Why Silverado’s New Ceo Thinks Memory Care Must ‘be Bold’ To Serve New Customers

Memory care providers today must take bold approaches to develop the next generation of new leadership and serve the incoming baby boomer generation.

That’s according to Silverado CEO Designate Wayne Sanner. Last year, Sanner joined the California-based memory care provider with plans to take over for longtime CEO Loren Shook, who will transition to a role as the operator’s executive chairman of the board later this year.

Sanner sees leadership development and investing in existing leaders as paramount to succeeding in meeting today’s senior living demand as acuity demands force memory care providers to level up their operating models and care capabilities this year.

“With advancements in technology and more sophisticated customers and families, we need talented leaders who are adaptable to change, willing to learn and strong at developing staff and creating meaningful careers,” Sanner said during the most recent SHN Transform podcast.

Sanner said Silverado teams have in the last year grappled with the need to “dream big, act big and love big,” coming up with engaging programming that can help improve the quality of life for residents. Recent examples include a trip of Silverado residents visiting Las Vegas and the company announcing a partnership with Memory Air, a cognitive health device to support memory and brain function of those living with cognitive changes. The device is positioned approximately three feet from a resident’s bedside and emits pleasant scents to stimulate brain activity in the hippocampus region that is tied to memory recollection. Silverado plans to pilot it using 350 devices and collect data to show resident outcomes in roughly six months, Sanner said.

Priorities in operations this year include the formal CEO transition, investing in leadership development while driving occupancy, rate and value, Sanner said. The company’s Nexus memory care program will also focus on creating new volunteer opportunities for residents.

“Early detection and predictive diagnostics is [a] future innovation trend that we want to continue to be at the forefront of,” Sanner said.

Sanner also said that he sees opportunities for Silverado expanding brain health services to reach athletes dealing with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) from routine contact in sports.

“There’s a world of opportunity and unmet needs and based on our expertise and our passion, we can play well in that space,” Sanner said.

Silverado operates 27 properties in 10 states with a home office located in Irvine, California.

Listen to the latest episode of Transform here. (link TK) The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

On Sanner transitioning from CEO Designate to CEO:

I started about 10 months ago, so we’re approaching a year. Time has flown by, and it’s been a very busy year. Loren is an icon in the industry, a visionary and a futurist. He was recently inducted into the ASHA Hall of Fame and I had the privilege of being there to witness that and celebrate. It’s a tremendous honor for me to have been selected as his successor.

I realized how significant this was during a six-month interview process. That speaks to how important this decision was for Loren as a founder and co-founder and for the organization and the board of directors. I knew what an honor it was then, but now, 10 months in, I’m grateful and thrilled with the alignment that Silverado, Loren and I have in terms of our values and our mission.

My first 10 months have been active out in the field. I’ve visited every one of our memory care communities, not fly-by-night visits, but in-depth opportunities to tour communities, interact with our associates, meet with families and residents and watch resident engagement. I’ve also visited all of our hospice office locations and spent a lot of time in our home office developing relationships. I’ve attended countless industry conferences because, while my entire career has been in senior living, it’s predominantly been in skilled nursing, so there’s a different rhythm and a different focus.

I’ve learned an enormous amount over the past 10 months – both internally within Silverado and externally in the senior living, assisted living – and memory care space. It’s been an exciting, busy 10 months and I know it will continue to be an exciting and busy one to two years ahead as we make this transition later this year.

On operational priorities for Silverado in 2026:

2026 is shaping up to be a very exciting, busy year for us at Silverado. We hit the ground running from January 1 and I would say there are a couple of key priorities for us.

One is the official CEO transition. That’s a big change-management objective and we’ve put a lot of thought and time into it. We have an annual leadership conference in early March and that will certainly be a topic of discussion. Internally and externally, it’s been important to message that Loren, after 30 years as a co-founder and CEO, is not disappearing. He’ll continue to have a very active role in Silverado as executive chairman of the board on a full-time basis. He’s still going to be very present and helpful to me and the Silverado team during the transition. Even though we’ve put it out there for a year, it’s one thing to say it and another thing when it actually happens.

Another operational priority for us is continued leadership development. This space continues to offer dynamic complexities and changes so we continue to invest in our leaders through a variety of internal programs to shore up our leadership and grow leaders from within. That’s a big focus.

Then two other quick ones: continue to drive occupancy, rate and overall valuation of Silverado. We’re trending very well, we had a very strong fourth quarter and a very strong start to the first quarter. There are demographic and industry tailwinds contributing to that, along with our daily, strong operational execution, but that will be a focus. Finally, we’re always about innovation. We’re looking at opportunities, whether it’s memory care or AI and what that looks like for us in the coming year and years ahead. Those would be our key operational focuses.

On Silverado’s Memory Air pilot:

Memory Air is extremely exciting. It’s been in the works for several years and there’s a lot of literature out there that [listeners] can look up. Dr. Michael Leone at the University of California Irvine has been doing this research with members of his team for several years. We’ve stayed connected with Dr. Leone and now it’s coming to the forefront.

Memory Air is a well researched, well studied device that sits on a nightstand and emits different pleasant scents to stimulate brain activity in the hippocampus. There are 40 different scents and it cycles twice a night. It’s an easy setup. It’s a sleek looking product that is very quiet and you place it three to four feet from your nose. The research is fascinating. In terms of baseline memory impairment, a 200% improvement has been seen through this device. Our executive team is excited about having it. Many of our associates are investing in the device for family members and this is within what we call Silverado nation.

There’s also excitement outside our space. There are studies around autism for kids and studies around deep sleep. We invested in 350 units and we have possession of those. We’re actively rolling them out so our residents and families can have access to this innovation and our staff can support it.

