To mark two decades in the senior care industry, Benchmark Senior Living recently embarked on a seven state mission to spread kindness and neighborly love in towns and neighborhoods where the company’s 54 senior living communities are located. For the month of June, residents living near a Benchmark community discovered care packages on their doorstep along with small helpful acts like a newspaper moved closer to their front porch, all with a note commemorating Benchmark’s “Radiant Acts of Kindness.” Employees committed to 1,000 such acts throughout the month. “This is Benchmark’s 20th anniversary year, and we want to give back to the communities and families that have supported our company’s growth since 1997,” Tom Grape, the company’s founder, and CEO said in a statement. “So, every one of our 54 senior living communities across seven Northeast states — and our home office in Waltham, Mass., — has committed to performing at least 20 Radiant Acts of Kindness during June in their local neighborhoods and towns.” Located in Waltham, Mass., Benchmark Senior Living operates 54 senior living communities throughout the Northeast. They offer services ranging from independent living to skilled nursing and memory care. For the last nine years, Benchmark has been recognized by The Boston Globe as one of the “Top 100 Places to Work,” and many of Benchmark’s executive directors and staff embraced the June initiative. Every one of Benchmark’s communities committed to the 1000 Acts, with many taking a creative approach that went beyond gift baskets to include washing cars, providing free tennis balls to neighborhood dogs to handing out random gift certificates. “We can’t wait to share these compassionate acts with West Chester and surrounding areas,” commented Doug Buttner, executive director, Wellington at Hershey’s Mill. “Our employees already have surprises prepared...

A Texan who now makes her home in Toronto, Brittney Dolinger has an exceptional outlook on life – and a great perspective on her Yardi journey. Currently working as a team lead supporting Yardi’s Genesis2 clients, Dolinger started with Yardi more than seven years ago, when the company had an office in Dallas. “I was just in one year remission from cervical cancer,” said Dolinger, who learned about Yardi from her sister, Laci Ortiz, a 10-year Yardi employee. “My sister told me about a new vision Yardi had and was looking for exceptional customer service oriented people to help build their new call center.” After diving into her new job, she began learning the ropes of a new industry and was part of the team who helped build the Yardi Call Center in Irving, Texas. “When we moved from the Dallas office to the Irving office, I took the opportunity to step up my game. We started to have more and more clients and that comes with more responsibility. We were making a name for ourselves and working on delivering top quality customer service to the industry,” she recalled. The call center team, known among Yardi’s global offices for its camaraderie and rapport, quickly expanded and became a valued part of the Yardi Marketing Suite, where multifamily clients use RentCafe Connect to meet their after-hours customer service needs. While use of the product grew, so did the families of many of the call center employees, including Dolinger’s. “Nine of us were pregnant at the same time in the call center. We like to call them our Yardi babies,” she laughed. Her son Finn is now three and a half. After he was born, she went back to college to finish her bachelor’s degree, which...

Team Yardi Toronto recently spent time at The Scott Mission in Toronto, giving back by preparing food for those in need. The Scott Mission has been serving homeless and impoverished Toronto residents since 1941, and has played a major role in helping thousands of people return to safety and stability after living on the street. In addition to meal services, the mission provides nightly shelter for up to 50 homeless men, groceries and clothing for the impoverished, summer camps and childcare, and worship services. The mission’s 100 staff members are joined by 2,500 Toronto community members each year to make these good works possible. On June 20, that included a group of employees from Yardi Canada. “This was a team building experience as well as a very humbling way to give back to the community,” said Lee Anne Lippa, an application solutions consultant from the Toronto office. “It left us with added appreciation for our surroundings of health, family, friends, colleagues, our place to work, home to live in and the food on our table.” The Yardi team, led by senior account executive Shirleen Vieira, participated in food and dessert preparation, setting tables for two lunch servings, and a final clean up. “They serve balanced meals,” Lippa noted. “We had chicken wings, baked potato, hard-boiled egg and salad.  Others that were vegetarian with baked potato, salad, hard-boiled egg, salad and grilled eggplant and zucchini.” They served lunch to the shelter guests – which included people of all ages – with courtesy and respect for those coming to eat, which is a focus of the organization’s Christian values. Drawing from the Yardi corporate values, which include giving back to the community, the Toronto offices encourages other Yardi colleagues globally to give back in similar fashion....

