2 top Brookdale execs to step down

Brookdale Senior Living’s President Mark Ohlendorf and Executive Vice President Kristin Ferge will both step down in the next two weeks, the company announced today. CEO Andy Smith will assume the role of president.

The news is the latest in a series of moves to reorganize the company after a bumpy acquisition of Emeritus Senior Living and 12 months’ worth of declining stock prices (NYSE: BKD).

In late 2014, Brookdale named Labeed Diab as the new COO and Cindy Baier as the new CFO. "As we've worked through the transition process, we have continued to refine our thinking regarding the organizational structure necessary to position us for future growth and success,” Smith said in a company statement. “As a result of that review, we have determined that it is best to move most of the functions currently reporting to Mark and Kristin to the organizations headed by Labeed and Cindy.”

Prior to his appointment as president, Ohlendorf had served as the company’s CFO from 2007 to November 2015, while Ferge had served as Brookdale’s chief accounting officer and executive vice president since 2005.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.