Executive Staff

Dwayne Clark, CEO and Chairman

Dwayne J. Clark is the founder and chief executive officer of AegisLiving. With 23 years of senior housing experience, Dwayne is nationally known for the quality of projects he manages as well as his innovative flare. He has been involved in the development, construction and or management of over 200 senior housing projects.

Dwayne was raised from humble beginnings by a single mom who gave him his greatest gift, the confidence that he could do anything. Those early years of Dwayne's life led him to a tireless pursuit of running a company in a different way, with staff satisfaction being a driving force. His success in creating an outstanding company culture has been chronicled in many publications. This passion prompted him to write a book, Help Wanted: Recruiting, Hiring and Retaining Exceptional Staff. The book has been used for course curriculum in many leading Universities. Dwayne is currently writing a second book about his mom and her journey with Alzheimer's called "My Mother, My Son", due out next spring.

When Dwayne co-founded Aegis with developer Bill Gallaher, his mission was to redefine an industry that had great potential but was failing in execution. He studied business models from companies known for world-class innovation, all based in Seattle, Costco, Nordstrom and Starbucks. With the knowledge gained from these companies he grew Aegis from a dream to a company that has nearly $2 billion in real estate assets, over $200 million in operating revenues, over 2,000 staff and is one of the most sought after operators in the country.

Prior to forming Aegis, Dwayne was executive vice president of Sunrise Senior Living and prior to Sunrise, he spent 7 years with LeisureCare.

Dwayne has been honored in numerous ways for his contribution to business as well as senior housing. Aegis Living has been voted "best company to work for" over the last seven years by Washington CEO magazine. Dwayne Clark was named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007, he was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Senior Services, and has recently been honored with an Aging program at Bastyr University named the Dwayne J. Clark Healthy Aging Program. Aegis was also honored by the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce as Eastside Business of the Year in 2006.

Dwayne has been involved in many philanthropic ventures, including his own not-for-profit organization, the Potato Soup Foundation, which serves the needs of Aegis line staff and their families during times of crisis. He has also served on the boards of Seattle-based Rainier Scholars and the 5th Avenue Theater, as well as the Young Presidents Organization where he served as Chairman of the Northwest Chapter.

Dwayne is married to Terese who owns a nurse consulting practice and runs a luxury day spa known as Spa Agio. He has two successful children, Adam who works for Aegis Living as Director of Revenue and Ashley who is CEO of Callahan Concierge. Adam is married to Lyvia and they have a son Andre.

David Ford, Vice Chairman

David Ford is the Vice Chairman of Aegis Senior Communities.

He is an advisor to, and investor in, businesses ranging from start-ups to privately-held industry leaders, and is a director of Protex Technologies, Inc., a provider of explosion-suppression technologies to the federal government and private industry.

David has also served as the COO and General Counsel of a government-contracting firm that provided IT consulting services to defense and other federal agencies. For the first two decades of his professional life, David was an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare, technology and government-contracting industries. He is a member of the Executive Board of the American Seniors Housing Association and the Advisory Board of the National Investment Conference for Seniors Housing, and is a founder of Kalorama Village, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to helping seniors "age in place." He is a graduate of Rollins College and the University of Virginia School of Law and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Jerry Meyer, President and Chief Operating Officer

Jerry Meyer is the President and Chief Operating Officer of AegisLiving and is responsible for operations of Aegis communities.

Prior to joining Aegis Living, Jerry was the President and CEO of SunBridge, Inc., a senior housing company. During his tenure, he successfully secured more than $200 million in new construction project financing. He was responsible for developing the business plans, pro forma and budget for a 42-building rollout. Prior to his work at SunBridge, Jerry was the Vice President and CEO for the Assisted Living Division of Manor Care, Inc., where he grew revenues from zero to $60 million in only two years.

Jerry was also CEO of the Senior Living Division of Advantage Health Management Corporation, where he was concurrently responsible for successfully forming the company's hotel properties. His hospitality industry experience includes work for Doubletree as well as ownership and management of restaurants in Missouri and Connecticut.

Brian Poggi, Chief Marketing Officer

As Chief Marketing Officer, Brian Poggi leads all marketing and sales efforts for communities in Washington, California and Nevada.

Prior to joining AegisLiving, Brian D. Poggi was President of GE Security Commercial Solutions, a $300 million, 500-employee business unit and subsidiary of the General Electric Corporation. The Commercial Solutions Group developed and supported products for GE Security's worldwide markets in the fire, access, intrusion and video surveillance segments. During Brian's tenure the Commercial Solutions Group lead the company in new product introductions and market share growth.

Brian previously served as President and CEO of LifeClips, a venture-backed leading provider of analog-to-digital home-video services that he built from the ground up. Prior to founding LifeClips, Brian was Senior Vice President and General Manager of North America for Polaroid, where he directed a $1.1 billion business unit. He is credited with repositioning the brand to a younger market through the development of multiple new product platforms. During his 20-year tenure with Polaroid, Brian also ran the company's European operations and held other international and domestic senior-level positions. Brian joined Polaroid, following his initial sales and marketing career with Procter and Gamble.

John Spaid, Chief Financial Officer

John Spaid is the Chief Financial Officer for AegisLiving. In his role, he will spearhead all financial management and planning responsibilities for Aegis.

John joined the company in January 2008. John's business and financial experience spans 25 years and highlights an impressive history of fiscal planning and management expertise. As partner and Senior Project Manager of Americana Enterprises, John developed and managed all facets of a seven hundred home residential development and water & wastewater utility corporation. He also served as Finance Administrator during his tenure at First Martin Corporation. While there, he developed prospectuses to raise capital for the company and negotiated financial commitments. As Chief Financial Officer for LandEquities Corporation he created pro-forma financial models for the company's real estate transactions including new investment analysis, portfolio cash flows, financings, asset divestitures, lease transactions and construction projects. Most recently he worked as an independent consultant with a number of real estate companies where he established, negotiated and closed financial transactions while serving as interim CFO in many cases.

Rick Karnofski, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources

Rick Karnofski is the Sr. Vice President, Human Resources at Aegis Living and his department is responsible for recruiting, employee relations, benefits, compensation, workers compensation and risk management for all Aegis communities.

Rick joined Aegis in January 2005 and brings 25 years in Human Resources with diverse experience in companies in the medical device field, telecommunications, high tech and pharmaceutical industries.

Rick started in the recruiting industry working with Fortune 500 companies that wanted to attract top level management talent to their team. He then went to Physio Control Corporation who was the world leader in the manufacturer of heart defibrillators and for 3 years in a row was named as one of the Top 100 Companies to work for in the country. He assumed management roles as the Director of Recruiting and Director of Training and Development and had a significant role in creating the culture of being one of the most respected companies in the U.S. in the 14 years he was there.

Rick went on to develop the Human Resources Department from the ground up at a company called NeoPath whose technology was instrumental in developing an automated process to detect cervical cancer. In the 5 years that he was there he was part of the Sr. Management Team that took the company to a level where it developed extreme interest from other companies and was ultimately purchased in 1995.

He was also part of the Sr. Management Teams at a start-up company called nLight Photonics, Microvision which was developing retinal scanning displays and Nastech Pharmaceutical whose technology targeted drug delivery barriers and developed innovative means to effectively treat obesity and cancer. He was instrumental in developing their cultural identities and the HR practices necessary to assist in their development to become successful companies.

Rick has always been a strong proponent of building a company around people who are competent and passionate about what they do coupled with a company who provides a great culture, vision and resources so every employee and the company have the potential to do great things.