fine balance because we do communicate, we are transparent, and we’re still the manager. There’s the balance of their job is not management. Our job is communication and information.

At the end of the day, making sure that those lines are defined so we understand all of our roles. Number two, just like your mom, I think it’s self-driven activities and interest and expanding from our typical resident services, calendars and what we’ve done. We need to really collaborate with our residents and understand, A, what do they want to drive? B, what do they want included in resident services? Think outside the box of what those elements are. I was talking to a community the other day that started a beer-brewing type of class.

I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, that’s fantastic.” Understanding what the interests are. Then, boy, those are two good comments. Oh, this is another one that just came back to me. I love this quote that I heard two years ago at National LeadingAge, and a resident saying, “I don’t want to move from my smart home to your stupid cottage.” I love that quote because it puts in a nutshell what people are looking for, from if it’s Alexa, to the smart TVs, to the monitoring. We’re all dabbling in the monitoring and what is safe and not intrusive.

Also, risk and liabilities. There’s a lot of things to weigh in that. We’re seeing that now. A lot of us are dealing with campuses and buildings that are not equipped to have that type of technology and how do we retrofit that on a cost-effective way? We’re hearing that very strongly today. Those are three components. The last one, you think, oh, well, the communication and transparency, those are the two priorities. The technology is stronger of an issue than I’ve ever experienced in my career. I see that just increasing.

Tim: Again, I think about my own mom. I just got her AirPods for her birthday. Her number of devices that she uses and wherever she goes in her life that she will bring with her, that number is growing. That makes sense to me. It feels like every time I go and visit her, I’m going to see her next week, she’s got some new device that she loves. You mentioned transparency. This is another off-the-cuff unpack this question. We just had our Sales and Marketing conference in Orlando. We were talking about transparency specifically and how you can build that into the sales process.

I can remember when, again, having covered this industry only for nine years or so, but when I remember when I started, there was some hesitation from operators, in 2017 or so, about, “How much information do we give prospective residents? Obviously, yes, put the rates on the site, but do we go as far as, like, can they look at the lease without a salesperson, or what other ways can we make this a more transparent process so they feel like they’ve got the keys to this process?”

I was talking to a CCRC at Sales and Marketing, Rose Villa, in a life plan community in the Pacific Northwest, where you are, and they take this approach that we actually try to give residents as much agency as possible in the sales process. So much so that we want them to actually avoid talking to a salesperson until the very end of the process because that’s what our prospects say. They say they want the information upfront. They don’t want to have to go through a salesperson. They don’t want to have to reach out to the community.

They want to do this research themselves and then make the connection once they’ve looked at everything. This seems like it’s a new way of marketing. I think some operators are rightfully a little hesitant to just put everything out there to avoid things like sticker shock and to explain what all this is and why you might need it. Again, you talked about transparency. I guess this is a long way of asking, what are some ways that you think the industry needs to get more transparent for the incoming generation of residents?

Sloan: I’ll speak on the sales and marketing and give you my perspective of that, Tim. That’s very interesting. I don’t know if I totally agree with that approach of not speaking to a salesperson towards the end. It’s speaking to the right salesperson, have that salesperson guide them through a very complex legal and financial investment that they’re making. Perhaps it is less used car salesperson persona and more educator-salesperson partner that we really need to make sure that we are engaging, and training, and having those individuals.

It’s leading them through the process because it’s a hard concept. Here’s a life plan community. We want to have hundreds of thousands of dollars of yours, and there’s no real estate transaction. It is a complex concept if you haven’t had prior exposure to it. To really understand the true value of continuum of care and the true value of living in a community and what this life is, because we’ve all heard all of our residents, by vast majority, say, “I wish I would have made this decision sooner if I had only known the scope and expanse of the benefit.”

I believe that you need a partner to take you through that journey of understanding. It’s not a quick decision. From PRS’s standpoint, we’ll continue to have salespeople guide that process, but also not be the quick car salesman because we also know if that happens, there’s cancellations, move out, dissatisfaction, and that’s not what we want by any means. From a sales and marketing standpoint, I love the transparency. Once they understand the value and so forth, we want them to have the agreement.

We want them to take that to their financial consultant, their attorney, whoever, their family members, so they fully understand it, even though we are able to walk it through with them at whatever time period that they need and that they want. Yes, transparency on the pricing and the contract and the benefits and the value, 100%. I’m going to have to stick up for the sales team because I believe that they are key on introducing. I think it’s the greatest gift that they can give is this concept to the individuals.

