Sara is Brookdale’s Senior Vice President of Resident and Family Engagement, she has been serving older adults and those who support them, for over 40 years. She is known as a passionate pioneer of changing the perception and experience of aging. Sara has accumulated her in-depth knowledge through serving in a variety of roles including operations, health and wellness, sales and marketing. She joined Brookdale in 2003. She guides the strategy and standards supporting the Optimum Life® philosophy, Resident Engagement, Resident Family Connections program, Dementia Care, Customer Experience, NPS ®, Dining Services, Environmental Services, and BEST (Brookdale Excellence Standards Tool). The goal of resident and family engagement is to support an optimal customer experience for each of our residents and their families.

Sara has proudly served as host of Brookdale’s Celebrate Aging Film Festival since the event inception in 2017 with the purpose- to help change the negative perception of aging and communicate a positive, uplifting, or touching message that celebrates aging. In addition, the Film Festival received two separate awards – a “Best of the Best” award from Argentum, a leading trade organization for senior living and an Award of Merit from the Nashville chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. To view highlights from the 2019 Celebrate Aging Film Festival, click HERE.

In 2022, Sara was nominated and awarded the McKnight’s Women of Distinction award which recognizes women making a mark in skilled nursing, senior living and home care, inspiring others and having a powerful effect on the lives of the individuals they serve.

Sara earned a Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. She is a past board member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association, a global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management practices-as well as a past Board Member of Wish of a Lifetime (seniorwish.org). Sara is the national team coordinator for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s®, with Brookdale being a Diamond Team, leading the overall fundraising for the senior living space-with over $21.5 million raised for the Walk to End®, including almost $1.2 million in 2020 during a global pandemic. Sara has a strong commitment to supporting the next generation of senior living professionals and serves as a mentor, as well as a visiting instructor, at Cornell University. She also serves as an Industry Scholar for the Cornell Institute for Healthy Aging Futures (CHIF). She was named a Health Care Innovation Champion Award winner for community service in 2021 by the Nashville Business Journal.