Keven J. Bennema
President and CEO

Keven Bennema is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Charter Senior Living, based in Naperville, Illinois. After a humbling but formative beginning as a caregiver, Bennema rose to executive ranks in the senior living sector, working for several large national providers. He worked in every functional department of a skilled nursing community before ultimately earning his Nursing Home Administrator License in the state of Ohio. Concurrently, he completed his MBA in Healthcare Administration from Cleveland State University. Keven continued his career in several senior living companies, serving as Executive Director, Regional Director and eventually becoming Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Senior Lifestyles Corp. in Chicago. Now with his own company underway and thirteen (13) properties (and counting) under his direct leadership, Keven is focused exclusively on advancing his team-inspired vision for senior living under the Charter banner.

Jayne Sallerson
Chief Operating Officer/ Partner

Jayne Sallerson, a seasoned veteran in the senior living industry, joined Charter Senior Living as investor, partner and Chief Operating Officer. Sallerson oversees all facets of operations for the company. For the past 25 years, she has served in various senior management roles for both large and small senior living organizations, exposing her to over 750 communities throughout the United States. She has developed and executed sales and operational infrastructures where the net result has been increased revenue, reduced expenses and improved NOI. Her unique blend of both sales and operations experience allows for a balanced approach of driving NOI while keeping customer and employee satisfaction at the core of operating strategies. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President of Sales & Operations for Benchmark Senior Living and spent seven years as Executive Vice President of Sales and marketing for Emeritus Senior Living prior to the Brookdale merger. Jayne is well-recognized within the senior housing industry. She has served on multiple Argentum roundtables and is a frequent presenter on a variety of topics for the senior living industry’s major national senior living conferences.

Bruce Waxman
Chief Financial Officer

Bruce Waxman provides business and financial strategy consulting to growth-stage businesses and has more than 25 years’ experience counseling entrepreneurs in all facets of business development. A graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Bruce has served as Controller, Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer and has held financial management positions for private and publicly held companies. He earned his BSBA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with concentrations in Accounting and Finance. Bruce has served as the fractional CFO to diverse health care organizations, including physical therapy, home health agencies, long-term care pharmacies, specialty physician practices and technology companies. 

Kim Bennema
Executive Administrator

Kim currently serves as the Executive Administrator for Charter Senior Living. She is the Lead Project Manager and Designer for all Charter renovations and also coordinates administrative functions at the corporate level. She has earned a degree in Meeting and Event Planning, as well as an Associates degree in Applied Science – Travel and Tourism – from the College of DuPage. Kim’s passion and empathy for the senior living iIndustry is exemplified by her enthusiasm for providing the best environmental design standards, levels of care and state-of-the-art products and programs for the residents and staff that represent the Charter family. Kim and Keven have been married for 24 years, and are raising three children of their own.

Cathy Hampton
Regional Director of Operations

Cathy has served in the senior living industry for 26 years and began her career as a Licensed Practical Nurse in a skilled nursing facility. She advanced quickly into leadership positions including Nursing Home Administrator and Corporate Quality Assurance/Risk Management Director for USA Healthcare-Alabama and Iowa. Cathy also served as Executive Director and Executive Director Transition Specialist for the southeast division of Brookdale Senior Living during her tenure with them. From there, she accepted a role as the Regional Director of Operations for Somerby Senior Living. Under her leadership, the regional team oversaw operations, sales/marketing, clinical and regulatory compliance for eight (8) communities, representing 1,237 units (IL, AL, MC) across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Additionally, Cathy managed the development and execution of premarketing activities and start-up operations for two new luxury communities (200 units) in Georgia and Tennessee.

Most recently, Cathy worked with Senior Source Consulting Group providing market analysis and recommendations to some of the industry’s most prominent and respected providers – in over 100 communities across the United States. Her expert recommendations and action plans were instrumental to superior positioning in each of the targeted markets. Cathy has developed a unique ability to quickly assess situations, make sound recommendations and take decisive actions that drive performance. She is an effective liaison, team-builder and has an inimitable ability to build productive and lasting partnerships across sales and operational departments. Most importantly, Cathy is a strong mentor and promotes leadership qualities in others. Her passion for building teams of integrity and confidence support Charter’s culture, where excellent care and service are provided to our seniors and staff alike.