It’s also a process that needs a closer because at the end of the day, it’s a big decision. If it’s a true fit for that individual at our campuses, then helping them make that decision is part of the process as well.

Transparency overall, yes. Number one, the regulations, we’ve seen that for transparency. I know in the state of California, I’m not sure about all the states, but what you put in their contract. The last five-year rate increases and so forth, that has greatly increased over the last few years. I think it’s a wonderful practice because we want to educate what to expect. What is the value of the monthly fee? Why is it positive to have a positive margin at your communities, and the meaning of that? Residents are very concerned about the monthly fees and what the increases are year over year, and what the compound effect is.

That’s why, like most organizations, we do financial analysis, making sure that they have the funds to care for themselves and also have a foundation if they should outlive their financial resources. Let’s get that on the table and make sure that we are communicating it, and then also the health of the organization. We do a lot of communication with our residents, understanding are we a healthy organization at the community or opportunity for improvements because they are our number one referrals, and it’s key that they have a healthy organization and they’re able to contribute to that as we continue working with occupancy.

It’s great when you’re high on the hill of occupancy and high on the hill of a positive NOI, but being in the industry this long as I have, that hill has another side. Real estate markets do go down. There are challenges. There’s up and down in senior housing. We’re here for the long term for our residents, and that’s what our job as management is not only to look today, but the sustainability, and feasibility, and health of these organizations long term.

Tim: I’m sure you’ve read all of the research and data that shows the senior living industry’s growing investment gap, that is, the gap between the demand for senior living, the number of older adults who will want to need it, and the rate of newly opened communities.

There was a harrowing stat in, I think this was NIC MAP, that had said, last year, according to development levels then, the industry would have to, between now and I think it was 2030, develop twice as fast as its historical high point in order to meet the demand. In other words, the industry would have had to have grown twice as fast as it has ever grown in order to meet this demand. Doing just the math as a math problem, it seems likely that there’s maybe going to be some demand that the industry can’t serve, especially given that there’s, again, average length of a project right now is 24 months.

People still are telling us development is in kind of an in-between place. People want to get started, but it’s hard to do. I guess when you’re a nonprofit like PRS, you have enough on your plate, I’m assuming, and you’re not like a for-profit might be where you would say, “Gee, we want to be 100 communities by 2030 to make sure that we’re meeting as much demand as possible.” On the flip side, to bring the mission into this, there is a real need for organizations like PRS and other senior living operators to serve this next generation.

Growing to meet that demand, is this an opportunity that you think that nonprofits like PRS can take advantage of, even while things like new development, growth are in limbo?

Sloan: I think the majority of nonprofit providers, especially the larger systems, probably have, I would put $10 down, that they have growth in their strategic plan. Because number one, the expansion of the mission. Number two, the market demand. It all comes down to smart growth. Where you are as your organization, your ability, both from a financial standpoint, a leadership standpoint. The target areas that you want to grow in, and your board and you have agreed on. For me, it definitely, for PRS, it’s the community opportunities, but also community services.

We have a strong community service program here at PRS. I think that’s an opportunity to expand. I have seen many like-peer organizations focus on that for the last few years. I totally agree with that strategy. We also are open to what products to bring into the PRS family. We have the life plan communities, we have the affordable housing communities. What is that middle market that is the quandary for the entire industry?

We are open to that discussion and planning. Just as I’m looking at the strategic plan, that growth element, I think, can have a broader spectrum versus another Mirabella. Another Mirabella may be in the works, but really, what does growth define? Because growth, as one word, is too large of a spectrum. That’s one thing that we’ll be drilling down here at PRS.

Tim: You talk about expanding services. I’m assuming what you mean is taking some of the things that you do within your four walls, so to speak, and offering those, maybe to people in other settings. Again, I don’t know if this is something you’re doing, but I’ve talked with other operators who say, “Yes, we’re working with PACE, or we’re doing some home care. We’ve got other ways that we can help serve people’s needs where we don’t have to build a building.” Is that the kind of stuff you’re talking about?

Sloan: Senior housing and communities are not going to meet all the needs of seniors. We know that 90%, 92% are going to live in their home. As a senior housing and care specialist, how do we meet those individuals? Yes, that is something that we are looking at. Because the industry, when you said that there’s this great chasm of board and development, it’s going to be reaching those residents and home will be a big part of bridging that. Yes, we’ll be looking at that.

