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The annual Changemakers series, celebrating innovative leaders in the senior living industry, kicks off today. Each conversation published in Senior Housing News (SHN) honors an industry leader who pushes beyond traditional boundaries to reimagine the future of senior living.
As sponsor for the seventh year in a row, Yardi is proud to join SHN in presenting the 2025 class of honorees. Their interviews reveal how these trailblazers got to where they are today and their insights into challenges faced by the industry. Let’s meet the first Changemaker: Laurie Schultz, principal and co-founder of Avenue Development.
Schultz shares her vision for transforming senior living with a healthcare-forward approach to development. Her work is redefining the industry’s identity to better serve the next generation of older adults. That means balancing hospitality with long-term outcomes and care integration.
Read on for a snapshot of the conversation or see the full interview.
Meet Changemaker Laurie Schultz
SHN: In what ways do you think the senior living industry is changing right now?
Schultz: We are facing a generational shift in the entire identity of the industry. While we have unprecedented demand from boomers, the industry does not currently have a product type that resonates with the majority of individuals in this demographic. Today, we have not only an immense opportunity to capitalize on this intensely strong demographic demand, but also, quite honestly, a social obligation to curate a new paradigm of housing for older adults. This also ties squarely to our nation’s needs to address quality and cost issues in our healthcare system. There’s no time like the present to imagine new opportunities to create environments where older adults can thrive.
SHN: In what ways do you think senior living operators need to change for the incoming generation of older adults?
Schultz: Our industry has lived with a hospitality mentality for decades by providing a full-service approach to aging. This manifests itself in properties that showcase the best culinary experience, the most exciting activities, on-demand transportation services, first-class healthcare. When we look at real-world needs of population masses, it’s an impossible scenario to maintain, and it’s bringing our industry to the verge of consumer obsolescence.
Across the industry, senior living providers should ask themselves: Do I want to be a needs-based operator or a wants-based manager? The basis of this question lies in whether or not you want to lean all-in to a higher acuity healthcare model or you want to focus more fully on prevention and socialization. Both are needed, but right now we are trying to be everything to everyone.
SHN: What’s the biggest change you ever made in your career or life? How did it go and what did you learn?
Schultz: Hands down my largest personal and professional change has been co-founding Avenue with my business partner Mike Mattingly. I was 32. As entrepreneurs, we had rose-colored glasses and held closely to the visional aspirations one needs to voluntarily give up a consistent paycheck!
The lessons from my entrepreneurial journey are never ending and I appreciate all of them, especially the difficult ones that make me question my decisions. In many aspects of my life, I have evolved. I’m a stronger, more empathic leader, but also a more guarded person. My core values of integrity and loyalty are unwavering.
There’s more to come
Be sure to explore more Changemaker interviews to come this summer, shared here on The Balance Sheet. Interviews are released in batches and announced as the series progresses.
