Since 1994…
We’ve been committed to helping elders take their lives back by:- Reframing how we see aging
- Reimagining care as we know it
- Eliminating loneliness, helplessness, and boredom
- Revolutionizing how we support people living with changing abilities
- Delivering transformative education and consultation
To improve the well-being of Elders and their care partners by transforming the communities in which they live and work.
Then.
Founded by award-winning geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas and his partner Jude Thomas, The Eden Alternative® began as a grant-funded project in a single nursing home.
Now.
Today, we are a global, 501c3 non-profit organization that impacts hundreds of thousands of people across 22 countries and transforms caring relationships throughout all care settings and services.
We get results.
Greater well-being
Lower employee turnover
Higher performance
Greater reduction in harmful drug use
Significant positive impact
and overall well-being.
Our Team
Kris joined the Eden Alternative Home Office Team in November of 2018. As Community Builder, she consults with and supports organizations with implementation, creates resources, develops educational tools and materials, and supports networking opportunities between individuals and organizations. Kris also invites new organizations to join the Eden Registry. She is also an Eden Educator and Empowered Teams Educator who has had the pleasure of teaching over a thousand change agents. Kris loves spending time with her husband, Chris, and their four-legged family, Kelli Jean, Loki, Gigi, & Minerva is near and dear to her heart.
Kristie joined the Eden Alternative in January 2024 as the Membership Support Specialist, collaborating on expanding our member base and enhancing the services, features and resources that we offer to our members. She has been in the “people business” throughout her entire career.
Kristie had always looked up to her grandmother, her Memaw, a Registered Nurse with a passion for making a difference. She was drawn to The Eden Alternative by their desire to change how we see aging and the stance that no matter what walk of life you’re from, you have the right to a life full of purpose and connection.
Kristie spends her free time with her husband, Darin, their four kids, two dogs and cat. She’s very excited to be a part of such an inspirational team that wants to empower those partnering in the care of our world’s elders.
Emily joined the Eden Alternative Home Office Team in July 2023 as a Community Builder. She has her bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation from York College of PA and her master’s degree in Long Term Care Administration from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and Certified Dementia Practitioner with 25 years of long-term care experience. Emily has been an adjunct faculty member at York College of PA since 2006. She has been committed to culture change since her first exposure to the Eden Alternative philosophy in 1999. Emily lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children. Her simple pleasures are coffee, Def Leppard, and anything outdoors!
Evy is a retired nurse (RN) and has specialized in the field of Gerontology since 1976, in Toronto, Ontario, and Denver, Colorado. She was an Innovation Specialist (Culture Change) at Pinon Management and Vivage Quality Health Partners in Colorado and has been employed in varying roles as a consultant and educator since 1974. She is a recognized Therapeutic Touch teacher and has been studying complementary therapies and integrative healing since 1975. She was also a Green House Educator and is co-author of The Eden Alternative’s Empowered Teams training to develop self-directed work teams, and co-author of a Complementary Therapies Curriculum for long-term care. She was a Certified Validation Teacher and a Certified Second Winds Virtual Dementia Tour trainer. Evy is presently an Eden Educator, Mentor, and Community Builder.
Michelle has worked in the field of long-term care since 1995 and has experience in skilled nursing homes, assisted living centers, and ICF-IDD campuses in Mississippi, Tennessee Louisiana, and Texas. She has a Masters of Health Administration from the University of Memphis.
Michelle joined the Eden Alternative team in October 2023. As a longtime advocate for culture change and The Eden Alternative, Michelle is an Eden Educator and Consultant. As a seasoned presenter, she has shared her expertise in culture change and person-directed care at five Eden Alternative International Conferences, Pioneer Network Conferences, Green House Project Conferences, and many others. She currently serves on the United Methodist Association Board.
Michelle most recently served as a Vice President for Methodist Senior Services. She began in October of 2015 as their Vice President of Philanthropy and Strategic Implementation. Her latest endeavor as Vice President of Leadership Development is the Celebration of Leadership, a masters-level Leadership Academy.
Michelle lives in Pass Christian, Mississippi with her husband, Chris, and two children, Joseph and McKenzie. She serves as Scoutmaster where she teaches young men and women life and leadership skills through Boy Scout Ranks and the Merit Badge Program. She enjoys her free time in the outdoors.