Hilary King
Regional Director of Operations

Hilary King joined Charter Senior Living as an Operations Specialist in September 2017 and currently serves as a Regional Director of Operations. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in both Economics and Political Science from Vanderbilt University. Hilary has worked in senior living for over 10 years, but has been involved in senior living her entire life, as she was raised on the campus of a non-profit CCRC, where she volunteered and worked as early as eight years old. During her eight-year tenure at Senior Lifestyle, she held various positions as Property Manager, Area Manager and Executive Director. While at Senior Lifestyle, she attended the School of Executive Development, which only six leaders a year were chosen to attend. Hilary acted as an Executive Director at Harbor Retirement Associates for over two years and holds her Administrators License in the states of South Carolina and Tennessee. Prior to starting her career in senior living, Hilary had a background in instructional design and training. She has used to this skill to develop policies and training documentation to teach and drive best practices in sales, business operations, hospitality and resident care.

Leslie K. Eldridge
Regional Director of Operations

Leslie K. Eldridge has over 25 years of experience in senior living and she currently serves as the Regional Director of Operations for Charter Senior Living. Her previous roles have included working as a nursing home administrator, an executive director and a regional director of operations for an array of supportive living, private pay and new development communities. Leslie has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Kansas State University as well as a Master of Business Administration and a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix. She has been involved in local civic organizations, serving on the board of directors for a variety of associations, including serving as the President of the Southern Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce for three years. Leslie loves spending time with her family and believes in what she does to the core. In fact, she states that she has learned so much from her coworkers and seniors – including how to be a better person.

Carol Simbeya
Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing

Carol Simbeya joined Charter Senior Living in June 2018 as our Corporate Director of Sales, bringing with her extensive executive leadership experience in sales and marketing from both the senior living and health care industries. She earned her Master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Administration / Management from Cleveland State University in 2012. She earned her Bachelor of Arts with honors in Business Administration from Ursuline College in 2008. Her other credentials include Certified Marketing Professional, Certified Regional Sales Director, and Certified Health Insurance Information Program Advisor.

Carol recently served as Senior Regional Sales & Marketing Director for Brookdale Senior Living, the nation’s largest provider of senior living options with more than 1,000 communities in 47 states. She first joined Brookdale in a community sales role and was rapidly promoted to national sales specialist, where she traveled nationwide to independent living, assisted living, and memory care communities, quickly growing occupancy and revenue in each location. At Brookdale, she then earned two subsequent promotions, the first to Regional Sales & Marketing Director and the second to Senior Regional Sales & Marketing Director. Her achievements in those roles included: improving local brand awareness, developing brand-differentiated messaging, training team members in outreach strategies and growing professional referrals 114 percent.

Maura Feaheny
Corporate Director of Integration & Project Management

Maura A. Feaheny joined Charter Senior Living in September 2018 as our Corporate Director of Integration & Project Manager, bringing with her extensive executive leadership experience in commercial real estate development and senior housing plant operations and capital management. Her experiences as an Independent Consultant and as a corporate employee extend from ground-up development to existing building operations management. She earned her Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance & Strategy from Booth School of Business at The University of Chicago. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. She is a licensed Architect in the State of Illinois.

Maura recently served as Vice President of Plant Operations, managing a team of four Regional Directors and oversight manager for 187 senior housing communities. She first joined Senior Lifestyle Corporation (SLC) in 2013 as a Regional Director of Plant Operations, and was promoted twice in her first two years to her current role. Her successes were creating an independent Plant Operations Team, effective coordination efforts with Risk Management, Clinical & Operations, along with management of between $50 – 70M capex spend annually. Investor relations, complex operations integration issues, major capital project planning and progressive management style highlight her past decade.

Joy Wegand
Memory Care Specialist

Joy Wegand started her long senior living career in a skilled nursing setting and quickly realized that her passion and calling was to empower seniors to live their lives to the fullest and to ensure that they could have fun in the process. Joy graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Administration and a minor in Therapeutic Recreation. In July 2016, she joined the Charter Senior Living team as our Memory Care and Programming Specialist. Joy is the creator of our FlourishSM Memory Care Program, where promotion of successful interactions for our caregivers and successful moments throughout the day for our residents living with dementia represent our highest purpose. Currently, Joy holds certification as a CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist), CDP (Certified Dementia Practitioner®), CDCM (Certified Dementia Care Manager®), CADDCT (Certified Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Care Trainer®) and PAC (Positive Approach® to Care) Engagement and PAC Consultant. Additional accolades include being recipient of the first Activity Director of Excellence – MACS – Maryland Activity Coordinators Society and MVP SunWest, creator of Ageless Dreams.

