Aegis Living’s new leader believes that hospitality-led operations, updating technology platforms to support staff and capitalizing on current demand for senior living will help the operator grow for a new generation.
In October, Aegis CEO and Founder Dwayne Clark began the transition out of the top leadership role and into the role of executive chairman. Current President Dirk Burghartz will step into the CEO role in July of next year. Burghartz joined Aegis in 2025 after more than three decades of experience in luxury hospitality, including 17 years with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
As part of the leadership transition, current Aegis Chief Financial Officer Derek Doke is slated to assume the role of chief investment officer for the company. In 2024, Aegis hired Troy Nelson, a former executive with sports apparel brand Nike and retailer Nordstrom.
Hiring long-tenured executives and pairing them with leaders who have premium brand experience in retail and hospitality is an important element in sustaining Aegis’ ongoing operational performance and the company’s hospitality-focused senior living model, Burghartz recently told Senior Housing News. As Aegis approaches its 30th anniversary in 2027, the company’s leaders are focused on improving operations, staffing and finding opportunities for future growth.
“The hospitality part is in my veins, but I want to continue to be a student of the senior living industry,” Burghartz said. “I want to keep learning, and I want our people to know that you don’t have to know everything as a leader, but you have to surround yourself with the right people.”
Bellevue, Washington-based Aegis manages a portfolio of 37 communities in three states.
2025, 2026: A ‘continuation of right-setting the company for the future’
Aegis leaders have over the last two years hired people to bolster the company’s top executive team, and Burghartz described the period as a “continuation of right-setting the company for the future.” He also noted the period was “foundational” in setting top leadership to chart a course for future growth opportunities.
“We’ve come to a place of more stability, and that is solidifying where we are as a leadership team, and we believe that is translating to greater stability among our communities,” Burghartz said.
Also last year, Aegis welcomed Michael Graham, who has luxury hospitality experience with Arcis Golf and the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts brand, as executive vice president of sales. In May, Aegis added former Yardi, Merrill Gardens and Cogir Senior Living executive Kristine Schrudder as vice president of sales. Under Graham and Schrudder’s leadership, Burghartz said the team is helping set the pace to overhaul sales and marketing activities across the Aegis portfolio of luxury senior living properties.
Employing top leaders from other industries helps create a culture that can be a “foundation for us to drive change,” Burghartz added.
This year, Aegis swapped out its customer relationship management system while partnering with a new AI-powered sales and marketing conversion platform and a firm that manages external brand reputation.
“Operationally, we’ve brought in some capable, great leaders, and we have a good mix of tenured Aegis field and operations leaders, along with some hospitality experience, and we’re well-positioned to now make sure that we continue to grow,” Burghartz said.
‘Selective’ Growth After ‘Foundational’ Year
Aegis traces its roots back to the development of luxury senior living properties that are unique in layout, design and footprint to the markets they serve. In the last few years, Aegis has added assisted living and memory care capacity as new construction remains a challenge. But given Aegis’ experience in the luxury senior living space, Burghartz and Aegis Development President Adam Clark see a path ahead for future expansion.
However, this new growth will be selective in nature, Clark told SHN. As the company looked internally at its leadership structure, Aegis took an 18-month break from pursuing new growth. With regard to new development, Aegis is “actively working” with a municipality within a region where it manages existing communities to build new properties, but the process is expected to take two years for permitting and future community design, Clark said.
“I know people have been trying to drag things along for a long period of time, but now the conversations that we’re having with municipalities and other people in the space have been that we’re ready now,” Clark said. “That’s the exercise we’re doing now: to be prepared for growth and determine what we can take on in the next four or five years.”
In the months and years ahead, Clark said Aegis would maintain a cautious, methodical approach to new growth and be “very calculated” in determining the right markets in which to scale next.
Getting the “foundation right” in terms of leadership and staffing is critical to future growth plans, Burghartz noted. Aegis has improved employee turnover to 46% compared to past years, a figure well below the industry average of 85% across all positions, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC). Aegis communities with turnover of 12% to 14% show how stable community leadership can build trust and belonging among staff and create a culture that translates into strong, hospitality-driven senior living operations, Burghartz said.
Aegis’ leaders are looking inward at the company’s pricing structure, healthcare service model and life enrichment in the name of achieving “unreasonable hospitality,” a term championed by bestselling author Will Guidara in his book Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect.
“It guides everything that we do,” Burghartz said of hospitality-focused senior living operations. “I look at the hard work behind us, and now we can have fun and focus on the details.”
In sales, that means working with the company’s new brand reputation management firm to respond more quickly to feedback from the public and residents. In daily operations, that means evaluating small details like the company’s culinary menu design and finding ways to be “creative enough” in providing luxury senior living blended with hospitality at the core, Burghartz said.
“In 2027, I think we will have more time for focusing on the details now that we have the foundation in place,” Burghartz added.
With senior living mergers and acquisitions remaining hot, Aegis leaders are preparing development pipelines for future communities, with Clark viewing the industry at a “big reflective point” as deal pricing inches higher and the thesis for new development becomes more attractive. Future development will look like the company’s past work, blending unique community design with purpose-built layouts that can accommodate what older adults want today in senior living.
At the same time, there is “a lot of meat on the bone” for future acquisition opportunities, Clark noted, adding that Aegis would continue to be “very selective” in the deals the company might pursue, along with taking a disciplined approach to finding potential new markets to expand into.
“We are not going to take on capital partners that are just going to give us the biggest purse to be able to fuel our growth,” Clark said. “We want to make sure that they have the value alignment of striving toward all those wellness goals that we have in place.”
Aegis is preparing to grow again because the “moment everyone’s been waiting for all these decades is arriving,” with the entrance of the baby boomer generation into senior living, Burghartz said. But this isn’t a time to get complacent, as Aegis and other operators must focus on operations and staffing to meet demand.
“It’s the biggest mistake we could make as an industry, and we need to do the opposite: We need to value the people coming to us to take care of their loved ones, and we must be sure we provide an experience that meets those expectations,” Burghartz said.
Central to providing quality, hospitality-focused senior living are culinary and beverage operations, Burghartz said. At the same time, the company’s work to overhaul technology platforms will help make it easier for frontline teams to make decisions in executing daily operations.
As new technology enters the space, Burghartz sees an opportunity for providers to create “more bespoke” opportunities that inspire joy, belonging and positive resident feedback. Data analysis in life enrichment, care assessments and cognitive health can give providers more insight into their communities to better adapt to the strong demand environment.
“We’re always challenged by Dwayne to be more focused on being a wellness company, not only a senior living company or a healthcare company,” Burghartz said. “This is why we’re making these changes and looking at everything to understand how wellness can be incorporated into everything we do.”
Underpinning the company’s approach to senior living are staff and leadership development. The company’s Elevate program, which takes motivated and talented staff and places them on a track to become future general managers at Aegis properties, must grow to bring in future talent at the top of the organization. Burghartz said he wants to double the number of executives within the staff development program, calling leadership development “the single most important thing that we can do” to preserve culture and maintain stability.
