The Aegis Story

Dwayne Clark, founder and CEO of Aegis Living, started his senior housing career at a local senior housing company. He continually thought of new ideas that would benefit the senior communities and decided to hold on to those ideas in a Black Box.

Dwayne moved to the east coast to work for the largest senior housing company in the nation. He kept adding ideas to his Black Box.

After working for that business on the East Coast for a number of years he decided it was time to return to the West Coast. It was then that he met Bill Gallaher, who was developing a property in Petaluma, California.

Bill was a quality home builder and developer. He built the city of Windsor, California. He also owned an adoption agency. He was a very smart man and thought about entering the senior housing industry.

Dwayne and Bill discussed what would make a great company. They raised the financing and Dwayne emptied his Black Box of ideas that then became the business plan of this new company. In July of 1997 Aegis Assisted Living came into being.

Aegis Assisted Living's first community, Aegis of Pleasant Hill, opened in October 1998 and filled to 90% occupancy in 6 months. In 1999, Aegis opened three more communities in northern California and six more in 2000.

In 2001, Aegis opened its first all-Asian community, Aegis Gardens. Two other communities, in Ventura and Carmichael, also opened that year. Four more communities were added in 2002.

2003 was a year filled with firsts. Aegis added seven management contracts to its portfolio. Aegis Assisted Living became Aegis Living to reflect the diversity of product lines: Aegis Assisted Living, Aegis Senior Living (independent retirement communities) and Aegis Senior Inns (communities, in smaller neighborhoods, that were bought and renovated).

It was also the year that Aegis Living became the Best Company to Work For in Washington State. It was also ranked the third fastest growing company in America by INC magazine.

Two more communities were added in 2004 and five more in 2005. In 2006, Aegis Living moved into its new Corporate Office, reflecting the growth of the company. Also in this year, Aegis Living's first Continuing Care Retirement Community opened in Alameda, California, as did their 37th community, Aegis of Redmond.

The Leveraged Buy-Out (LBO) of Bill Gallaher and outside investors was completed in mid-2007. Dwayne Clark became Chairman and CEO and Jerry Meyer was promoted to President and COO.

Future projects in include several CCRCs, including Aegis Living's first Gay and Lesbian community in Santa Rosa, California.