✨ Governance of CCRC/LifePlan Community

Ron Slivka's essay presents quite a thorough and reasonable discussion of all the reasons CCRCS and their residents are best served by keeping the nominating process free of Board influence and participation. Here is how this is handled at Panorama.

When there is a vacancy, the Resident Council president appoints a nominating committee consisting of three residents. There are residency and service requirements for a resident to be nominated to serve on the Board. The committee submits up to three names to the Resident Council President, the Chief Executive Officer, and the President. Those three select up to three candidates to submit to the Board. The Board chooses at least one to serve on the Board. There is at least one resident Board member and there are two "when having two representatives does not exceed thirty-three and a third (33 1/3%) percent of the total number of Directors at any one time."

In this way it seems that we are fairly free from Board influence in selecting resident representatives.

Ron Slivka brings an unusual and valuable perspective to CCRC governance. He served as a corporate board member before later becoming a resident, giving him firsthand experience on both sides of the resident–board relationship. In this essay, written for publication by NaCCRA, he examines whether a resident Nominating Committee should remain fully independent of the board whose future membership it helps shape.

Ron argues that even one board member on a Nominating Committee can create conflicts of interest, affect candid discussion, and erode trust in the nomination process. Whether you agree fully, partly, or not at all, the essay raises important questions about fairness, transparency, and resident confidence in governance.

Please read the essay and join the discussion. How should CCRCs protect the independence of resident nomination processes? What safeguards have worked in your community?

This draws on Ron Slivka’s essay, which frames complete Nominating Committee independence as a best practice because board participation may create structural, power-based, loyalty, confidentiality, perception, and future-benefit conflicts.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member & VP

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