Tim: Yes, that seems like a big opportunity for sure. Let’s talk a little bit about technology. We touched upon that earlier about how residents are bringing in a lot of tech. You’re trying to prepare by building the infrastructure for this tech. I want to talk about maybe how PRS specifically is using technology. Maybe not on the resident side, but if you have any tech that you are using as an operator in your communities.

What other ways are you using new tech in your communities? Anything that you could share that’s cool or interesting? Then second to this, and maybe is a whole other question, which is how do you budget for tech these days, especially as a senior housing and care nonprofit?

Sloan: I’m getting my arms around that, Tim. I have a couple of things I do know that have happened in the last few years. The team’s been very busy. We implemented Workday as our primary software a couple years ago. What I see and what they saw, and it’s not my observation solely, but they recognized before I came, and I’m in total agreement, when you invest in something that large, it’s the utilization. I’ve read somewhere that a software that’s been put in that’s system-wide, that if it goes to a 15% utilization, that’s a high utilization.

We are investing all this money into the software, and how are we training our teams to maximize utilization and create the value of that? We’re two years in. When I talk about Workday, I see eyes rolling a little bit and heads nodding that it’s been a difficult path to implement. It is implement, and so how do we optimize it now? That’s the next step. I think, as I’ve done software updates at a few organizations now, it’s one thing to plan for it. Everything that you plan and the modules and everything else that you implement, it never works the way that you quite envision it.

It’s a continued investment, a continued education, and a continued upscaling of the team to maximize. That is definitely a focus for us. Also, I will say that we have initiative to do WiFi in all of our communities. That’s A, B, C, but that’s indicative of older communities of how to retrofit. It’s not as easy as it sounds when you’re building something new with new construction. We’re still at that level, which is fine. It’s a priority for us because we’re hearing that demand, not only from our team members and service, to the bed or to the apartments or to the cottages, but also our residents and what the need is.

Now, what’s the appropriate budget and investment in IT? We don’t have enough. I don’t know PRS’s historical investment. I know that’s been heavy just because of what we have done for software upgrades across the organization. IT now demands the attention of investment and talent support because we are so dependent on that, and as we should be, because it’s great data for the teams. One of my first questions when I walked in the door is, what’s the financial acumen of our community leadership? Part of that is driven by the data that they have.

Now, does the assisted living manager at XYZ community understand if he or she runs a profitable program? Do we have the data per community, per level of living, to give that information? We’re all in process. I’m learning every day, Tim, of what our capacity is and how we have waterfalled the program and the training, but we’re still in process. I’m dedicated to IT, and if I can get my own computer to work, it’s a great day.

Tim: I know. Me too. That’s interesting. PRS is obviously not alone in this, needing to bring older communities up to standard with infrastructure. It is interesting when I talk with companies that are doing this, how different a lot of these projects go. It almost seems like sometimes it’s on a community-by-community basis. Does this community have this wiring? If not, can we put it in? What exactly are we planning for? It seems like it’s challenging to budget for is what I’m trying to say. It seems like there’s just a lot of unique fits that you need to figure out how to mold your budget to.

Sloan: Over the last 20 years, there’s benchmarks of the percentile for IT investment that you look at, percentage of your budget, but it just keeps increasing, and I don’t see that slowing down.

Tim: Yes, absolutely. This is another question. I don’t know if I’m asking this question the right way, so maybe if I’m not, set me straight here. Something that I’ve thought about is if you’re a nonprofit, obviously, you are catering to the same people that for-profits are generally. These are people that, as we talked about, they have wants and needs for technology, they have wants and needs for cool things in your operations. As you said, they don’t want to go from a smart home to a dumb unit. They want to have a seamless transition from what they’re doing in their life to what they’re doing in senior housing.

It seems to me like if you are a nonprofit, maybe it can be– Again, this is where I’m like, I don’t know if I’m asking this question the right way, I feel like it can be maybe harder at times given that you have a mission and a margin to mind to innovate against what may be a for-profit company with all of this money and can reinvest all of these resources. It seems to me like it’s maybe a little harder to keep up if you’re a nonprofit, but there are all kinds of really talented, great senior living nonprofits out there, so I know it’s possible. I guess my question is, how do you make sure that you are doing some of this innovative stuff, to use a cliche word, at the same rate as your for-profit competitors are?

Sloan: That’s a really great question. I’ll back up and say, the lines of for-profit and not-profit have blended and become a gray area over the last 20 years. It used to be really distinctive. You’d walk in the front door, you had that feeling. The for-profits have gotten hospitality and mission smart, and we need and have and continue to be much more business-smart and driven-smart. To the consumer, you want that balance of mission and the ability to support and have a financially feasible community and organization, because that’s the sustainability and protecting their investment.