Yardi recently sponsored and participated in an event hosted by the Empire Club of Canada. The panel talk, titled “The Evolution of the Real Estate Industry — Diversity, Culture and the Workplace,” focused on the commercial market. Established in 1903, the Empire Club of Canada is an influential forum for leaders in various industries and cultural organizations. Every generation, but especially Baby Boomers and millennials, has a major impact on various sectors of real estate. The Empire Club panel broadened the discussion to include gender and racial diversity. The hope was to motivate industry leaders to increase the presence and influence of women and minorities in the Canadian real estate industry. The panel included Scott Addison, President, Brokerage Services Canada, Colliers International; Toni Rossi, President, Real Estate Division, Infrastructure Ontario; and Michael Brooks, CEO, Real Property Association of Canada. Serving as moderator was Sheila Botting, National Real Estate Leader in Canada and a partner at Deloitte. Driving Change Botting compared a thriving work culture to an ecosystem. No ecosystem can be homogeneous — diversity is crucial for ongoing growth and survival. “Diversity drives productivity, profitability and better outcomes for everyone involved,” Botting said. Addison commented that the first thing that needs to happen to drive change is awareness. He has personally observed a lack of gender diversity in the brokerage arena. To address this issue,  Colliers set up campus recruiting and other hiring programs led by women to help balance the gender gap. Rossi, representing Infrastructure Ontario, said the organization is fortunate to have a 50/50 gender balance in its leadership.  That has been established thanks to direction by the federal government, especially during the Trudeau administration. Rossi outlined three key things she believes can prompt change: Leadership: set a target (not a quota) for...

The power of online learning for real estate companies is highlighted in a new video featuring Yardi client Roscoe Properties. A multifamily firm in Austin, Texas, Roscoe has drastically reduced staff training time using Yardi’s customizable online learning platform. Mariana Estrada, Vice President of Operations at Roscoe Properties, shares in the video how the multifamily organization has been able to grow with help from Yardi eLearning. Critical trainings at Roscoe Properties would previously take up to four weeks. After implementing Yardi eLearning, staff was able to reduce critical training duration to three days. “eLearning has allowed us to take our training to the next level,” says Estrada. “It has provided us with a scalable training strategy that will take us to the next 10,000 units.” Yardi eLearning facilitates customizable online training that appeals to different learning styles. Students can access courses anywhere there is an Internet connection and review content as needed. Assessment tools empower course moderators to identify students who may need additional support. The results are flexible, effective trainings that save time and resources. “Just in travel alone, we’ve been able to save tens of thousands of dollars,” Estrada says. Roscoe Properties learns on Yardi....

Yardi employees Tom and Larissa Napoli are parents of a two-year-old daughter and work full time in Yardi’s San Diego office, and also manage to find the time to fundraise for worthy causes. Both Tom and Larissa work in support of Yardi’s Smart Energy Suite. Larissa is a team lead and Tom is a senior technical account manager. Outside of work, Tom is the founder of the Free Art Foundation, a San Diego 501(c)3 organization that puts on art-focused events on behalf of organizations in need. Larissa, a talented artist herself, assists him with graphics and marketing. “I had always wanted to start a charity focused on helping artists create art to sell for charitable causes,” Tom said. “When our daughter was born, she had complications and was in the NICU for 10 days. That experience did something to me that pushed me to focus on helping kids out any way that I can.” Born with a hole in her lung, their little girl is now healthy and happy. But the passion for helping children in need remains. With a strong ability to connect with people and companies and create relationships, Tom decided to put those skills and energy to good use in his free time. Previous beneficiaries have included Mama’s Kitchen of San Diego, which provides free food to patients living with AIDS and cancer, and the Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego. This year, the Free Art Foundation is working to benefit StandUp for Kids, an established organization with San Diego roots that assists homeless youth. With the support of San Diego Harley Davidson, Tom arranged for donation of a motorcycle that will be raffled in support of the charity. “Our organization was founded in 1990 by a group of volunteers in...

