In the early days I knew most of the people and it was a lot more informal. Founded in 1971 on the strength of a $300,000 grant from a Quaker organization in Philadelphia, Kendal quickly established itself as a leading not-for-profit provider of senior living communities, programs and advocacy and empowerment services. Not a lot of other people would’ve done that. I’ve learned, I didn’t really begin this way, but I’ve become pretty capable on the deal side. He later teamed with Barnes, and together they have grown the company from one community to more than 50. https://bit.ly/3b3lBBV I started two companies before Benchmark. There was, at that time, no assisted living in Massachusetts, so I pushed a local nursing home company that had a very good reputation to develop assisted living. We built 13 or 14 assisted living communities and were very successful—including the first purpose-built assisted living community in Massachusetts. Benchmark Senior Living's Chairman & CEO is Tom Grape. Pros. The service package has not really kept up, and it’s not really full-service anymore because everybody is heading to a range for more services to come into the building. Now the firm is setting its sights outside the northeast. Benchmark Senior Living LLC is located in Waltham, MA, United States and is part of the Nursing Homes & Long-Term Care Facilities Industry. The real estate company I was with at the time had teamed up with an operator—in a venture that did not work out. The first one didn’t work, as I mentioned; I ran out of money. See questions about Clear. What’s been the biggest challenge Benchmark has faced and how did you overcome it? The baby boomers like things the way they like it, when they want it. , Nov. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Benchmark Senior Living , a leading provider of senior living services in the Northeast, has been named one of the Top Places to Work in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe for the 10 th consecutive year . He’s been Benchmark’s mentor and everybody here is very grateful for his support, not just financially, but his advice and all the rest. I’m pretty creative, and I have a lot of ideas. Absolutely. Chris Golen has been promoted from Campus Executive Director to Regional Director of Operations for all of Benchmark’s Continuing … We sat down with Tom in his Waltham, Mass. In the early years of [Benchmark], I was obligated for a lot more money than I was worth. It is the first and only dedicated memory care community in the Seacoast … Cons. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Benchmark Senior Living is right for you. With a background in finance and architecture, Freshwater happened upon senior living development early in his career after starting a market research firm that took a look into the fledging industry and challenged the conventional wisdom. I stayed with that company for a few more years and then tried to start my first venture in senior housing in 1989, which you may remember was also a recession year. ©2018 Senior Housing News. Hosted by Mass-ALA, the panel was part of a two-day conference during which Massachusetts Gov. Benchmark Assisted Living LLC provides healthcare services. Benchmark Senior Living recently announced that Jerry Kemper has joined the company as senior vice president and CFO. Benchmark Senior Living Chairman & CEO Tom Grape shared his thoughts on Benchmark’s commitment to human connections and the results of a recent survey taken by our residents and families. It remains a tricky thing. Exploring the future of senior living with Tom Grape, CEO of Benchmark Senior Living. Glassdoor gives you an inside look at what it's like to work at Benchmark Senior Living, including salaries, reviews, office photos, and more. The company was founded in 1997 and has grown significantly over the years to offer new programs and locations for residents. I was living in Boston where [that company] didn’t have any communities, and they wanted me to move to a different city that I didn’t really want to move to. (PRWEB) July 29, 2020 Benchmark, a leading provider of senior living services in the Northeast, today announced that it has been named an honoree of Boston Business Journal’s 2020 Corporate Citizenship Awards. The only thing we did was the senior management team did not take bonuses that year, and we asked everyone else in the company to defer their bonuses from March to June—that’s it. It seems like a nice company. He has seen the senior living industry evolve through recessions and booms and is readying for the next phase ahead. Benchmark Senior Living LLC provides health care services. I don’t know if I remember any particularly pithy sayings, but I guess a piece of advice I would give myself is to know who you are so that you are being true to yourself and your choice of fields, and the role you’re choosing to take, your strengths and weaknesses as a manager; that you get who you are and you’re open to feedback about it and you’re true to yourself. How are things different today from when you started? WALTHAM, Mass.—Benchmark Senior Living, a leading provider of senior living services in the Northeast, announced they have acquired the real estate and operations of Evolve at Rye.Located in Rye, New Hampshire on Route 1, Evolve at Rye is a 40-apartment community capable of serving up to 64 residents. We’re bigger, we’re much more capable and deeper in our capabilities and our people strength and our reach and our capacities. Benchmark Senior Living has long been one of New England’s largest senior housing operators. Since 1997, he has led Benchmark to become the largest senior housing company in the Northeast. A lot of our competitors were raising the eligibility requirements for benefits or cutting hours. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. I didn’t really think of myself as any sort of cowboy risk-taker at the time. I thought I was a big company guy and all of a sudden discovered that I was more of a risk-taking entrepreneur than I had ever appreciated. My first job out of college was at Procter & Gamble in marketing. Do you think the industry does a good job of taking people on the front lines (and when I say ‘front lines’ I mean more Executive Director than caregiver) and helping those people go to the next level in their careers? See questions about Clear. # CalledtoCare. I could give you the building for free and the rent would go down a bit, and then you look at operating expenses. We sat down with Kelly to learn about the company’s vision for a new kind of senior living partnership, and to hear how his time in construction introduced him to the men and women who arrived on sites in dark, The Leadership Series is produced in collaboration between Senior Housing News and PointClickCare®. We’ve developed a number of new communities and have acquired communities since. Questions and Answers about Benchmark Senior Living CEO. The principal of the parent company decided to sell the company in 1996. Its locations are centered around the Northeast area of the United States. Yes, it does. Was there a defining moment for you as an entrepreneur when you knew you wanted to start this company? Tell me about how you got into senior living and how Benchmark got its start. We’ve not been as successful as we would like, notwithstanding a lot of efforts, but we’re doing better than most. And we did. What is the industry’s biggest challenge? My board to this day comments about my risk profile having been extreme. I’m not always as patient with those things as some people would like me to be. I think our industry is still sort of like Model T. See any color Model T you want as long as it’s black. Benchmark Senior Living, and Atria in the positions of Executive Director, Resident Care Coordinator, Regional Director of Alzheimer’s Services, and Life Guidance Program Director respectively. We have an award named after him that we give annually to the community of the year; it’s called the Peter Small Award. What is Benchmark doing currently to develop leaders, and what do you think you could do better? Benchmark Senior Living's key executives include Tom Grape and 6 others. I always paid him back and he’s done very well on his investments in Benchmark. It’s a very difficult thing to keep the culture in alignment with the resources, or the growth in alignment with the people that you’ve got. 195 Ratings. What does the future of the industry look like? Being an entrepreneur was the furthest thing from my mind. I worked at Benchmark Senior Living part-time for more than 3 years. Average Benchmark Senior Living hourly pay ranges from approximately $10.82 per hour for Dishwasher to $35.13 per hour for Registered Nurse Manager. I think it’s going to get turned on its head. Tom Grape is Chairman/CEO at Benchmark Assisted Living. That cuts both ways for me. Based in Waltham, Mass., Benchmark Senior Living is a leading provider of senior living services in the Northeast. Benchmark Tom Grape is founder, chairman and CEO of Benchmark. https://bit.ly/3b3lBBV Benchmark Senior Living Named Top Place to Work by The Boston Globe for 10th Consecutive Year WALTHAM, Mass. 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