How do we keep up with the Joneses is really what you’re asking of the for-profit. I don’t know if we do all the time. I know that we do in mission. I know we do in our environment, as much as we can in programming. If you’re talking about, are we best in IT, we’re just trying to get Wi-Fi. Obviously, we may not be in the first tier of competitiveness. Does that really matter from a competitive standpoint? That doesn’t get my competitive juices growing. I’m a competitive person, but it’s really what can we do in the time and resources that we have that’s best for the organization is what our priority is.

I would much rather have the Marriotts and the Ritz-Carlton’s of the world, i.e., put the money into hospitality and innovation, and then copy them if senior housing is a little bit behind the times on that. By the way, robots didn’t work well in dining rooms. We were all excited about it, and it failed, I would say, at least the ones that I have utilized or have talked to people that have utilized. It was a great, exciting thing, but innovation sometimes may not be our best friend. I like the tried and true. I can wait for a big animal, and IT, hospitality, and so forth, make that investment and tell me, “Okay, here’s a great robot that’s really going to be great and not interfere with your resident care.”

Tim: I think the robots that you’re talking about, the ones I’ve seen in the dining room in senior living, correct me if I’m wrong, these are the little ones that– They’re like moving tables, the ones that serve. They’re called Servi, I think. Are these the ones you’re talking about?

Sloan: Yes, and they pick up and so forth. We have to map it and everything. Things change a lot in a dining room in senior housing, so we’ve not been successful.

Tim: It seemed like a novelty, but I wondered how useful it would ultimately be at the end of the day. That’s interesting. I want to talk with you about staffing. I don’t think that’s ever a part of the industry that gets easier or cheaper with each passing year. Every year that I have covered the industry, even through the COVID years, 2020 and the years that followed, staffing still was always the number one issue for folks.

Now, of course, what those issues within staffing have been over the years, that has changed. It seems like right now – I want to preface this before I ask you this question, it seems like when I talk with operators, a lot of them are having success with creative or unique ways to hire or attract people. It seems like it’s maybe hard as ever to get really quality people into your building if you’re not doing something like that. There’s a lot of competition for people in and outside of senior living, and the wages that you have to pay obviously are higher than they were yesterday.

Again, I wanted to preface that’s all the things that we have heard just generally over the last few years from senior living operators. From where you sit, and again, knowing that you’re two weeks in to the role at PRS, I guess, what are you seeing right now as the top issues in the senior living staffing? Is anything changing or evolving? If you can share anything, what PRS is doing to get ahead of some of these conditions, I’d love to hear it.

Sloan: I’d like to say, “I’ve got this great, new, out-of-the-box, incredible idea.” I don’t. I have some proven methods that have worked at other organizations. PRS is already – It’s a great organization. People love to come. When I walk the hallways – I’m living at one of our communities right now. My transitional housing is living in a cottage at one of our communities. I was in the community last night, and I walked by the 10-year wall, and the pictures of the team that have been here 40, 30, 20 years, and how many of those. That’s happened in all my organizations, and it’s fabulous.

They’re there because the magic happens between the team member and the resident. It’s bringing in those great individuals that have the skill and also the heart, of course. Now, PRS in the last few years has really focused on its culture and has done some incredible, great work in cultural development. From my past, Tim, I’m a culture ninja. I believe that, number one, the CEO is the banner carrier of it.

I’m excited to work with the team to build upon the great work that they’ve done and expand that, and expand the culture and the values and the expectations with accountability into recruitment, orientation, daily communication and expand the work that this team has done. I’m excited about that. It’s how to define what makes us special, how to support that magic that you do with the resident, and how to support the team members. That, to me, is the secret sauce. I’ve seen it live in the organizations I’ve been with, and I’m excited to work with the PRS team to continue that journey.

Tim: It’s definitely something that we will continue to write about and talk about. As long as I will work at Senior Housing News, I assume that that will always be a top issue.

Sloan: If there’s a big competition, what makes us different from the not-for-profit down the street and the for-profit? How do you distinguish yourself? While we’re all doing good work, what makes us special to be here?

Tim: It’s interesting. Again, going back to our Sales and Marketing conference that we just had, I hear from folks that sales and marketing is not just for residents. Granted, I think everyone knows that. What I’m trying to say is the message that you portray in your sales and marketing can actually make a difference, not only with the people that you’re attracting to live in your community, but the people that you’re attracting to come work for you, which I thought was interesting.

