New leader at EPOCH Senior Living

BY PETER KATZ Pkatz@westfairinc.com

aurie Gerber of Newton, Massachusetts, has an extensive and successful corporate career that included stints in the role of CFO. She’s an expert in compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and had been a partner at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. She recently assumed the role of chairperson at EPOCH Senior Living, starting to lead the company following the death of the company’s founder and CEO, her husband Laurence Gerber. He died on March 25 of this year at age 66.

EPOCH currently operates five Waterstone Senior Living communities and 11 memory care and assisted living communities branded Bridges by EPOCH. There is a Waterstone development in White Plains and another in Stamford. There are Bridges by EPOCH facilities in Norwalk and Trumbull. Laurie Gerber committed to visiting all of EPOCH’s locations to get to better know the staffs and physical plants as she carries on her husband’s legacy of providing homes and services that enrich the lives of seniors.

“The loss is obviously tragic and that has been really hard,” Laurie Gerger told the Business Journals while she was visiting the Waterstone on Bloomingdale Road in White Plains. “To continue the business and fulfill my husband’s legacy is the thing that

Gerber said that Laurence had started EPOCH shortly after the two got married and there was a lot of business discussion at the dinner table every night.

“Knowing what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it and what his philosophy was, which was taking good care of the residents and also taking good care of the employees and making sure that it was a great place to work are things that are kind of part of who I am now,” Gerber said, “I’m learning a lot more about the company with the help of a very senior, very experienced management team that’s doing an awesome job.”

Gerber said that she had been at a management meeting a few days before her visit to White Plains at which EPOCH’s position as an “A” player in the senior living field was discussed.

“I don’t want to be anything but the ‘A’ player here. I want to keep the brand very strong, high-quality properties, and make sure we don’t diminish that,” Gerber said. “I’m working sure we hire the best people, we train them the best, that we make sure we put the residents first and we keep our reputation.”

Gerber said that she doesn’t see a so-called glass ceiling for women existing at EPOCH and that with her husband’s passing EPOCH is a women-run company. She points out that she has been a strong supporter of women in business.

“The senior management team is principally women. Most of the executive directors at the buildings are women,” Gerber said. “I’ve been talking to the team about making sure that we develop these people, promote from within and continue to support all the employees, women, men, everybody.”

Gerber forecast a growing need for the type of senior living facilities and opportunities for social interaction for seniors that EPOCH offers.

“As people get older their friend group somewhat dissipates,” Gerber said. “Social interaction has been proven to really lengthen and improve peoples’ quality of life.”

While Gerber said that it is too soon for her to map out long-term plans for the company, she knows generally that she wants to grow the business and create more opportunities for both residents and employees while making EPOCH a wonderful legacy and tribute to her husband.