Executive Staff

Dwayne Clark, CEO and Chairman

Dwayne Clark is the founder and chief executive officer of AegisLiving. With 21 years of senior housing industry experience, Dwayne is nationally recognized for his innovations and quality care standards.

When Dwayne founded Aegis Living in 1997, he looked at creative ways to redefine an industry that held great potential but was failing in execution. He studied business models from top companies around the world, including Starbucks and Costco, and built his company around the same concepts and strategies that made those companies successful. Today, AegisLiving is a nationally recognized leader in retirement living, assisted living and Alzheimer's care. Dwayne credits Aegis Living's rapid growth and wide acceptance to the company's culture, which is chronicled in his book, Help Wanted: Recruiting, Hiring and Retaining Exceptional Staff.

Prior to founding Aegis Living, Dwayne served as executive vice president of operations for Sunrise Assisted Living. He was a key member of the management team that led the company from the private sector to one of the most successful IPOs in long-term care.

Dwayne is a leader in national organizations that support the growth and development of senior living professionals and is a founder and chairman of AIM, A Society for Senior Living Professionals. Dwayne has served on the boards of the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA), the National Investment Conference (NIC) and the American Senior Housing Association (ASHA). He is also the founding president of ALFA's Northwest chapter (NorALFA).

David Ford, Vice Chairman

David Ford is the Vice Chairman of Aegis Senior Communities.

He is an advisor to, and investor in, businesses ranging from start-ups to privately-held industry leaders, and is a director of Protex Technologies, Inc., a provider of explosion-suppression technologies to the federal government and private industry.

David has also served as the COO and General Counsel of a government-contracting firm that provided IT consulting services to defense and other federal agencies. For the first two decades of his professional life, David was an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare, technology and government-contracting industries. He is a member of the Executive Board of the American Seniors Housing Association and the Advisory Board of the National Investment Conference for Seniors Housing, and is a founder of Kalorama Village, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to helping seniors "age in place." He is a graduate of Rollins College and the University of Virginia School of Law and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Jerry Meyer, President and Chief Operating Officer

Jerry Meyer is the President and Chief Operating Officer of AegisLiving and is responsible for operations of Aegis communities.

Prior to joining Aegis Living, Jerry was the President and CEO of SunBridge, Inc., a senior housing company. During his tenure, he successfully secured more than $200 million in new construction project financing. He was responsible for developing the business plans, pro forma and budget for a 42-building rollout. Prior to his work at SunBridge, Jerry was the Vice President and CEO for the Assisted Living Division of Manor Care, Inc., where he grew revenues from zero to $60 million in only two years.

Jerry was also CEO of the Senior Living Division of Advantage Health Management Corporation, where he was concurrently responsible for successfully forming the company's hotel properties. His hospitality industry experience includes work for Doubletree as well as ownership and management of restaurants in Missouri and Connecticut.

Brian Poggi, Chief Marketing Officer

As Chief Marketing Officer, Brian Poggi leads all marketing and sales efforts for communities in Washington, California and Nevada.

Prior to joining AegisLiving, Brian D. Poggi was President of GE Security Commercial Solutions, a $300 million, 500-employee business unit and subsidiary of the General Electric Corporation. The Commercial Solutions Group developed and supported products for GE Security's worldwide markets in the fire, access, intrusion and video surveillance segments. During Brian's tenure the Commercial Solutions Group lead the company in new product introductions and market share growth.

Brian previously served as President and CEO of LifeClips, a venture-backed leading provider of analog-to-digital home-video services that he built from the ground up. Prior to founding LifeClips, Brian was Senior Vice President and General Manager of North America for Polaroid, where he directed a $1.1 billion business unit. He is credited with repositioning the brand to a younger market through the development of multiple new product platforms. During his 20-year tenure with Polaroid, Brian also ran the company's European operations and held other international and domestic senior-level positions. Brian joined Polaroid, following his initial sales and marketing career with Procter and Gamble.

John Spaid, Chief Financial Officer

John Spaid is the Chief Financial Officer for AegisLiving. In his role, he will spearhead all financial management and planning responsibilities for Aegis.

John joined the company in January 2008. John's business and financial experience spans 25 years and highlights an impressive history of fiscal planning and management expertise. As partner and Senior Project Manager of Americana Enterprises, John developed and managed all facets of a seven hundred home residential development and water & wastewater utility corporation. He also served as Finance Administrator during his tenure at First Martin Corporation. While there, he developed prospectuses to raise capital for the company and negotiated financial commitments. As Chief Financial Officer for LandEquities Corporation he created pro-forma financial models for the company's real estate transactions including new investment analysis, portfolio cash flows, financings, asset divestitures, lease transactions and construction projects. Most recently he worked as an independent consultant with a number of real estate companies where he established, negotiated and closed financial transactions while serving as interim CFO in many cases.

Tracee DeGrande, Senior Vice-President, Finance & Accounting

Tracee is the Senior Vice-President, Finance & Accounting for AegisLiving. In her role, she is responsible for all financing, treasury management, financial reporting and accounting for Aegis.

Tracee joined the company in May 2003. Prior to joining AegisLiving, Tracee was Chief Financial Officer for Regency Pacific, Inc, a $160 million regional senior housing company. Prior to that, Tracee was with Hillhaven Corporation, a $1.5 billion, senior housing company, for thirteen years. In total, Tracee brings more then 20 years of senior housing experience to AegisLiving.

In her roles, Tracee has secured more then $100 million in new construction and acquisition financing for senior housing properties. While with Regency Pacific, she was responsible for negotiating and securing all major vendor contracts, reducing costs significantly while garnering terms most advantageous to the company. As Regency Pacific expanded their business into assisted living, Tracee was instrumental in creating accounting procedures and reporting for this line of business. While at Hillhaven, Tracee was responsible for appeals of government funded reimbursement that resulted in adding $1.7 million in annual revenue.

Rick Karnofski, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources

Rick Karnofski is the Sr. Vice President, Human Resources at Aegis Living and his department is responsible for recruiting, employee relations, benefits, compensation, workers compensation and risk management for all Aegis communities.

Rick joined Aegis in January 2005 and brings 25 years in Human Resources with diverse experience in companies in the medical device field, telecommunications, high tech and pharmaceutical industries.

Rick started in the recruiting industry working with Fortune 500 companies that wanted to attract top level management talent to their team. He then went to Physio Control Corporation who was the world leader in the manufacturer of heart defibrillators and for 3 years in a row was named as one of the Top 100 Companies to work for in the country. He assumed management roles as the Director of Recruiting and Director of Training and Development and had a significant role in creating the culture of being one of the most respected companies in the U.S. in the 14 years he was there.

Rick went on to develop the Human Resources Department from the ground up at a company called NeoPath whose technology was instrumental in developing an automated process to detect cervical cancer. In the 5 years that he was there he was part of the Sr. Management Team that took the company to a level where it developed extreme interest from other companies and was ultimately purchased in 1995.

He was also part of the Sr. Management Teams at a start-up company called nLight Photonics, Microvision which was developing retinal scanning displays and Nastech Pharmaceutical whose technology targeted drug delivery barriers and developed innovative means to effectively treat obesity and cancer. He was instrumental in developing their cultural identities and the HR practices necessary to assist in their development to become successful companies.

Rick has always been a strong proponent of building a company around people who are competent and passionate about what they do coupled with a company who provides a great culture, vision and resources so every employee and the company have the potential to do great things.