About the team

Chris has long recognized the wisdom we gain when we honor the seniors in our life by viewing the world as best we can through their eyes. Curious and a constant problem-solver, as a business student in college, Chris applied the fundamental management and operations principals he was learning about in school to his first job, leading and operating a 33-apartment assisted living community. In the decades since, Chris has spent his entire career working in senior care in a variety of settings. His experience includes overseeing all operations of single campuses (Non-Profit and For-Profit) as well as managing multi-site portfolios of Independent Living, Assisted Living/Memory Care, Adult Day Services and Private Duty Home Care. In addition to overseeing all day-to-day operations, such as ensuring compliance with state licensing and operating laws, staffing requirements, and human resource management, Chris’ responsibilities have included managing operating and capital budgets of all sizes, overseeing strategic fundraising, and funding opportunities, containing costs, providing P&L expertise, overseeing large capital projects, and managing marketing and sales efforts. Most recently, Chris’ focus has included strategic initiatives that emphasize Resident/Family/Employee satisfaction. 

Chris’ involvement in the senior living industry did not happen by accident. From the time he was a young child, he was drawn to spending time with seniors. His after-school visits with his senior neighbors in elementary school became piano recitals at the community nursing home during his high school years. In college, he spent summers and holiday breaks in a different state as his great-grandmother’s full-time caregiver. His great-grandmother was his mentor and advisor, and she trusted him to care for her during her final years.

It was his experience as her caregiver that led him to seek out information about the then-fledgling assisted living concept. While a senior at the University of Central Oklahoma, he enrolled in an entrepreneurship class and spent a semester writing a business plan for building (start-up), opening (lease up), and operating (stabilized) an Assisted Living Community. This experience led to Chris’ first job leading and operating a Sterling House Assisted Living Community in Oklahoma while still in college. There, he learned firsthand the joys of listening and learning from his residents, and he received a firsthand crash course in management and operations that brought to life the concepts he was learning about in school. 

After a few months in this job, he developed a budgeting and financial reconciliation process, and company leadership selected him to travel to different regions to teach and train this process to others. Eventually, he was operationally responsible for a portfolio 

With over 30 years of experience in the senior housing industry, John brings strong operational and marketing knowledge and the skill that encompasses ownership advocacy, start-up construction, acquisitions and “turn-around” projects.

John’s purpose is to apply this experience for the benefit of seniors and companies dedicated to serving them. John is an effective leader with a unique ability to identify, motivate and direct resources. He has a successful record in cost containment, creative problem-solving, increasing work force productivity and possesses excellent human relations skills. Mr. Gonzales is also a highly effective trainer and speaker. John has an exceptional record of identifying and developing effective leaders within our industry.

John lives in Bonney Lake, Washington with Deborah, his wife of 30 years, and near their beautiful and gifted children and grandchildren. 

Mr. Gonzales attended the University of Texas at San Antonio where he majored in Music and minored in Computer Science. He is an accomplished trumpeter and stays in practice by playing for military funerals and memorial events.