Leadership Team

Dwayne J. Clark is the Chairman, CEO, and founder of Aegis Living. With nearly 40 years of senior living experience, Clark is nationally known for redefining the industry—from innovative care models and building design to novel approaches to employee engagement and creating an employee-centric culture.

When Clark founded Aegis Living in 1997, he recognized an industry that had great potential and intentions but was ultimately failing older adults. He coupled his personal experience with best practices from world-class companies such as Costco, Nordstrom, and Starbucks to create a new model for senior assisted living centered on helping residents live life to the fullest. He grew Aegis Living from a concept to a company that now has 36 communities along the west coast, serving 2,500 residents and employing 2,500 staff, with several additional properties currently in development.

Aegis Living has been widely recognized with industry accolades such as: U.S. News and World Report Best Senior Living, Fortune Best Workplaces in Aging Services™, Best Assisted Living by Seattle Business Magazine, Top Corporate Philanthropist by Puget Sound Business Journal, Top 50 Best Places to Work by Glassdoor, among others. Under Clark’s leadership, Aegis Living set new standards for senior living during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues trailblazing new territory today, including sustainable senior living.

Prior to forming Aegis Living, Clark worked in several major senior living companies. He has developed more than 250 senior living properties and continues to serve on several industry boards. Clark was named in the “Power 100” people in the Puget Sound region and Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. He also received King County’s highest honor as Man of the Year and the Mission Award from Bastyr University, among others.

Clark has long been a pioneer in the fields of wellness and longevity, having overseen the care of more than 60,000 seniors. With his wife Terese, he has traveled to over 84 countries exploring different healing modalities—from working with doctors and alternative health specialists, to engaging in mind, body, and spirit practices. These discoveries inspired his book and Amazon Best Seller 30 Summers More, which provides longevity and health tips.

An experienced author, Clark has also written two books that chronicle his mother and her journey with Alzheimer’s, My Mother, My Son and Saturdays with GG as well as A Big Life, a combination book/game to inspire families to connect and reflect on the powerful wisdom of older generations. My Mother, My Son is currently being considered as a major feature film.

He is the founder of True Productions and produced multiple documentaries, including one about NBA legend Spencer Haywood, Full Court: The Spencer Haywood Story. His first play, Seven Ways to Get There, premiered at Seattle’s ACT Theatre. Since 2015, True Productions has been involved in the making of 13 documentary films.

Clark comes from humble beginnings and has remained dedicated to helping others throughout his life. He supports more than 70 local and global charities and has founded five of his own including: The Potato Soup Foundation, The Clark Family Foundation, The March for Civility, D-ONE Foundation, and Queen Bee. Queen Bee, a coffee shop with multiple locations in the Puget Sound, was created as a tribute to Clark’s mother and all the proceeds go to charity. Clark is Chairman of the D-ONE Foundation, a mentorship program for Division 1 athletes. Clark also mentors several NFL players. He led the March for Civility in Washington, DC, where he had the honor of speaking on the steps of the Lincoln Monument. He is also involved in Pope Francis’ private foundation, The Galileo Foundation, aiming to end child slavery. In October 2022, he spoke at the Vatican Faith and Philanthropy Summit alongside other renowned business and world leaders.

He has two children, Adam and Ashley, who both work for Aegis Living, and nine grandchildren. More information can be found at www.dwaynejclark.com.

Sandra Preyale is President of Aegis Living. In her role, she drives enterprise growth through program innovation in aging and care, defines the roadmap for new properties in development, and leads transformational initiatives to differentiate and nurture Aegis culture.

Previously, Sandra served as Aegis’s Chief People Officer (CPO) for four years, overseeing innovative recruitment and retention strategies to sustain Aegis Living’s hallmark “employee-first” culture. As CPO, she created a centralized recruiting team to maintain below-average industry turnover and was instrumental in helping leadership navigate the pandemic.

Sandra has more than 30 years’ experience as a global human resources (HR) leader with a true passion for developing people. She has led people strategies to accompany business transformation at Amazon, LVMH, L’Oréal, and Coach, giving her a unique perspective in creating outstanding teams in dynamic environments. As a Vice President of HR with Amazon Marketplace, Sandra oversaw seven business groups and 75 global HR partners and was responsible for defining and implementing HR strategy as well as re-engineering the HR organization across global regions. While at Coach, she built human resources teams in Asia, Europe, and New York, leading change management projects that included recreating regional structures, simplifying organizational hierarchies, developing a new regional buying model, and overhauling back-office outsourcing.

Sandra has lived and worked internationally for earlier leadership positions with the LVMH Group, a multinational luxury goods conglomerate, and Danone Group, rounding out her organizational and people management business experience.

Sandra holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology from University College Dublin, a master’s degree in clinical psychology from University of Paris V, and an executive certificate in leadership coaching from Georgetown University.