We’re going to partner with Memory Air, establish a baseline for our own residents and look at the data and outcomes six months from now. We love evidence-based research and outcomes and we’ll share our findings in a white paper.

On Silverado’s Nexus program evolution:

Nexus is always evolving. It’s our connection program for early stage onset dementia with pillars and key programming so we’re always looking at Nexus. One of our big focuses for Nexus in the next 12 months is a tremendous focus on our residents and volunteering. We have amazing numbers around volunteering and creating meaning and purpose for our residents in the greater community so we continue to track those hours and that involvement and we’re going to continue to do that.

A couple of other areas around Nexus: Loren, myself and Kim Butrum, our Senior Vice President of Clinical Services, recently attended a summit on concussion and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) during Super Bowl week in San Francisco. We’ve always had a connection with the NFL and that whole world of concussion and CTE. It was a powerful conference with leading experts talking about concussion and CTE and the stigma around it. Like mental health, there’s a stigma around concussion and CTE, but that’s starting to break up as people are willing to share their stories and challenges. We want to be in that space because there are unmet needs and a lot of that is early stage.

As we look at our strategic plan, that’s an area not just for Nexus but organizationally where we have a presence and we want to expand that focus and that presence. It’s not just football. It includes contact sports like soccer, hockey and mixed martial arts and it includes the military and combat. There’s a world of opportunity and unmet needs and based on our expertise and our passion, we can play well in that space.

On how Silverado plans to monitor innovation:

Early detection and predictive diagnostics is a future innovation trend we want to stay at the forefront of, be early adopters as appropriate and keep our eyes on. We are in the treatment business. We pray for and seek and desire a cure and will continue to support those efforts. In the meantime, we want to treat and give hope to those struggling with memory impairment through their entire family ecosystem.

The earlier we can detect and have predictive diagnostics, the better we can intervene and perhaps slow the progression of the disease. That can provide hope and peace of mind for the person inflicted with it and for families, friends and the downstream effect. Another key area many operators are invested in and we are as well is lifestyle based interventions. We’re watching what innovations are coming forth that are non pharmacological and that benefit the holistic person and their well being.

Then there’s the buzzword around AI. It’s exciting and the speed of progression is mind blowing. We hear about robotic companions and voice activated AI tools and we want to stay at the forefront of those technologies. I will say for Silverado and in memory care, we look at that with some skepticism because we’re passionate about the human touch and the human dynamic. We want to invest where it can aid and benefit residents but we never want to lose our human touch and human dignity.

That’s at the forefront of our conversations, including our AI Task Force committee and even when we partner with vendors. We talk a lot about where partners are on their AI platform, whether it’s someone new or an existing relationship. Part of that discussion is rooted in our core values around purpose and connection and human touch and making sure it makes sense.

On how memory care must evolve:

What made me think about that question is I remember making that statement very early on and probably didn’t even know what I meant at the time because I was so new. I had forgotten about it until I was talking with my wife. A lot of people make New Year’s resolutions and we always have a word for the year. My word for the year was bold. It came full circle and I really thought about it. For memory care providers, when I think of bold, I think of two areas.

One, we need to be bold in investing in leadership. Demand is here now and new development may pick up but likely slowly, which puts increasing demand on the supply that already exists. We’re going to see major growth in memory care and senior care over the next five to 10 years. With advancements in technology and more sophisticated customers and families, we need talented leaders who are adaptable to change, willing to learn, and strong at developing staff and creating meaningful careers.

Two, we need to be bold in engagement and programming. We’ve invested a lot in that at Silverado but we can’t let up. I’ve challenged our teams with a simple phrase: dream big, act big and love big. Dream big about what’s possible for residents, act big by doing it and love big by creating space for real connection. At Silverado we believe love is greater than fear and we’re not afraid to use the word love. Bold leadership investment and bold engagement and programming, that’s what’s on my heart today.

On how Silverado is approaching 2026 growth:

This is going to be a year of growth for Silverado. We’ve gone through a few years of not being in that space with Covid playing a big part of that. The Los Angeles District Attorney case is behind us and we prevailed, which was great for our industry and justice prevailed. We’re on a very optimistic trajectory heading into 2026.

We’re looking at one to two acquisitions this year. One is pretty imminent and it will be in a new market for us outside the state of California. We’re also pretty far along on another acquisition that I project will be mid year. That will also be outside of California. These are acquisitions, not new development, and they are turnaround situations and conversions, which are a wheelhouse and an expertise for us.

We’ve also been very open about new development. We have entitlement in San Jose, California and development takes time. We are definitely looking to grow in 2026 and we’ll continue to look to grow in 2027. As we get into the later part of 2026, we’ll look at hospice growth opportunities. In the first half of this year, we’re focused on continuing to stabilize what we currently operate. We like to be in the hospice and palliative care space, particularly where we have community presence. As we grow our communities, we’ll look at appropriate growth opportunities in hospice and palliative care as well.

Everywhere I go, coming out of the skilled nursing space and into more of the senior housing and senior living space, I’m sensing excitement and optimism in presentations and individual conversations, for good reason.

The demand wave we’ve been talking about is here and occupancy will continue to rise. Supply is tight. I think we’ll see more new development this year and it will continue to accelerate unless the economy doesn’t act in our favor. The trends feel more encouraging on inflation. A report came out this morning that inflation is starting to slow down, interest rates are coming down and capital is becoming more available. Those are favorable trends.

The flip side is you still have to staff it. Today feels a little better than when I was interviewed in the middle of last year but those dynamics ebb and flow and staffing is always going to be there. As an operator, you have to accept that. To weather the ebbs and flows, you have to create a great culture, provide great wages and good benefits, and retain great staff.

Then there’s the explosion of AI in the coming years and what that means for how we operate, how we reach new consumers and how we become more efficient. Those are the key trends right now.

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