NIC’s Strategic Plan includes objectives to ‘expand the tent’ across five key focus areas – Active Adult, AgeTech, Capital for Operations, Middle Market, and Partnering for Health. Focus Area Committees (FACs) were formed to support these efforts. The Active Adult Committee is led by Chair Mitch Brown, Principal of Senior Housing Consulting. I had a chance to talk with Brown and hear his thoughts about this important committee.
Clapp: How did you first get involved with NIC as a volunteer?
Brown: In late 2017, I joined Greystar to help build a dedicated team focused on Active Adult development and operations. NIC leadership reached out to me in mid-2021 to provide input to the strategic planning committee about the place for Active Adult in NIC’s array of events and services including conference content, research, and NIC MAP Vision data. This led to me joining NIC’s Fall Conference Planning Committee and several well attended sessions on Active Adult. When the FAC (Focus Area Committee) concept emerged from the new Strategic Plan, I was asked to help form and lead the initial committee. We had our kickoff meeting in Annapolis, MD, in May.
Clapp: You are the chair of the Active Adult Focus Area Committee. Can you tell us about the composition of the committee?
Brown: Our committee members are a diverse mix of investors, operators, developers and advisors. Several are “pioneers” of the segment including the founders of companies such as Clover Group, Avenida Partners, and Sparrow Partners, as well as our co-Chair, Jane Arthur Roslovic with Treplus Communities. We also have representatives from The Carlyle Group and Greystar who collectively own, manage, and/or operate the largest portfolios of Active Adult. We brought in expert researchers from conventional multifamily and “for sale” 55+ housing to get ideas and insights from these related segments.
Clapp: Why do you think it is important for NIC to focus on Active Adult?
Brown: For several years I served as Chair of the ULI Senior Housing Council and among our most active members were Beth Mace and Chuck Harry, both former NIC senior staff members. We all felt that Active Adult was a segment of senior housing that would emerge as an important new option for the millions of Baby Boomers who would soon be entering their early seventies and thinking about different lifestyle options. As the premier conference and data source for senior housing in the U.S., it is incumbent on NIC to provide the transparency and research for this new segment much as it did for Assisted Living as it emerged in the mid- to late-1990s.
Clapp: What does the Active Adult Focus Area Committee aim to accomplish in the next year?
Brown: Our mission is to provide input and guidance on Active Adult-related conference sessions, research, and learning opportunities whether through NIC Academy, webinars, or other formats. We are working on two sessions for the Fall Conference that will focus on challenges with scale as the growth of the segment continues to ramp up as well as a workshop on analytics for the 2025 NIC Data and Analytics Conference and a panel on Active Adult’s opportunity to enhance wellness and longevity for a younger cohort. We also have plans for research including an updated white paper, more great case studies, webinars – including one this September, and Boot Camps around future conferences. And an Active Adult specialty course will be available soon through NIC Academy.
Register now for the NIC Active Adult Market Update webinar being held September 4, 2024, at 2:00pm ET. Join Mitch, Greystar’s Adam Cohan, Kimberly Byrum of Zonda, plus NIC’s Lisa McCracken and Caroline Clapp for the latest data and insights on Active Adult.