Kandu Capital, LLC And Its Operating Company Bloom Senior Living
Hires Industry Veteran To Lead Senior Living Operations And Propel Mission
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Birmingham, MI (February 5, 2015) - Kandu Capital, LLC and its operating company, Bloom Senior
Living, announced today that it has hired 30-year industry veteran, Johns Hopkins University and New York
University professor and award-winning author of Senior Living Communities: Operations Management and
Marketing for Assisted Living, Congregate and Continuing Care Retirement Communities Benjamin Pearce to
lead senior living operations, as its Chief Operating Officer, and embark on a multi-year and multi-step process
with Bloom to be the industry leader focused upon culture, customer service, training, resident centered health
care and operations. Bloom is a family company that has been providing personalized service and superior care to seniors since
1965. Inspired after the principals experienced the challenge of finding the right home for their grandmother
when she began suffering from Alzheimer's, Bloom offers a modern, lifestyle approach to healthcare that caters
to the needs of each individual. For nearly 50 years, Bloom's mission has been simple yet aspirational: to help
its residents flourish. Entering a Bloom community does not mean checking your lifestyle or personality at the
door. Residents continue to live life to its fullest potential, enjoying their favorite activities while discovering
new ones, and blooming into their best selves through learning, growth and discovery. With this mission in mind, Bloom welcomes Benjamin into the family. He shares Bloom's high standards, core
values, passion and vision and, with our collective 80-years of experience, will continue to further Bloom's
vision of being the best in class provider. Over his illustrious three decade career, Benjamin has designed, developed, opened and managed over 200
senior living communities in 33 states totaling nearly $1 billion in revenue for both start-up and mature private
and publicly traded independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing and continuing care retirement
community companies. He is a results oriented senior living executive with an impeccable track record. Most recently, Benjamin was the Vice President of Operations (Eastern District) for Holiday Retirement
overseeing operations and marketing for 71 independent and assisted living communities, serving 9,000 senior
residents, located in 7 regions across 14 states and spanning 6 time zones. Prior to Holiday, he was the President
and Chief Executive Officer of a privately held company, Potomac Homes, overseeing 15 communities
dedicated to caring for seniors with Alzehimer's and dementia. Benjamin also, respectively, served as Senior
Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Operations overseeing large portfolios at Genesis Health
Care, a $3.5 billion dollar publicly traded company serving 175,000 seniors, and Vi Retirement Communities
(f/k/a Classic Residence by Hyatt), a privately-held luxury hotel, resort and senior living company. He served as
Director of Operations and Vice President of Operations at The Hillhaven Corporation, Careage Health Care
Management and International Care Centers. Among his many accomplishments, Benjamin is proud of his 98%
family and resident satisfaction; over 90% associate satisfaction and less than 18% associate turnover; and 98%
portfolio occupancy. Benjamin has published 6 books on operations and marketing of senior living communities, one of which has
been converted for use in the certification of administrators and as a required text at major universities. He also
published 27 senior living e-books on Amazon Kindle. His publications -- to name a few -- include: Senior
Living Communities: Operations Management and Marketing for Assisted Living, Congregate and Continuing
Care Retirement Communities; Reactivating Appetite; Eldercare Activities: 105 Great Activities that you can do
at Home, in Assisted Living, a Retirement Community or Nursing Home; Making the Move to a Retirement
Community: A Complete Family Guide to Making an Informed Decision; Assisted Living and Memory Care
Design: An Operator's Wish List; Avoiding Legal Problems in Assisted Living: Tips from an Expert Witness;
The One Minute Caregiver; Customer Satisfaction Made Easy: Senior Living Communities; Therapies for
Assisted Living; Management Curriculum, Assisted Living Training System; A Disguise For Depression;
So...Mom Doesn't Want To Move; The Hidden Liabilities of Home Companions; Strengthening Resident
Relations: Turning Chronic Complainers into Contented Customers; Is Alzheimer's Care A Tax Deductible
Expense; Focusing on Alzheimer's Research, Care; Assisted Living Design Considerations; Acuity Based
Delivery of Personal Care in Assisted Living Communities; Accounting for Personal Care, Nursing Homes
Long Term Care; Predictions for the Assisted Living Industry, Resident Life; Staffing Personal Care, Resident
Life; Motivating Senior Living Employees; Checks and Balances, Assisted Living Today; Resident Satisfaction,
Inside Assisted Living, Resident Turnover, Retirement Community. Benjamin teaches the Business of Senior Housing and Care as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins
University's MBA Program, and is a faculty member at New York University's Real Estate Institute. In addition to being a published author and college professor, he is a nationally recognized speaker, training and
motivational presenter, industry thought leader, strategic business planner, value driver, associate and customer
loyalty builder, turnaround expert, team motivator, talent developer, customer relations expert, process,
productivity and efficiency improvement specialist, operations auditor, technology focused innovator, dementia
specialist and expert witness in legal cases. He formerly served on many professional affiliations including the Board of Directors of the Assisted Living
Federation of America; Massachusetts Assisted Living Facilities Association; National Association for Senior
Living Industry Executives; and North Jersey Senior Care Network. He has been part of the National Quality
Assurance Program Action Team and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Resident Life / Assisted
Living Success; Briefings on Assisted Living; and Assisted Living Executive Report. He is a three-time winner of the Contemporary Long Term Care Order of Excellence Award, which recognizes
outstanding operators judged by their peers to be the nation's best. Benjamin has been an active community leader in his free time. In addition to a volunteer firefighter, he was a
33-year volunteer (and District Chairman) in the Boy Scouts of America and was awarded the District Order of
Merit and Silver Beaver Medal for lifetime achievement. Benjamin is the Director of the Contemporary Music
Worship Team for the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. He was an Emergency Medical Technician for the
Ramsey Ambulance Corps, dedicated to providing a volunteer ambulance services, and received the Dan
Behonick Memorial Emergency Medical Technician Excellence Award and Life Saving Award (for saving the
life of an infant during Hurricane Irene). He is a certified Assisted Living Administrator; EMT and Rescue Diver. Benjamin graduated from Oregon State
University with a Bachelors of Science in Management Bloom continues to dedicate resources to further its mission and ensure that culture, customer service, training,
resident centered care and operations are top company priorities, and the bedrock of its family-oriented
company. "Bloom's history, coupled with Benjamin's expertise, is the perfect marriage to grow a company based
upon these values and make our residents' lives better," reports Bloom.