Kristi joined the Eden Alternative Home Office Team in January 2022 as a Community Builder and has been involved with The Eden Alternative since 2018. In her role, she consults with and supports organizations with implementation, creates resources, develops educational tools and materials, and supports networking opportunities between individuals and organizations. As an Eden Educator, she enjoys facilitating change in communities across the country. Kristi loves spending time exploring the outdoors and has a goal to visit every national park. She lives in Denver with her husband, James, and their four-legged family of multiple cats and a dog.
Sue joined The Eden Alternative® in September of 2015. She is the Operations Manager and collaborates with every member of the Home Office Team. She provides financial management, human resources support, and the fulfillment of educational materials. Sue lives in the Rochester, NY area and loves spending time with her children and grandchild.
Kathy has been with The Eden Alternative since January 2011 and is currently the Head of Business Operations. She previously served as Interim CEO, Project Administrator, and Operations Manager. Kathy is a lifelong learner, earning her MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2007. She brings diverse experience inside and outside of the aging sector and leads with passion and commitment through her work at The Eden Alternative.
She lives in Rochester, NY near Lake Ontario, and enjoys yoga, gardening, and sailing with her partner, Tom, and their dogs, Tucker & Skylar.
Denise has been involved with The Eden Alternative® since 1997 and part of the home office team since 2009. As Community Builder, Denise guides and supports organizations with implementation, creates resources, develops educational tools and materials, and supports networking opportunities between individuals and organizations. She is part of the leadership team for the Nebraska Culture Change Coalition. Denise enjoys spending time with her family, especially her grandsons. She is a member of the church bell choir, attends monthly wine club gatherings, and enjoys reading a good romance novel!
Meredith is the Head of Eden Services which includes education, consultation, and learning tools. She first learned about The Eden Alternative as a college student. Inspired by the approach, she set her sights on a career in aging services. She began actively applying The Eden Alternative® in 2003 as a leader in an Eden Registry Member Organization.
As an Eden Educator, she taught hundreds of change agents about the impact of loneliness, helplessness, boredom, and the power of person-directed care. In 2009, she joined the Eden Alternative Home Office Team. As Education Coordinator, Meredith manages the coordination of all educational events and the growth and development of Eden Educators, as well as cultivating new, potential educational initiatives and opportunities, such as Eden Alternative LIVE.
Simple Pleasure
Sitting on my front porch in the morning with my dog, a cup of coffee while listening to the birds sing.
Social
https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredith-martin-edenalternative/
Stacy joined the Eden Alternative Home Office Team in December 2023 as
the Education Outreach Specialist. She attended York College of Pennsylvania and holds a degree in Recreation and Leisure Administration with an emphasis in Recreation Therapy, and a minor in Applied Youth Development.
Stacy worked in Lancaster County, PA at a Continuous Care Retirement
Community for 12 years, first as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and later as the Supervisor of Volunteer Services. She now looks forward to cultivating partnerships between The Eden Alternative and Communities embracing the Eden Approach.
Stacy lives in her hometown of Cape May, NJ with her husband Conor who is a winemaker, and their son who loves fire trucks, trains, and books. Stacy’s simple pleasures include holding her son, enjoying a glass of wine, and listening to fiction on Audible.
Danna Pentes joined the Eden Alternative Home Office Team in September 2019. As a Digital Producer, she creates educational and promotional content using video, audio, graphic design, and motion graphics. Danna earned her audio chops playing bass for the groundbreaking, alternative pop band Fetchin Bones, and as an audio engineer for NPR in Washington DC, and Turner Studios in Atlanta, GA. Since 2014, she has worked as an independent professional in multiple design areas. Danna lives in Decatur, GA.
Tina Taylor joins the Eden Alternative team with a background in Recreation Therapy. She was first introduced to the Eden Alternative in 2013 and it transformed her way of approaching care partnership. Since then she has become a Certified Eden Associate and Certified Eden Educator. She is deeply committed to person-centered care and reducing the plagues of loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. She is passionate about supporting meaningful engagement opportunities and has developed several grant-funded intergenerational programs to foster connection between youth and elders. She looks forward to applying these experiences to her role as a Project Coordinator. Tina currently lives in California with her husband Austin and her very spoiled dog, Sally. In her spare time, she can be found fussing in the garden and planning her next great travel adventure.