Each May, the good people of Santa Barbara, Calif. are encouraged to put pedals to the pavement and ride their bikes to work. Yardi’s home office in Goleta is a longtime participant in CycleMAYnia, the regional cycling challenge that encourages people of all ages to get back on their bikes. The event has been ongoing since 2005. “The community benefits through fewer cars on the road and reduced emissions, as well as elevated levels of joy and friendliness amongst neighbors, strangers, and coworkers,” said Lori LaRiva, Traffic Solutions/TDM Program Coordinator for Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. “Employees arrive at work refreshed, they let go of stress at the end of the day, they get a free workout, and they experience the camaraderie of a friendly workplace challenge,” LaRiva said. That’s certainly been the experience at Yardi, which captured the win for the 500 – 999 employee category. Companies are stacked up against each other based on size. Second place category finisher, Mindbody of San Luis Obispo, rode just 25 percent of the miles Yardi team members did. Yardi employees racked up 3,598 miles on bikes during the month of May to earn the win, and 439.5 miles during the week of May 15-19 when the competition tallies were recorded. “Not only did CycleMAYnia encourage employees to bike together, but it also encouraged carpooling for those who live too far to bike the entire way.  We had a new cyclist ride from downtown Santa Barbara every day,” said Kelly Johnson, Yardi event coordinator.  “The farthest biker came from Carpinteria.” LaRiva described some of the widespread benefits of the competition. “Every year, participants say that the Bike Challenge gets them back on their bikes again. For some, it creates a casual routine that will last...

By adopting an electronic health record platform with a centralized database, senior living provider Northbridge Companies lives up to its commitment of providing best quality of care to its residents. When Northbridge companies made the choice to transition from paper documentation to electronic health records, the company’s primary objective involved eliminating redundant tasks and improving staff productivity. As someone on the front lines during the company’s switch to Yardi EHR, Marcia Suddy saw firsthand how swiftly technology can improve the workplace. “One of the biggest changes with electronic records versus paper is that you can lay your hands on information very quickly,” she says. “That reduces the length of time needed to resolve issues and helps us provide the best quality of care to our residents.” Live Well, Love Life Founded in 2006, privately owned senior living provider with 15 communities servicing residents across New England, Northbridge Companies has made providing quality senior care a priority for over a decade. Northbridge Community provides its 850 residents with an environment designed to “encourage freedom, offer lifestyle choices, and provide the necessary services to live life to the fullest.” When Suddy began her nursing studies, she quickly realized she felt a connection to seniors. “While I was earning my administrator’s license and BC certification, I absolutely fell in love with senior care,” she says. “I don’t foresee ever doing anything else.” As Regional Director of Care Services for Northbridge, Suddy feels great satisfaction working for a company she describes as being “passionate about senior care.” “It’s such a relief to work for an organization that truly lives up to the values they advocate,” she says. “It’s not just the president of the company, but the associates, the investors, the families. Everyone is committed to providing the...

When it comes to the senior living industry, one word reigns supreme: community. Whether it’s memory care, assisted living or simply providing the opportunity to live independently, all manner of senior living options pivot on the notion that residents and their families are keen to sustain connections and keep life in the golden years meaningful and nurturing. One key aspect integral to the creation of a senior community is communication, between staff, caregivers, residents and their families. “Communication is one of the biggest challenges we face as an industry,” says Dennis McCarthy, CIO at Superior Residences. “In the senior housing market, you are not just serving the resident, you’re serving the family that cares about them as well, so it’s important to ensure everyone stays connected.” Care, Comfort and Accountability Florida-based Superior Residences exemplifies the multifaceted nature of the senior living industry, with services ranging from independent living to assisted living and memory care. Superior Residences even provides a Day Stay Program designed to give at home caregivers a break by providing resident care for shorter periods of time from a few hours to the whole day. The company’s mission statement, “building trust so that residents, families and our team have peace” demonstrates Superior Residences commitment to creating an atmosphere of care and comfort based on a set of core values including “integrity, service, efficiency and fun.” As one of the company’s founders, McCarthy understands the essential role accountability plays in fulfilling those core values, an accountability made all the easier by the company’s use of Yardi Voyager for Senior Housing. “Billing needs to be as accurate as possible so that you can explain to resident why they are being charged and what services they are being billed for,” he explains. “When you have...

