Benchmark Founder Participates in Panel Presentations at USC and NIC Conferences

Tom Grape Lends Senior Living Thought Leadership to Conference and Course

Senior living panel speakers

Benchmark, a human connection company and leading provider of senior living services in the Northeast, today announced that its founder, chairman and CEO, Tom Grape, recently participated in two important industry events as a panelist, speaker and senior living thought leader.

On February 21 at the National Investment Center’s (NIC) spring conference, Grape shared his over 30 years of healthcare human capital expertise during Retain, Recruit and Profit with a Top of License Workforce alongside Betty Jo Rocchio, system chief nursing optimization officer for Mercy. Grape conveyed the importance for all healthcare employers to shore-up their recruitment and retention efforts because of increasing competition from, not just healthcare, but all employers. He spoke to a number of initiatives presently underway at Benchmark, including new compensation and organizational structures, reinvigorated organizational score cards and more authentic service standards. He recounted the increasing number of past associates who have returned to Benchmark—360 in 2018.

Then, on February 23 at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology’s 5TH Annual Senior Living Executive Course, Grape lent his insight to Vision for the Future moderated by Enlivant CEO, Jack Callison.

Since founding Benchmark 22 years ago, Grape has grown the company to 6,400 associates, now the largest senior housing company in the Northeast, and has earned a number of workplace accolades. In 2018, Benchmark was chosen by FORTUNE magazine for its inaugural 2018 Best Workplaces for Aging Services list and has been named to The Boston Globe’s Top Places to Work list for 11 years, every year it’s been published.

Tom is a founding board member and former chair of Argentum, the nation’s largest senior living association, as well as founder and past chairman of its state affiliate, the Massachusetts Assisted Living Association. In 1994, Tom was instrumental, along with then Secretary of Health and Human Services and now Governor, Charlie Baker, in writing the legislation for assisted living in Massachusetts. And in 2017, Baker tapped him to serve on the first Governor’s Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts.

About Benchmark
Based in Waltham, Mass., Benchmark is a leading provider of senior housing in the Northeast with 6,400 associates and 58 communities. Founded in 1997 by Tom Grape, Benchmark offers independent living, assisted living, Alzheimer’s care and skilled nursing in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. The organization was selected by FORTUNE magazine for its inaugural 2018 Best Workplaces for Aging Services list, taking the number 16 spot on the list of top 40 aging services companies and ranking number three among companies with more than 40 communities. Benchmark is one of only six companies named to The Boston Globe Top Places to Work list every year of the 11 years it has been published. And it has been consistently recognized by Boston Business Journal, Hartford Courant and Hartford Business Journal as a top workplace, and by the Boston Business Journal, Providence Business News and Hartford Business Journal as one of the healthiest employers. Click here for more information.

Press Contact: Carol Arnold, Arnold Communications, carol@arnoldcomm.com, (603) 502-0469.