Juliet Tolbert joined the Eden Alternative Home Office Team in January 2024. As a Marketing Coordinator, she creates engaging experiences to connect with the Greater Eden Alternative Community and promotes successful techniques
that improve Elder Care. Juliet started her strategic marketing career with an education technology focus: leading training, promoting events, and sharing learning opportunities for educators. She later worked in marketing for higher education teams serving students worldwide. Since 2010, Juliet has worked to share needed information to promote positive change for humankind. She lives in Phoenix, AZ.
Kimberly joined The Eden Alternative in March of 2019 to provide support for our educational events and grant projects. She lives in The Colony, TX with her husband, Jeffrey, and their dog Stanlee. In her downtime she enjoys a multitude of activities including spending time with their daughters, Morgan and Annsley, listening to all genres of music, choir, playing piano, reading a great book, going on any kind of trip with her husband, hiking, boating, or vacationing anywhere there is a beach or a pool.
Angie McAllister, NHA is a culture and community builder, writer, and speaker, and is currently the Spark Performance League Commissioner at Lifespark. Angie has over 27 years of experience in healthcare, proudly having started her career as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Within that time, she led Quality of Life & Culture Change for Signature HealthCARE for over a decade. In this position Angie worked closely with over 100 Signature HealthCARE communities to facilitate cultural transformation, assisting over 40 of them to join the Eden Alternative Registry. Additionally, Angie has been an Eden Alternative Educator & Mentor since 2011. Angie was also named the 2016 recipient of the Nancy J. Fox Leadership Award and the 2018 recipient of the Eden Alternative Champion Award.
During his career, Tom has held many positions: owner/operator of a 250-resident health and rehabilitation center; Vice President of Operations for 17 skilled nursing communities in northern California; President of the Wisconsin Health Care Association; President of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Health Care Association; and Co-Founder of Age Speaks Company™️. In 1997, he became a Certified Eden Associate and an Eden Mentor. He also operated the first Eden Registry Member organization in Wisconsin – one of the first in the country. Tom also holds nursing home licenses in Wisconsin, Texas, and Washington.
Peter has 20 years of experience in the field of aging that bridges research, practice, policy, and organizational leadership. Prior to serving as Director of the Sanford Center for Aging, he served as CEO of Pioneer Network, President and CEO of the Center for Health Improvement, as well as the Senior Director of Programs for the Alzheimer’s Association National Office. He also currently serves on the Governing Board of Consumer Voice, the Board of Directors for the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada, the Board of Directors for Nevada POLST, and as Vice-Chair of the Nevada Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease.
Cheryl has been teaching, mentoring, and supporting the growth of The Eden Alternative with colleague Suellen Beatty since 1999. She was Education Leader at Sherbrooke Community Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada for over 28 years supporting the adoption and implementation of the Eden Alternative approach. Sherbrooke has been an Eden Registry Member since January 1999 and is regarded as a Centre of Excellence internationally. Cheryl served on the Advisory Committee for iGen, a grade 6 class located at Sherbrooke providing an intergenerational experience for students and Elders. She lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and is the mother of son Davis.
Toby brings deep expertise in board governance, as well as a background in innovation and senior housing to The Eden Alternative. Currently, Toby is a commercial real-estate developer specializing in green-built, low-income, intergenerational, affordable, and attainable housing. An innovator in senior communities, his senior housing projects have earned over 30 national, state, and local awards, including two United States National Home Builder Awards. He is the former Global Practice Chair, for Board and CEO services at N2 Growth, a global consulting firm.
Toby is a Board Leadership Fellow and SEI Cyber Certified with the National Association of Corporate Directors. He is a board member of the Association for Managers of Innovation and a First Movers Fellow with the Aspen Institute. Toby earned an MBA in Healthcare Administration at the University of Colorado and completed the LEAD Program in Corporate Innovation at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Matt Reiners is a two-time tech co-founder that has both led to successful exits. Matt is a Forbes 30U30 award winner and was driven to the help the senior living industry after seeing what his Grandmother struggled with while in a community.
Nathan Jones, a former college football coach, stumbled upon the world of aging services by chance when he received an invitation to visit a local senior living community. Since that serendipitous encounter, Nathan has dedicated himself to shedding light on the essence of senior living and advocating for it as a trustworthy option.