Kelley Steiner
Executive Assistant

Kelley joined Charter Senior Living in June 2018 as Executive Assistant. She has over 25 years of experience in C-Suite support and office management. As Executive Assistant at Sherpa CRM, LLC for the past two and a half years, she gained knowledge and a growing passion for the senior housing industry. The scope of her job responsibilities range from everyday clerical duties to office management to event planning. She also  identifies needs and puts systems into place that improve efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction. Recognized as an effective communicator, she works well both one-on-one and in groups to achieve strategic goals.

Shelli Webster 

Shelli Webster joined Charter Senior Living in May of 2020, bringing her extensive senior housing sales and strategy experience with her. She has worked with hundreds of communities across the nation, collaborating with investors, C-Suite executives, regional teams and community leadership on strategic market positioning, implementation of internal and external sales systems and processes, coaching and training of community teams through modeling and role playing and overall census development. Shelli has served in various capacities such as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Regional Director of Sales and Marketing, Lead Coach/Trainer/Strategist for a leading senior housing consulting firm and more. She has completed Train the Trainer (Regional Director of Sales and Marketing training), SWOT analyses, sales and marketing plans, and more while coaching 20-30 assisted living, Independent Living, Memory Care and Continuing Care Retirement Communities per week to 100% occupancy.

Zack Bennema

 Joining Charter in June of 2019, Zack Bennema serves as a Financial Analyst, where his focus is primarily business development and operations analysis. On the business development side, he specializes in pro forma development and modeling for all potential development and acquisition opportunities presented to Charter. On the operations side, he is fully involved in the budgeting process for each Charter community and is keenly apt to evaluate all financial aspects of operational performance. While earning his degree in finance from Baylor University and serving as quarterback and letter winner on the football team, he honed his skills as a leader and developed an unmatched work ethic during his tenure. Zack is currently based in Chicago, Illinois.

Angela Piepenbrink 

Angela has been serving in the health care industry since 1990, bringing both nursing and CNA experience to the Charter team. Angela has a passion for geriatrics and is very passionate about her work. During her nursing career, she was a Director of Nursing for several years and was then recommended to sit for the Board of Nursing Home Administrators exam. In 2011, she received her license and decided she want to serve our Veterans as an Administrator at the Missouri Veterans Home. After several years of serving Veterans, Angela wanted to gain additional knowledge and pursued a career in long-term care as an Executive Director in the private sector. In October of 2020, Angela returned to nursing and was contracted by Charter Senior Living to be a Regional Nurse Consultant. Angela has been leading full-time as the Regional Health and Wellness Director since January of 2021.

Amy Nguyen 

Amy has over 18 years of experience in the senior housing and health care industry, and currently serves as a Sales Specialist with Charter Senior Living. She has a genuine passion for working with the aging population and takes great pride in her servant leadership role, where she continues to deliver unparalleled hospitality to seniors and their families.

Prior to joining Charter Senior Living, Amy was involved in different types of senior living residences and new development projects. She served under the management of the nation’s three largest senior living providers and offers extensive experience in the areas of business development, event management, public relations, sales and marketing. As her career grew in the senior and health care sector, Amy also got involved in operations but remains loyal to her sales and marketing profession. Some of her greatest accomplishments include establishing strong partnerships and charitable programs where philanthropic efforts resulted in unmatched contributions of giving back to the elderly and youth caregivers. Compassion, integrity and respect fuel her desire to help improve quality of life for all ages – a dedication which she applies everyday as she serves residents and their families.

Tammy Sunderman 

Tammy comes to Charter Senior Living with over 25 years of experience in senior living sales and marketing. She began in skilled nursing facilities as an Admissions and Marketing Director and became Vice President of Sales and Marketing in assisted living, securing an array of experience from strategic marketing and lead generation to hands-on sales training to help assist and coach sales professionals to occupancy success. Tammy is deeply passionate about leading a team to embrace a sales process that is focused on relationship selling. She approaches the sales process with compassion and empathy, knowing that building a trusting relationship is key.

Tammy has a Bachelor of Science degree and an Associate degree in nursing, giving her the ability to relate to health concerns with families and residents, and in 2006, she won the Outstanding Marketing Director of the Year given by Indiana Assisted Living Federation of America.