New Kobernick CEO brings passion for seniors

EAST COUNTY — Heidi Brown responds to a question about increased competition in East County’s senior-living market by ticking off the qualities that make Kobernick-Anchin-Benderson special: all encompassing care, on-site services and Kosher food.

As Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Lakewood Ranch’s developer, continues to trot out a plan to target seniors with a retirement community and at least two senior-living facilities, Brown, Kobernick’s new CEO, finds comfort in a model that has stayed true since 1993.

“Competition could help the market overall, but it could also make things more difficult for us,” Brown said in an April 30 interview, her first day on the job. “This campus has a history of serving seniors, and especially the Jewish community. It comes back to how we differentiate ourselves. How we continue to do right by providing quality care, staffing and resident-centered services.”

Different than most senior-living communities, Kobernick, located on North Honore Avenue, Sarasota, offers a continuum of care, including independent living, assisted living, memory care and rehab.

The board of the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Housing Council, the nonprofit that runs Kobernick, unanimously selected Brown to replace Darlene Arbite, who resigned Jan. 31 for personal reasons.

Arbite’s departure came at a time when Kobernick’s strategic plan called for enhanced offerings.
Brown, who comes to Sarasota and Kobernick after more than 17 years working in senior-living administrative roles in the Washington, D.C., area, will be charged with overseeing a long-planned expansion that includes a new auditorium and improvements to the community’s fitness center.

The auditorium, which is in the design and planning phase, would host concerts and performances, serving Kobernick residents and the outside community.

Brown has experience leading growth.

In 2012, she managed the opening and construction of a $7 million building for Alzheimer’s/dementia care. The Cohen-Rosen House was a project of Charles E. Smith Life Communities, an all-in-one senior-living campus in Rockville, Md., and Brown’s former employer.

Brown says she will bring openness to the construction process at Kobernick, a fitting approach for a self-described “visible leader” who prefers to spend her time outside the office interacting with residents.

Brown realized a passion for seniors when, early in her career in the late 1980s, she served as executive director of a partial hospitalization program for adolescents and adults dealing with mental illness and substance abuse.

During her time in that role, she implemented a similar program for seniors, a demographic with whom she connected.

“I love how I feel when I am around seniors,” Brown said. “That’s what gives me energy and fulfillment. You hear their stories, and they become family.”

Working with seniors fills a void for Brown, whose mother and both sets of grandparents have passed away.

In Sarasota, Brown won’t be able to avoid seniors, and she’s happy about that.

To be near her brother, Brown and her husband, David Lyles, planned a move to Sarasota before she knew about the job opportunity at Kobernick.

The plan went that when she or her husband landed a job in Sarasota, the couple would relocate together. While Brown works at her dream job, her husband looks for employment in the environmental-safety field.

Brown has a simple goal — one she has met at previous stops.

Even though competition looms, she wants Kobernick to achieve 100% occupancy. Currently, Kobernick is about 90% occupied.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to be here,” Brown said. “Kobernick is such a special place, and it’s amazing to be part of an overall Sarasota-Bradenton community that’s so family oriented and welcoming.”

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].