Adam Clark is President of Aegis Development LLC. Based on a foundation of award-winning developments, Aegis Development LLC was created to pursue future site development for Aegis Living operations and to leverage our distinct strengths in this area more broadly in the industry. Adam leads the newest endeavor to push Aegis Living forward in innovation and sustainability with our future communities while cementing our position as thought leaders in the industry with a new consulting arm.

Adam started his career at Microsoft, working on MSN Advertising as an early pioneer in SEM, and leading MSN France and MSN Entertainment. He joined Aegis Living in September 2003, and has worn many hats since then, working in care at the Kirkland community before serving as General Manager at Northgate, Callahan House, Shoreline, and Redmond. He later moved to the Aegis Living Home Office as Director of Financial Analysis before returning to the field as General Manager of Bothell and then opening the Marymoor community. With his extensive experience in the communities and corporate operations, Adam was promoted to Vice President of Growth Strategies over Aegis Living technologies.

Adam and his wife stay busy with five children but manage to schedule time to enjoy their passion for travel, particularly to their favorite destination, France. He is also a huge Seattle sports fan and whether you’re at a Husky, Kraken, Mariners, Seahawks, Storm, or Sounders game you’ll often see him on the sidelines.

As Chief Financial Officer, Ben leads all financial facets of Aegis Living’s operations, with strategic oversight of corporate accounting, finance, tax, capital planning, and banking. Since joining Aegis Living in 2017, Ben has successfully led the financial efforts for seven new community developments and was instrumental in developing a strategic joint venture with Blue Moon.
Prior to Aegis, Ben worked for a number of regional and global investment firms, focused on alternative investments and real estate. He started his career at a global hedge fund that was eventually acquired by BlackRock.

Ben has a bachelor’s degree from Gonzaga University in Finance and Marketing and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.

Derek joined Aegis Living as Chief People Officer in 2023 and is responsible for carrying an important legacy into the future. When Dwayne Clark founded Aegis in 1997, he set out to create a people-first culture where team members and residents thrive. Aegis has never lost sight of this vision, and has been voted a great workplace more than a dozen times—from the Top 50 Best Places to Work by Glassdoor to Great Place to Work® certification and recognition on the Fortune Best Workplaces in Aging Services list. As Chief People Officer, Derek champions our mission and culture, and leads talent acquisition, retention, and development of our big-hearted and innovative team.

Derek has decades of experience leading HR teams across a range of industries. Prior to Aegis, he spent 11 years as Chief Human Resources Officer at Blue Nile, transforming the HR function from an administrative operation to a strategic business partner focused on attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional talent. Prior to Blue Nile, Derek led Human Resources at Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Wireless Advocates, and Car Toys. He also spent nine years at Linens 'n Things, overseeing HR for more than 300 stores.

Karen is Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing and a veteran of the senior living industry. From 2004 to 2008 she served as Aegis Living’s Vice President of Strategic Marketing, rebranding, developing innovative marketing programs, and leading sales, operations, and marketing planning for 10 new community openings. She then spent 15 years in other sectors of the senior living industry, founding a senior care startup and serving as Vice President of Market Strategy at a large, national senior living provider. She dedicated seven years to affordable senior housing, first as Chief Operating Officer at the Senior Housing Assistance Group Foundation (SHAG), which operates 30 independent senior living communities in the Puget Sound Region, and most recently as Executive Director at CIRC, a Transforming Age business unit focused on affordable housing and services, serving 7,500 residents. She returned home to Aegis in 2023.

Prior to falling in love with the senior living industry at Aegis, Karen worked in marketing and business development roles for a number of well-known consumer packaged goods brands, including Odwalla, Starbucks, and Chiquita. Karen is known for her contagious energy that builds trust, motivates teams, and fosters genuine partnership.

As SVP of Wellbeing, Chris leads Aegis Living’s resident experience. Life Enrichment encompasses entertainment, special events, outings, and daily mind, body, and spiritual programming. Chris reinvented the Life Enrichment department to create the most innovative and comprehensive program in the industry, concentrating on hiring the right talent and tailoring programming to Aegis Living residents’ specific needs.

Chris began his career as an elementary school teacher, learning the importance of engagement. He pivoted to the number one luxury cruise line in the world, rising from manager to vice president of entertainment.

Chris holds a B.A. in education from the University of Victoria, Canada. He also obtained a Minor from the University of British Columbia in economics. Chris became a Certified Dementia Trainer in 2017 and is currently expanding his dementia education to continue to refine the Life Enrichment program to provide the best engagement for residents with cognitive impairment.

In his role as General Counsel, Steve oversees the company’s legal work, including managing the legal aspects of acquisitions, development, financing, employment, litigation, and contracts.

Prior to joining Aegis Living, Steve worked at Eddie Bauer, where he served as Division General Counsel. In this role, he drove strategic planning, set company policies, advised on employment issues, managed corporate compliance and sustainability programs, and negotiated a wide range of contracts, including procurement, real estate, licensing, consulting, and marketing contracts. Steve also worked at Hitachi, Nintendo, and Schneider Electric USA.

Steve is a proud three-time alumnus of the University of Illinois, with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering, a law degree, and an MBA.