As the senior living industry continues searching for solutions to ongoing workforce shortages and rampant burnout, software solutions like Yardi Voyager can simplify tasks and increase employee satisfaction. Finding and keeping the right employees remains an ongoing challenge for senior living providers. In fact, according to research firm Holleran, after a fairly short “honeymoon period” of one year, worker engagement begins to decline, leading employees to seek out new opportunities and resulting in a 42% average turnover rate for life plan communities. These losses translate into real money: The average cost of turnover per employee can be up to 50% of that employee’s salary, with true turnover costs for registered nursing hovering above $65,000 per employee. “Turnover in our industry’s been pretty high,” admits Angela Kennedy, Senior Accountant for Commonwealth Assisted Living. “Just being able to recruit and retain top talent is challenging.” “Our People Set Us Apart” With a set of core values focused on helping seniors “age with dignity,” Commonwealth Assisted Living operates 23 communities throughout Virginia. Founded in 2002 by Richard J. Brewer, the company values leadership from within and strives to create an atmosphere of teamwork and transparency. As one of the largest providers of independent living, assisted living and memory care in the state, Commonwealth cares for over 1,500 residents. “Our people set us apart from other providers,” says Brewer, “We work hard, and are not afraid to do things differently.” The centralized recordkeeping, customized menus and easy to relevant records available through Yardi Voyager® Senior Housing allows Commonwealth staffers to do their jobs much for effectively, but that’s not the only benefit. According to Angela, the simplified data entry system and streamlined record keeping also help employees feel more engaged by freeing them from mundane, repetitive tasks so they...

Bozzuto Management Company President Stephanie L. Williams was recently recognized by the Washington Business Journal as one of the top 25 minority business leaders in Washington, D.C. One of the co-founders and co-champions of the Bozzuto Diversity and Inclusion program, which strives to cultivate diversity at every level of the company, Williams has strongly held views on how those in the multifamily industry can make their corporate cultures more innovative and strengthen relationships with residents. What do you believe was the greatest factor in your success? Williams: I’ve been at Bozzuto since 2004. I came in as a development associate, having been brought on board as a result of relationships I started in graduate school. I learned early on that building relationships was a key to getting opportunities and to being successful. Once I joined Bozzuto I continued building relationships, demonstrating knowledge of the business and my interest in the industry. And that was evidence I was committed to the company and wanted to grow within the company. I was pretty vocal about saying I wanted to become a leader and also in saying, ‘Help me understand how to do that.’ I supplemented that with relationships outside the company, which allowed me to bring business into the company, whether it was a company we could partner with or build for. I’ve always been a big believer in mentors both inside and outside the company. They have helped me strategically navigate through my career, urging me to take risks and sometimes to show patience. And then just not being afraid to take risks. That separates the good from the great. There were times when I made a decision that wasn’t the right one. But showing the initiative and the willingness to think outside the box...

