Senior living leader, Deidre Kinsey, has worked her way across the United States and up the ladder of success. She currently oversees a network of senior living communities in Texas, as the CEO of Brazos Presbyterian Homes. But her path to get there has been long and winding.
Growing up, Kinsey was very close to her grandparents. When, as an undergrad, she discovered she could specialize in senior living, Kinsey knew that’s what she wanted to do. She graduated in 1994 from Ohio University with a major in Health Care Administration.
Since graduating, she’s held a variety of positions in senior living communities in Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Missouri, Alabama, Nebraska, Oregon and California. In many of these positions, Kinsey has been a fixer, brought in to turn troubled communities around.
Kinsey says, “What helped me become an effective leader in these community turnarounds and now as CEO is the continued focus on the basic aspects of operating a retirement community. These concepts aren’t complicated, but you need to know them really well.” Leadership skills have been important too. Kinsey has learned how to move people from being good at what they do to being great at what they do.
So why would an experienced senior living CEO head back to graduate school?
Master’s program offers value to senior living executives
Kinsey recently earned her Master of Arts in Senior Living Hospitality (MASLH) at USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She says the program reminded her of why she got into this business in the first place. It’s rekindled her fire to learn and grow.
MASLH classes dive deep into topics that current leaders should think about, like preparing for the baby boomers. The baby boom generation was born between 1946 and 1964. The number of boomers entering senior living is increasing rapidly. Kinsey knows she must be prepared to meet their unique needs.
USC professors also offer an academic perspective of not only nursing homes and retirement communities, but the larger topic of gerontology. Kinsey says, “I never thought I’d go back to school in my late 40s, but it’s always something I wanted to do. This program has opened my eyes even wider to the growing population of seniors and how our society must change to better serve them.”
Solving problems in senior living
The MASLH program equips students with the skills to recognize problems in senior living and solve them.
One of Kinsey’s greatest challenges is her workforce. A favorite class, Current Issues in Aging Services taught by professor Jim Biggs, inspired her to think about new ways to supplement staffing and led her to bring robots to Longhorn Village, a Brazos community in Austin where Kinsey served as CEO for a dozen years before her recent promotion. As a result, Kinsey says, Longhorn Village was one of the first senior living communities to bring in robots to assist with food service in the dining room, where they deliver food to residents. “Robots don’t necessarily always replace staff, but they can make them more efficient. They also create a fun and innovative environment for staff and residents,” Kinsey says.
Another challenge Kinsey faces is maintaining and growing occupancy during the pandemic. Several of her courses at USC and Cornell University (MASLH students can also earn a Certificate in Hospitality Management from Cornell as part of the program) focused on branding and marketing. Kinsey says, “Due to COVID-19, the community was not always able to meet with potential residents face-to-face. So, the community identified other ways to create personal connections through virtual visits and social media and web content.”
The Cornell curriculum brought a relevant perspective to augment her USC courses. Kinsey says, “Cornell’s short online courses have made connections between senior living, hospitality and housing that have been very helpful.”
Maintaining a work-life balance
Kinsey started the MASLH program in 2019. As a CEO, single mom and graduate student, she balanced multiple demands on her time and energy, which especially hard due to COVID-19. Kinsey managed by taking one class at a time. Often, she listened to lectures while her daughter was at volleyball practice.
Kinsey’s daughter is 18 and loves the residents of Longhorn Village, “My daughter grew up in this environment. It was hard during the pandemic because she couldn’t visit. But because of the staffing shortages, she even started to work there,” Kinsey says.
One thing that drives Kinsey is her love for her work. She says, “I’m very close to the people I serve, and I see how we impact their lives. I also love the different facets of my job. Whether I’m working on finances, housekeeping, maintenance, programming, marketing, compliance or interacting with staff and residents, I’m never bored and always challenged.”
Kinsey is grateful to have grown in the profession she loves. She’s been a nursing and assisted living administrator, executive director and a CEO in nonprofit and for-profit senior living communities. She hopes to one day leverage her experience and education to give back to others working their way up the senior living field. “I’ve had great opportunities to learn from so many people along the way. I love sharing my knowledge and experiences to help develop others. I want to see them make a difference in the lives of older adults and senior living.”
To learn more about the Master of Arts in Senior Living Hospitality degree program at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, call us at (213) 740-5156.
