Page 30 - BusinessWest January 6, 2025

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Learning Experience
Glenmeadow President, CEO Reflects on First Year in Senior Living
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
Kathy Martin had built an impressive career on higher education — first as a teacher, then as an administrator, most recently as assistant provost for Accreditation and Administration at UMass Amherst — when she saw an opportunity to make a sharp turn. And she took it.
“It was the right time for me to think about trying something else,” said Martin, who had been serving on the board of Glenmeadow, a senior-living community in Longmeadow, when the position of president and CEO opened up there in 2023. “Glenmeadow’s timeline for its presidential search coincided with my timeline for seeking a new opportunity because the provost I was working with at UMass got a new job, so she was leaving UMass anyway. So it was just an
opportunity of timing.”
Her role on the board had been a great introduction to that venerable (as in
140-year-old) community, and to senior living in general.
“I was at a point professionally where I needed to make a decision about what
I wanted to do. Did I want to continue to pursue a presidency in higher education, or did I want to try something else?” she told BusinessWest.
The shift — she’s been on the job 15 months now — has been dramatic in some ways, but rewarding as well.
“This is a new language for me in many ways, but I love learning new things. This was an opportunity for me to take on the challenge of learning and leading in a new sector. And there are more overlaps between higher ed and senior living than you might think,” Martin continued. “Some of the challenges and opportuni- ties are the same, and leadership is leadership, but I have really enjoyed the pivot from working primarily with college students to working with seniors. It’s been a wonderful shift of perspective.”
It has also been a process of learning about the day-to-day operations and everything the frontline staff and the leadership team do to keep a 24/7 operation working efficiently, she added.
“We think of it from our residents’ perspective first. What do they need? What are they interested in? What would make their Glenmeadow experience every- thing that they’ve always wanted it to be? And then there are all of the behind-the- scenes, operational decisions that we’re making; we’re looking at things like how reliant are we on paper processes, and can we move more things to the cloud,
Glenmeadow President and CEO Kathy Martin
30 JANUARY 6, 2025
MONTHLY FEATURE
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