Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Home Care, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News are profiling the McKnight’s 2024 Pinnacle Awards honorees daily in April and May. For additional McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards content, visit this page.
Vassar T. Byrd has been a jack of all trades — an economist, a research analyst, a marketing and sales director, and now CEO of the Kendal Corporation.
She moved into the long-term care industry when she was hired by The Highland Group in January 2001 to analyze the Denver nursing home market and determine the competitive conditions for the development and redesign of facilities. From there, she moved to the Patton Home/Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon as marketing director, and on to a larger company just two years later. In July 2006, she took on the role of CEO of Rose Villa Senior Living, a continuing care retirement / life plan community in Portland, OR.
Byrd spent more than 17 years at Rose Villa before moving in January to The Kendal Corporation, a nonprofit provider of aging services and retirement communities with 11 operating affiliates across nine states that was founded on Quaker principles.
When she joined Rose Villa, the facility was in poor condition — failing infrastructure, deteriorating buildings and dismal occupancy. She spearheaded a 10-year master plan that saw the demolition of a large portion of the 22-acre campus to build the first-ever senior living pocket neighborhood: clusters of duplexes and five-plexes centered around shared gardens and green spaces, and connected by walking paths.
In 2019, Rose Villa opened the first senior living zero-energy neighborhood, the Oaks, investing in solar panels to reduce energy costs, and modeling for other CCRCs the importance of sustainable building. Three years later, the community implemented a greywater reclamation system that preserves 300,000 gallons of freshwater annually.
- Holds a Master of Science in Economics degree from the London School of Economics and a Master of Arts in Gerontology degree from Naropa University.
- Worked as an international balance of payments analyst for the US Department of Commerce.
- Is a national recognized thought leader about the importance of LGBTQIA+ inclusivity in senior living communities.
The McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care. Honorees were recognized March 21 at a dinner and awards ceremony in Chicago. Omnicare was the Silver sponsor for the 2024 Pinnacle Awards program. Parker Health Group and Sentrics were event sponsors.