When we think of sales and marketing messaging, a lot of times, you think of either the recruitment ad for the staff or the thing for the resident and their families. It’s interesting how sometimes that line can blur a little bit. People can see the way that you talk about taking care of people and say, “That aligns with how I feel and what I want to do.” It’s interesting.

Sloan: Every recruiter is a sales and marketing person.

Tim: That’s a good point, yes.

Sloan: Every executive director and really everyone on the campus, do you have a sales culture? That used to be a bad word. It is a great word because you are sharing the best gift, if it’s living or working at the community. How do we embrace that in a positive way? It still has a little smear to it, but we’re here to clean that up and have it as a great badge to wear.

Tim: I want to talk with you and tap some of your expertise here. I think it’s no secret, Sloan, that you’ve worked in the senior living industry now for decades. You’ve seen multiple cycles come and go. I’m curious, looking back on your career, can you compare some of the things that you’re seeing either in senior living operations or just generally real estate to previous periods that you and the industry have gone through?

For example, I think that it’s almost cliché at this point to point out how some of the COVID period rhymed with some of the great financial crisis. Did not repeat, but there have been some similarities in terms of buying real estate. We’ll see if all of that holds out, if people are as successful as they were after the great financial crisis, having bought things for cheap. There are parallels that people see. I wanted to ask you, do you see any similar parallels either with that or with other cycles that you and the industry have gone through?

Sloan: Tim, I blinked, and I just celebrated 40 years in senior living. I blinked, and all of a sudden, I’m age-qualified to move into one of our communities. I don’t know how that happened, but here I sit. It’s been fantastic because I studied gerontology. It was a chosen career. A lot of people come in as second careers or third careers, but it’s just been my entire career, and very fortunate to have experienced this. I just want to focus senior living is a cycle. If you’re riding high now, look forward of what might happen in the future of a down cycle. Take your nest and bring your nuts in and prepare for the future because there’s going to be a down cycle.

If it’s employment, if it’s real estate or whatever it is, make sure that you’re prepared for that. Don’t get too bravo if you’re riding it high. That’s probably one of my biggest elements that I have seen because coming into the field in the ’80s, that was also a down cycle, but some of us don’t remember that part. It’s interesting to see the span of that time, how it has really changed and gone up and down. Even looking at this PRS portfolio, some of our great performing communities had lows. I don’t know about everyone out there in the audience, but people think, “Oh, that will never happen again.” It’s probably going to happen sometime.

Tim: It’s all a cycle. This is interesting. Again, I don’t know if you have any specific thoughts, but I’ve been thinking about this. I’m working on a story right now about what’s making this current period of senior living investment a little hotter. I say that with the backdrop of we’ve had now two pretty decently sized IPOs with valuations, and I think the billions for both companies just this year. I started to think back in history. History is not repeating, but as I was reading back in the annals, I was reading about how in the year of 1996, ’97, think Bob Kramer called that the year of the assisted living IPO.

I started to think, “That was 30 years ago.” We’re in the same period now, 30 years later. I like that round number, 30. I guess, do you see any similarities between the investment excitement of the mid to late ’90s and now? I guess in both periods, there’s a lot of upside ahead. I think the ’90s, it was fueled more about what was coming today. Now it’s fueled more about what’s coming immediately tomorrow.

I should say, back then, they were gearing up towards the boomers coming at this moment now in 2026. Now I think people are investing with the idea that, “Hey, now they’re starting to move in. We need to really get going on this.” Anyway, having gone through that period, having been through that exciting period yourself, do you see similarities again between, we’ll call it, the year of the assisted living IPO and now, maybe even just the vibes?

Sloan: I think it’s two things. Number one, everyone gets excited about the demographics. That goes in cycles, too. We’re really coming up to a strong peak of those demographics, so everyone gets excited. Then, when investors really start looking at senior living, I’m like, “Okay, what’s the other down markets that they’re not focusing on?” Because yes, senior housing can be profitable, but it’s not your easy, fast investment. Something is bringing their attention over here, demographics, or is there another down market that they’re usually investing in that they’re looking for other investments? Because it is a longer-term investment for the most part.

Tim: That makes a lot of sense. I’ve got a lot to think about here. The wheels are turning. All right. I wanted to get to this because I think that this is just a really cool story. I want to actually mention, you had talked with our competitor, McKnight’s, but I thought it was a great story about some of what you had navigated at Lutheran Life. You went through a challenging period. You led that organization through a challenging period. You helped it navigate a bankruptcy, obviously, something that is a challenge.

