Executive Directors
Resume:
John and Peggy Wilson
Forgoing the standard format for resumes, we have designed the resume in more of a conversational form. The information depicted should give you our image and focus.
A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, degreed in Marketing and Business Law. Served four years in the USAF, discharged at the Air University at Maxwell Field, Alabama. My wife Peggy, of 43 years is from Atlanta, Georgia.
My business career is varied, however, in particular my corporate life spans some 30 years in Atlanta. First with Uni-Worth Glass Enterprises, serving the following positions: Regional Sales person, Regional Sales Manager, Vice President of Sales and Executive Vice President Marketing/Sales, member of Board of Directors. Secondly, with a Chicago based operation, US Glass and Glazing Centers a national company. I served as Regional Vice President/Sales with territory consisting of: Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, and Texas. Thirdly, I served as National Accounts Executive with a Minneapolis based corporation. My responsibility was to initiate and maintain personal contact, promotions and sales development of the home offices of all major insurance companies, from Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, and Chicago east. Having to travel extensively for years, I decided to fade out of corporate life with no interest of returning to that agenda. With Peggy's full support, we moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 2000.
We met some older friends that showed us a retirement community in Wilmington, where they lived. We were introduced to the management of that location and the retirement industry became of interest to us. We contacted the corporate offices of that community, Holiday Retirement in Salem, Oregon. We were hired as Managers in Training, serving initially as Co-Managers. Within a year, we were promoted as Managers of the community. We liked what we saw and wanted to give something back to life, especially to seniors. During our Co-Manager tenure, we were saddened by the lack of management to the residents and property. Lake Shore Commons was probably the best kept secret in Wilmington because of, little marketing and no visibility, along with in-house telephone calls only. They basically forgot the market place all together. A very small percentage of locals lived there as residents, giving us no way to "hitch hike" on locals word of mouth.
The occupancy was 61% and operating in the red. Resident dissatisfaction was very apparent, with the employees operating the investment somewhat to their satisfaction, not the customers. What we realized was not conducive to good business practices in order to achieve positive results. Over dinner one evening, Peggy and I agreed to "lock-n-load" to turn the community around in the best interest of all concerned. Our motto established that evening, we lived by for eight years. "put a smile on the residents faces, with a skip in their step, profitably". We turned the community into a family affair, a home, not an institution in every respect. Within two years our community reached 100% occupancy. We rented our guest apartment after enlarging it and with humor, our Corporate President let us see 101% occupancy for one week on the weekly company occupancy report for North America. During that period of time, our corporation had o/a 300 communities. We stayed 100% for o/a 5 years with our community in the top 12 each week in North America.
The corporation selected 16 communities nationally, which we were one of. We met for two weeks in Oregon to develop a Manager/Co-Manager Training Program. As a result, we became a regional hiring and training center. Peggy and I developed a passion for what we were doing for our seniors and corporation. We reached a plateau where we were receiving a lot of accolades and awards, within reason. The corporation in North America, was purchased by a "hedge fund" investment firm, for some $6 billion dollars. The only way they could get the investment and projected return, was to take the corporation public. As we all know, the bottom fell out of the market so they could not achieve their objectives. Ours, like other 100% communities, became their cash cows. The corporation was raped and today the national occupancy is down some 35 plus percent. From the President, the Corporate Attorney, the Divisional and Regional Management people that we admired and trust in the corporate offices, are all gone. With that erosion of talented and dedicated people, the future was lost with Holiday. This is what happens when you don't listen to the people that run the operation from the field and place people into management that have no concept or passion for senior living. "What is good for the resident, is good for the corporation". A firm belief, then you manage the balance.
The Best Always,
John and Peggy Wilson
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