Two Yardi colleagues on opposite sides of the country are participating in the YSC Tour de Pink cycling stage race this year to raise funds for breast cancer patients. The ride benefits Young Survival Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to providing information, resources and support to young women affected by breast cancer. Both are part of the Global Solutions Investment Management Team, but are at very different stages in their Yardi journey. Susan Freehauf is an 18-year employee of Yardi and a Senior Director in Global Solutions. Marlyn (pronounced Marlene) Amoguis is a new Consultant in the same department who has been with Yardi just one month. Freehauf works remotely from Florida, while Amoguis is based out of the Yardi San Diego office. Both women have similar stories – they joined Yardi after previously working for a real estate company that was a Yardi client, and each has a strong background in fund/financial accounting, database management and software implementation. But one thing they didn’t have in common, until recently, was cycling. Marlyn is an experienced rider, who has been mountain and road cycling for years and participated in last year’s Tour de Pink in California with a group from her San Diego cycling club. But Susan had never bicycled for fitness until Marlyn told her about the Tour de Pink and what a rewarding and fun experience the ride had been when she took part in 2016. Each rider must raise $2500 for the non-profit in order to participate in the 200 mile ride over three days. Shorter distance options are also offered. “Last year I did not know what to expect, and I had a very positive experience. Many of my fellow riders were from the health care industry and were very genuine, caring people....

According to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, one in five Cleveland kids goes hungry on a regular basis. Yardi’s Cleveland office recently teamed up in a friendly competition to do something to help. “Since 2013, we have held a non-perishable food drive and competition each year to contribute to the Food Bank’s Harvest for Hunger campaign,” said Karen Parker, a technical account manager on the Cleveland CSD team. “Each year we have topped our previous effort and raised more than the previous. We started in 2013 with 48 employees and collected 375 pounds of donations. This year we have 70 employees and managed to collect 1,735 pounds.” The theme of the effort is the “Fight Hunger Games,” a concept Parker came up with when the popular book trilogy Hunger Games, now also two films, was wildly popular a few years back. “The office is divided into Districts.  Each District is represented by a Tribute.   And the Fight Hunger Games begin,” Parker explained. “Each District brings in supplies and food donations.  These are counted and become part of the final score. The Tributes participate in a round of games.  The scores are totaled and winners announced.” It’s a fun and friendly competition but can get competitive, said Parker, leading to some spirited games of “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” Other games included Guess Who and Corn Hole. There’s also a potluck food component that everyone in the office can enjoy. “A soup kitchen is created with staff members bringing in various types of soups, dips, salads and desserts.  A donation of two cans of food will get you all the soup you can eat.  And believe me, it was really yummy,” Parker said. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank explains that the donations are badly needed, especially at...

For college students leaving UC Santa Barbara, the pull to stay in Santa Barbara can be strong. With beautiful beaches and mountains, a friendly city with a small town feel, and the chance to participate in all sorts of fun recreational sports, many consider this part of California to be paradise. For Yardi Development Manager Jose Martinez, that was the case when he was about to graduate from UCSB ten years ago. He had the added desire to stay close to his hometown of Oxnard, just 30 minutes south of Santa Barbara. A computer engineering major at UCSB, Martinez didn’t want to give up the chance to build a career with a strong company. He had worked hard as an undergrad to build up his computer programming knowledge, and wanted to put those skills to good use in his first job out of college. At a UCSB Career Fair, he discovered Yardi Systems, a Santa Barbara-based software-as-a-service provider for the real estate industry that was growing fast. Martinez submitted an application, was interviewed, and accepted a position with Yardi’s military housing division, then a new product for the company. “The team was implementing U.S. Army installations onto the software, and mapping data from a non-Yardi database onto Yardi’s platform. I had taken a SQL course in my last year of college because I suspected that was what companies might be looking for. I jumped in and was helping with SQL scripting solutions for military housing clients,” Martinez recalled. Fast forward a decade, and Martinez now heads the programming team for the Specialty Solutions suite, which includes projects for a variety of non-traditional housing markets. He oversees 40 employees, including software engineers, quality assurance specialists and technical writers. A portion of the team is based...