Entering the industry in 2016, Nathan embarked on a mission to educate others about senior living. He established a prominent presence in the digital sphere, creating the widely followed Instagram account @seniorlivingstories, which boasts over 180,000 followers. What began as a personal endeavor evolved into a platform for sharing captivating stories, driving sales, facilitating recruitment, nurturing culture, and cultivating a brand within the senior living sector.
In 2022, Nathan founded Dash Media, a venture aimed at empowering senior living organizations to leverage the power of storytelling on social media. Under his leadership, Dash Media has achieved remarkable milestones, reaching over 200 million individuals by the end of 2022 through the compelling narratives of older adults.
Beyond his role as CEO of Dash Media, Nathan resides in Smyrna, GA, where he indulges his passions for sports, following Jesus, and anything that is active & outdoors. Alongside his wife, Shelby Jones, Nathan eagerly anticipates the arrival of their first child in August 2024.
Patricia worked with Sherbrooke Community Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada from 1990-2015 and is a certified Eden Associate. As a member of the Leadership group she led the team that established the iGen intergenerational classroom for grade 6 students (2013) in partnership with the Saskatoon Public School Board and the Open Arts Studio opened in 2007.
In her early health care career, she was the Director of Home Care in Saskatoon. Patricia was a three term (9 years) member of Saskatoon City Council, member of the Saskatoon Police Commission and a member of the fund development committee for the local children’s museum (WonderHub).
Patricia was also President of the Canadian Special Olympic Games, President of the local WYCA and Chair of the Community Liaison Committee for VIDO, (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization) at the University of Saskatchewan. She received the Governors General’s Medal (2005) and the Queen’s medal for community service and leadership in Saskatchewan and Canada (2023). She is married to William Roe KC, a retired criminal lawyer and law professor at the University of Saskatchewan. They have 2 children and 2 grandchildren.
Christian Living Communities and Cappella Living Solutions
Dan is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Christian Living Communities and Cappella Living Solutions. He has worked his entire career in senior care starting out as a social work assistant in a skilled nursing community in Castle Rock, CO in 2001. His background includes social work, dementia care, admissions/marketing, sales and operations. He holds an active Colorado Nursing Home Administrator’s license.
Prior to joining Christian Living Communities, Dan worked for 9.5 years in various roles for a large for profit company. In his last role, he was the National Director of Sales and Marketing, supporting sales and marketing for 43 assisted and independent livings in 20 states. He is an alumnus of the 2022 class of the Leading Age Leadership Academy, this journey was a once in a lifetime professional and personal experience that has better shaped him as a leader and his desire to transform aging services. Dan is an Eden Alternative Certified Eden Associate and Eden Educator. He is passionate about person-directed care and breaking down our long established institutional models of care. He strongly believes these changes are vital to quality of life for residents and team members and to improving public perception of aging services.
In his free time he enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, spending time with his dog Scully, building Legos and is active in his local church. He is also a die hard New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox fan.
Venture Partner
Sarah is an accomplished leader of innovation and an expert in aging with more than 20 years dedicated to transforming the aging experience. As CEO of multiple enterprises, she helps create age-inclusive products, brands, spaces, and experiences that delight consumers of every age. Sarah has held key leadership positions across the US and Asia with a career spanning high-tech robotics, change management, post-acute care, and as an accomplished speaker and author. She combines her Occupational Therapy expertise with her operational, clinical, and entrepreneurial experience to inspire global improvements in design and systems innovation worldwide.
Jack York is a well-known and respected leader in improving the quality of life for older adults, by enriching their lives through technology that makes it easier to connect with family and friends. As a co-founder of IN2L, his charismatic, mission-driven approach helped him to build an organization around the idea that it’s never too late to have a fulfilling life. Jack is currently traveling the country in a 42-foot trailer he calls Tale Gate, hosting 2 or 3 parties a week, and capturing stories of the most remarkable and cherished people on the planet – older adults.
“Life is a wild, magical, crazy journey. Lean into your dreams, think big, surround yourself with smart people you trust……. and who knows where your own journey might lead.” – Jack York
Eden Members
Eden Members are inspired influencers and innovators that demonstrate exceptional commitment to practicing our unique approach to care.
Eden Educators
Certified Eden Educators are intentional disruptors. Trained to facilitate Eden Alternative training events, they help you create an empowered culture of care.
Global Partners
Our global partners are 23 countries strong. Check out this network of tenacious leaders and learn how you can engage with The Eden Alternative where you live.
