Leadership changes announced Friday by Brookdale Senior Living President President and CEO Lucinda “Cindy” Baier are meant to “shore up forecasting and financial control,” Stifel analyst Tao Qiu told the McKnight’sBusiness Daily.
As McKnight’s Senior Living previously reported, among the changes, Kevin Bowman, executive vice president – community operations, ended his employment Jan. 12, and Steven Swain, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will end his employment Feb. 24. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Brookdale said that Swain’s and Bowman’s employment terminations were “without cause.”
Bowman had been promoted to his most recent role at the company in late 2021 after first joining Brookdale in 2016 as a regional vice president. The position has been eliminated, and the East and West division chiefs will report directly to Baier, Qui noted. Those division chiefs previously reported to the regional vice president.
Swain had joined Brookdale in 2018, and his roles will be assumed by Dawn L. Kussow, who also will continue as the company’s chief accounting officer.
Baier said that the personnel moves and other leadership changes were designed to “streamline our organization to drive improved efficiency and better align our expenses with revenue.” The company will realize some general and administrative savings from the reshuffle, Qui noted.
Full-year 2022 guidance for growth in revenue per available room, or RevPAR, at approximately 10%, will be achieved, and total revenue and other operating income are expected to exceed expectations, the company reported. Financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022 — October, November and December — will be discussed during an upcoming earnings call, the date of which has not been publicized yet.
But the company now expects that full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, will be “modestly below the previously issued guidance range” of $250 million to $260 million. Brookdale also said that facility operating expenses will increase “slightly above 1% in the fourth quarter relative to the third quarter,” which the company said compares with its previous expectations for slight sequential improvement versus the third quarter.
“There’s been really no update on the strategic review, and management won’t comment if it is still ongoing,” Qui said.
Read more about the Brookdale announcement and related news at McKnight’s Senior Living.
