Editor’s Note: The McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Daily Update and McKnight’s Senior Living Daily Briefing e-newsletters are profiling each of the McKnight’s 2019 Women of Distinction in July. For more coverage, visit the McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living websites and read the July print edition of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and August print edition of McKnight’s Senior Living.
When Stephanie Harris was still a law student at St. Louis University in 2009, she took a chance by starting her company, Arrow Senior Living Management and Turnaround Solutions, with a student loan.
With the help of her mentor and “coach,” the late Paul Karseras, Harris since has quadrupled Arrow Senior Living’s size, making it the 82nd-largest senior housing operator in the United States.
Harris’ company currently manages $300 million in real estate assets, with an additional $125 million under construction. The company has almost 800 employees and operates 15 senior living communities, with a combined capacity of approximately 2,000 residents, across communities in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio.
She also is the author of “Turning Leads into Move-Ins,” a digital training guide for senior housing sales.
Even with all of her success, Harris still takes time to participate in the smaller aspects of her business.
“I may be the CEO of a company that’s grown tremendously over the last couple of years, but my heart and soul are still in the sales and marketing and being able to engage with the sales teams,” she said.
Under Harris’ leadership, Arrow Senior Living has adopted several technological innovations to enhance the quality of care for older adults in its communities. Some of the adaptations include immediate alerts when a resident falls and digital dining guidelines that help residents follow dietary recommendations at mealtimes.
“What I really enjoy about our company is that we are a magnet for technology because we’re a little quirky and a little counterculture,” Harris told the St.Louis Business Journal. “Our whole purpose is to make senior living cool.”
McKnight’s Women of Distinction is a joint program of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program’s exclusive Platinum sponsor is PointClickCare.
