C4: Maximizing the Full Value of Senior Living – Inside & Outside the Walls of the Community
Wednesday, June 17 | 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Target Audience: Finance; Governance & Leadership; Marketing; Operations
Senior living delivers meaningful value each day, yet the industry has historically lacked large-scale, independent data to clearly demonstrate that value to healthcare partners, policymakers, and strategic stakeholders. To address this gap, NIC, in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago, launched The Value of Senior Housing, a landmark research initiative. Across three years, eight national studies compared older adults living in senior housing communities with peers in non-congregate settings. The findings validated that senior living delivers measurable health advantages. The real challenge is how to design and position our industry and communities so that a new generation chooses senior living early enough to fully benefit. In this session, Lisa McCracken, Head of Research and Analytics at NIC, will share the purpose, methodology, and key findings of this national research. The breadth and depth of the data collected across the past decade provides insights into the true impact that senior living operators can have on the health trajectory of the residents, shifting the conversation to prevention and wellness over a sick-care framework. Meredith Oppenheim, Strategic Advisor to the CEO of Springpoint Senior Living, will share insights from a five-year, self-funded virtual community she piloted, Vitality Society, that explored the preferences, expectations, and goals of next-generation consumers. These findings informed VITALS, a next-generation playbook she co-authored and published by American Senior Housing Association (ASHA) in January 2026, designed to prepare organizations to operationalize transformation and prepare for the Boomer generation. Together, the speakers will explore and share examples of how senior living can evolve from an occupancy-driven, real estate based model to a platform model – using hub-and-spoke services, data-driven practices, and healthspan-focused strategies to extend impact inside and beyond the four walls.
NAB/NCERS
Speaker Information
Head of Research and Analytics, National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care
Lisa oversees NIC’s research and analytics team, which develops actionable, data-driven insights on industry challenges and opportunities and showcases practical examples of how organizations nationwide are embracing opportunities to meet the demands of a changing marketplace. Additionally, Lisa oversees a robust research agenda with nationally recognized partners to help the next generation of senior housing and care leaders address evolving and dramatically different consumer preferences and needs. Prior to joining NIC, Lisa served as the Director of Research at Ziegler, a leading investment bank for senior living. Lisa began her career as a research analyst at Holleran, a healthcare and aging services research and consulting firm, where she was successively promoted to become vice president of research, managing partner and ultimately president between 2009 and 2013. She is a nationally recognized thought leader and public speaker and has been the lead researcher on a number of national research studies such as the NIC Investment Guide, the LeadingAge Ziegler 200 and other industry-wide publications. She has worked on research studies in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago, the Milken Institute for the Future of Aging and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies among others.
Founder and CEO; Strategic Advisor to CEO, Vitality Society and Springpoint Senior Living
Meredith Oppenheim brings 25 years of experience in senior housing, working for leading owners, including Ventas, and operators, including Sunrise, to grow multi-billion-dollar portfolios while improving resident experience and health outcomes. She authored A New Look at an Aging Industry and co-authored From Surviving to Thriving: A New Playbook to Reinvent Senior Housing for Residents and Returns – both published by the American Senior Housing Association. Meredith also founded Vitality Societyâ„¢, a virtual community for adults 60+, which has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, ABC, FOX, and NBC. Honored with a U.S. Congressional Award for service to seniors, she serves as an advisor to CEOs and executive teams – including Springpoint Senior Living – on growth across all income levels and frequently speaks at hospitals, universities, and companies on the future of senior housing and care.