On March 29-30, Yardi hosted the second Yardi Senior Living Forum, focused specifically on the needs of our senior living clients,  in Santa Barbara, Calif. The two-day featured speakers, classes, roundtable discussions, computer lab time and more. In advance of that event, Ray Elliot, vice president of senior living, joined us to share insight on the Yardi Senior Living Suite. An end-to-end solution that tracks senior living residents throughout their housing journey, the suite includes Yardi EHR for health care records, numerous offerings from Yardi’s ancillary product line, and continues to expand. Senior living is a rapidly growing segment of the multifamily housing market, and Yardi is developing new and improved technology offerings that cater specifically to this client base. Read on for insight on the Yardi Senior Living Suite. What is your mission on the senior living team? Elliot: Our mission is to help senior living providers provide better care to their residents through software and technology. We aim to streamline both the property management and care services on a platform that is efficient, mobile and adaptable. What does the Yardi Senior Living Suite look like? Elliot: Our greatest strength s our single solution stack. I do not believe any other vendor can take you from the initial contact that starts the resident relationship, all the way through the resident lifecycle. RENTCafe Senior Living can be used to market the communities. Prospect and mass marketing is done in CRM. From there, our clients manage their communities, health care records, medical care and other resident services from a single database. RentCafe Senior Living augments the resident relationship by allowing the resident and family to make payments online and view care related information. Added together, this level of functionality is unique in the market space. Many other technology providers address just one segment of...

The British retail investment market joins the rest of the United Kingdom’s business community in facing a host of unknowns in 2017.  Chief among them is the timing and impact of the UK’s exit from the European Union following the outcome of the referendum in June 2016. Yardi caught up with one its partners, NewRiver REIT, a specialist retail and leisure investor, asset manager and developer whose convenience-led positioning means it is uniquely placed to navigate these uncertain times. NewRiver’s £1.3 billion portfolio includes 33 community shopping centres, 22 retail parks, 16 high street assets and 350 pubs. The portfolio provides consumers up and down the UK with its daily essentials – those items essential to daily life, the things consumers require, opposed to what they simply desire. Fundamental to the success of the business over the past seven and half years has been how NewRiver has engaged with and satisfied all the stakeholders within its chain, from store customers, retailers, peers, advisors and local authorities all the way to its institutional investors and shareholders. “At the heart of the retail sector is the customer and our business begins with building and retaining consumer loyalty,” says Emma Mackenzie, a Director at NewRiver who manages assets in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north-east of England. “At the local level, we make sure our shopping centres satisfy the needs of the towns they serve. Its about providing a variety of products and services at a price the customer can afford. Furthermore, we work hard to ensure the environment is fit for purpose – and that includes such basic factors as the centre being clean and accessible as well as bright and attractive and providing somewhere to sit down or get a cup of tea.” Brexit has triggered...

Each year, more than 4,000 households rely on the services of Everett Housing Authority (EHA) of Snohomish County, Wa. The new Pivotal Point community reflects the importance of new beginnings for residents as well as for the space that they occupy. Old Site, New Purpose The site of Pivotal Point is the former Oswald US Army Reserve Center. It closed as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) operation. Rather than sitting vacant, construction on Pivotal Point gave the space a new purpose. Fulfilling that new purpose, though, took longer than many anticipated. Financing and permits required the approval of numerous governmental organizations and stakeholders. Ashley Lommers-Johnson, Executive Director at Everett Housing Authority, recalls the challenges. “When you deal with multiple federal agencies, local agencies, the military–it’s just a lot of hands involved in getting all of the funding lined up. That was a significant achievement, getting the funding,” he smiles. In 2014, the property finally reached completion. Pivotal Point now serves as long-term housing for participants in the Domestic Violence Services (DVS) of Snohomish County program. All signs of its military past have been replaced with fresh, modern, and welcoming residential features, in a sense “a conversion from swords into ploughshares,” according to Mr. Lommers-Johnson. A private entryway and a cozy front porch adorn each of the 20 units at Pivotal Point. Shared stairs leading to the second-floor units open to reveal a courtyard speckled with greenery. In the center of the courtyard stands a protected playground. Parents can watch their children play from the covered benches nearby. Back on the main level, residents share a laundry facility. The adjacent meeting rooms are used for private and community gatherings. The project and its design have received national praise. Pivotal Point won the National...