I do want to also give you kudos that you’ve been very forthcoming with us, which I’m sure is not easy, as someone leading a previous organization through a hard period. I wanted to ask you, did you learn any big lessons that you feel like you can apply to what you’re doing now at PRS, or that you would want to share with us and help lift the tide that rises all boats, so to speak?

Sloan: Tim, I think you’re talking about the bankruptcy and the successful emergence from bankruptcy with Lutheran Life Communities. First, I just want to say, a part of my heart will always be with Lutheran Life Communities. The lessons that I’ve learned – That’s an organization with 135 years, and I am passionate about protecting the not-for-profit sector of senior living. I think it was two years ago, I’m pretty sure that there were 53 transactions of not-for-profits being converted to for-profits. As we see that erode, it just kills my heart every time.

I believe it was five years ago, we had just under 2,000 life plan communities in the United States, and that keeps going down because we’re not building to look at the attrition that’s happening due to sale or closing. It was not just my passion of protecting the sector, but also the mission of the board. We were forced into bankruptcy for various reasons because we wanted to restructure and weren’t able to come to that conclusion. I feel like we walked through fire together. The big lesson is, number one, transparency and communication. That was never our goal. Our goal was to restructure.

Through that process, keeping the board informed, the residents, and the team members, it was a difficult process because while we kept wanting to restructure, we needed to go and place the communities on the sale block. We were transparent with everybody. This continued to be our goal and to hopefully come to be successful with that. I believe we’re one of the very first multi-site to emerge from bankruptcy. There is a future for 135 years. I’d like to say it was the board and the team, but I think there was a higher power that was looking over that company and trusted through the process.

I also, walking through fire with that board and the team, the guidance that I really did personally for myself and transmitted to the team was that we can only do the best that we can and put our head on the pillow at night knowing that we’re doing the very best on behalf of the company. That was one of the team elements that we did. Fortunately, we were successful to emerge. Yes, lots of lessons, lots of gray hair, lots of lost sleep, but I’m happy where they are today.

Tim: Yes, absolutely. I can only imagine. I’m going to combine two questions I had for you. The first of those questions is just generally –I think you’ve done a good job covering this today, so maybe there’s nothing else to share, but I did want to ask anything else in 2026 for PRS that you think we should know that we have not talked about, what else you’ll be focusing on. Then I’m also curious for both your organization and for the industry, I am curious about what you’re most worried about this year, and what you maybe think is the biggest opportunity this year or in the coming years.

Sloan: Let’s talk in six months about PRS after I have a little bit more time to get my feet on the ground, see all of our communities, and get my arms around everything. I’ve spilled all my beans on my two-week assessment, Tim, so you have that. I’d like just to end this interview by saying, perhaps it’s my phase of life and career, but I also think it’s a systemic need throughout the industry, and that is training our team, succession planning and mentoring. We were talking about IT and the importance of utilization of IT to give the tools. That’s team development.

When I look at our leaders throughout the industry, are we providing the support and the ability to have them shine, and the expectations with accountability? I think that’s always been an issue. It continues to be an issue because it’s a complex business, and it’s only getting more complex. Then lastly, are we mentoring, and are we finding our replacements? Really actively mentoring people versus saying, “You’re in the pot of consideration,” but how are we helping them move forward?

Because every time, there’s waves of retirements. I look at my peers and our ages, and eventually, Tim, I am going to retire. I want to make sure that there’s a good succession, and if there’s individuals in the community, in the organization, that I’m actively mentoring. It’s a great gift, but it’s also, I think, our sacred duty.

Tim: Succession planning is one of those things that is also very – I think, it can be difficult to do, but is so incredibly important. Absolutely right. All right. Sloan Bentley, I feel like we have covered so much today, and I feel like we could talk more, but unfortunately, we are out of time. I just want to thank you, though, again, Sloan, for coming on the program, for coming on SHN+ Talks. Of course, I want to thank Pacific Retirement Services, and I’ll be excited to catch up with you later this year and get an update on some of the things we talked about today.

Thanks again for joining me on SHN+ Talks. Thank you for everyone tuning in. I want to note, in June, we have another SHN+ Talks in the works. I will be talking with Brookdale CEO Nick Gesue. Tune into that one. That will be a good interview as well. For now, thank you, everyone, for tuning in. Again, Sloan, I had a great time talking with you today. I will talk to you later, and I will see everyone tuning in later as well. Thank you, everyone.

Sloan: Thanks a lot.

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